"Feeling frustrated and anxious"

After attending my optician due to seeing flashing lights for a few weeks I was asked to go to the eye casualty department in Hairmyres as my optician had detected a swollen optic nerve. So at this point you think it must be something quite serious due to the urgency of needing to be seen. After quite a long wait which my optician warned me about I was seen by two doctors who referred me for blood tests and a CAT scan which after another long wait thankfully came out clear. It was worth all the waiting to know that day that I wasn’t going to keel over at anytime. I did say at the time that I also had pain in my left arm and behind my left knee but this appears not to have been noted down as any subsequent doctor I saw knew nothing about it and the final Dr I saw also knew nothing of these symptoms but seemed only concerned about the swollen optic nerve which had gone down by that time. I was therefore advised that if these symptoms got worse I should go to my GP which I have since done. In between these appointments I had gone to casualty due to feeling sick and having a headache and I saw a lovely emergency doctor called who was friendly and actively listened to me. I knew she was listening because she gave me eye contact and commented on anything I told her and she had a lovely manner which showed she cared.

However I am left feeling very frustrated now because I feel my care could have been more streamlined if my other symptoms had been taken seriously. My GP referred me to neurology at the QEU hospital because my left arm and leg symptoms have not gone away, which has a 6 months waiting time and I feel I could have been referred quicker to neurology by the doctors in the eye department and perhaps been seen by neurology at  Hairmyres. I mentioned multiple sclerosis to the last dr there who dismissed it straight away which I cannot understand because this is the first thing my GP mentioned at my appointment with her. Also with having left arm and leg pain then a full MRI scan I would have thought would have been appropriate rather than just a head scan. ( I was referred for MRI as the optic nerve at that point was still swollen) To top things off I had an appointment in late Nov which I was  anxiously waiting for reassurance that my optic nerve was no longer swollen but this has been cancelled until the mid Jan causing further anxiety. I spoke to the Dr’s secretary to ask for a sooner appointment but have heard nothing since and therefore still feel frustrated and anxious.

I have been a front line worker with NHS Scotland for 23 yrs working with parents and children and I can honestly say that the most important factor of my job when I first meet parents and children is to listen and take into account whatever they tell me. Sadly in my situation I don’t feel I have been merited the same.