"Struggling on my own"

In March 2020 my husband was referred by GP to the Psychiatric unit at Larkfield for further assessment for memory and cognitive function.  Unfortunately we did not get an appointment at Larkfield until December and I was struggling on my own all that year to try to understand what was happening to this man I'd been with since we were in school 50 years ago.  I cried a lot.

The person we saw in December left me with more questions than answers. First of all they said we needed to have a Mediterranean diet and then didn't seem to believe we don't eat junk food and rarely drink. Said they could do nothing until seeing a CT scan. All of this conversation was  said 15 ft away with their back to us whilst typing into a computer.Didn't actually speak to my husband.

We got the scan in February and the I was phoned 5 weeks later with result. This was so vague and speculative saying 'maybe this, maybe that'.  However they did say that if I insisted on medicine then they would prescribe it!  Only then went on to say the drug that would be given is banned in other countries and could cause digestive problems and, and didn't really believe they would work anyway.   

I was horrified. I had already said that my husband was being investigated for bleeding from stomach or bowel.  He'd had an endoscopy and was going for a colonoscopy. The last thing we needed was to upset him even more. The doctor said they would review the case in 6 MONTHS. I was not at all happy and I asked the GP to refer us for a second opinion although we hadn't really had a first! 

We saw another Doctor at the unit todaywho  was so informative and seemed very caring and they will review my hubby in 6 weeks, not months.  I feel so much better now and I am so glad I did take it further.  I definitely would not want to see that first staff member again.