h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Oh, isn't it difficult to actually do things that are good for you? My doctor recommends that I lose some weight before having my knee replacement. Exercise, he says, but he says I can't do exercises which require flexing my knee or those which involve lunges. This really cuts down on the exercising I can do. He said that I can walk more, but he also knows that I can't walk far, and have to use a cane most of the time. I don't have the money at the moment to join a gym (which would be helpful) because I don't have a job, because there either aren't any available or they all require standing or walking for long periods of time.

There's nothing like being stuck between a rock and a hard place!

That all sounds very familiar.

I had a phone call from the hospital. They asked a lot of questions about my health history, and a lot more about how incapacitated I am with the arthritis in my hip. Then they wanted to know if I would be willing to go to another hospital for the replacement surgery as they are full up! Since I have never met my surgeon yet I didn't see any point in insisting that I stay with them. They said they would try to fit me in at another hospital.. luckily it is only a bit further than the original one. They said I could go for the surgery anytime between now and the end of April.

The NHS is barely staying afloat financially. It's all a bit worrying.

It seems that NHS and the American health insurance system have a lot in common: everyone wants to dally around while your health deteriorates, and no one wants to give you the decent health care that you deserve.

I am still pretty ticked off at my insurance company's refusal to give me a straight answer to a simple question. I am going to have to call them again tomorrow to see if they got the faxed letter of medical necessity from my doctor; they'd better answer my question then, or I am going to keep saying one thing: please connect me with your supervisor!

Good luck.

I watched a tv show last night that was alarming to me since I am about to have my hip replaced by the NHS. To cut hospital waiting lists from two years to six months was one of new Labour's pledges. At the end of 2005 only 12 people had to wait for their operations longer than six months. This was accomplished by hiring foreign surgeons to work in private hospitals. This is something that I had no idea was happening. It is very serious because these foreign surgeons often don't speak english, and are not qualified to the standard that British surgeons are qualified. Yes, the waiting period for a joint replacement has been slashed, but there have been a
series of botched operations and premature failures which have left patients crippled.

More alarming yet is the failure of the Department of Health to properly monitor surgical outcomes. If no-one is counting the failures then what kind of success is the Government boasting about?

Read more about this here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4790334.stm

Oh, mari, I can understand why you're so worried, after reading that article! It would have scared the out of me too!

Are you having your replacement done at one of these private centres? If so, it might be a good idea to contact the B.O.A. (cited in the article) and see if they've been investigating that particular centre. I would also contact your place of surgery and insist that a British doctor handle your surgery. I'd even ask to see his diplomas and licensure papers, just to make sure that he wasn't going to med school overseas somewhere.

You know, both the NHS and American health care have the best intentions, yet neither can seem to do anything right! Maybe if they got together...it would either be a brilliant move for world health care, or a colossal failure!

Mari, I watched that programme too & immediately thought of you &, possibly, my brother.

All I can say is that my mother had both cataracts done: one on the NHS & one by fast-track. The NHS was more comfortable was all she said about it, but both ops went well.

I agree totally with madmum - check on everything - be a nuisance - it's your body & you are a person not a number.

Let us know what you find out and do your best not to worry, it won't help. If the worst comes to the worst you can always refuse the fast-track.

I was amazed when you said you hadn't even met the surgeon, but then, thinking about it, I have only ever met consultants & the surgeon on the day (sometimes afterwards) - I've usually learnt more from the surgeon than the consultant!

I thought surgeons and consultants were two words for the same person! I'm always running into tomato-tomahto with american and english english!

No, I'm not going to a private hospital, it will be a NHS hospital. I'm spending the weekend compiling a list of questions to ask too.

There are good and bad with both american and british health care systems, but botched surgeries just to get the numbers right for Tony Blair is O.T.T!!!

In my experience, after all the ops that have been done, only once did the consultant actually do the operation! He was an orthopaedic man who I first went to for the trigger finger & carpal tunnel ops.

My last experience (last year) the consultant considered my thumb was triggering, but half an hour before the op the surgeon came to see me with the x-rays & said this one was pure arthritis - would I like it fused? I said yes if it will stop the pain & swelling. Hey presto! So the consultant was ... wrong.

This is Northamptonshire, United Kingdom

I don't recall there being maybe more than once that I the doctor I consulted for the problem didn't do the surgery. That one time was when I broke both the bones in my right leg, and the ER docs couldn't seem to reduce the fracture on their own; they had to send me to the OR to get the job done. Of course, I did this a long way from home, so I didn't actually know any of these doctors. Heck, it was a rural hospital (for the most part), and I was told later by my former orthopaedic doctor that had I broken my leg in a civilized area, a rod and pins would've been put in right away, and I could've walked out of that hospital! Instead, I was wheeled out with a cast from toe to top of thigh that weighed about 50 lbs. Thank goodness that I got that thing off 5 weeks later, and the rod and pins put in!

Always between a rock and a hard place with health issues; I sure know how that is!

Here's a , just because I know we both need one!

That should've been, 'we all need one!'

Sigh! Serious concentration issues today!

Put it down to the weather

My brother is getting a new car - automatic - hopefully next week. So he said he will try & drive here to see mother. It may take a while though, because he will have to stop many times to rest his legs.

His appointment to see about one of his knees should be fairly soon.

I think my knees have come out in sympathy with his - aching like hell for the past two days. Either that or they didn't like the heat in the hotel last weekend

If it ain't one thing it's another.

deep true, how very true

Mari, have you managed to find out any more about your fast-track hip op?

Nope, not a word.

hmm - I'm sure it won't be long - time flies y'know

PS: It's a shame they got rid of Supersonic travel

Oh, how I wish we had supersonic travel - even if it's just to the grocery store and back! I am having more and more difficulty using the clutch in my car, as it really wrecks my knee to push in the clutch pedal. I went to the store Tues. night, and had to sit in the parking lot for a while waiting for the pain to ease before I could drive home. I was only in the store a few minutes, so I assume that the pain was from the drive there. It only takes me 5 minutes to get to the store, and I was only in the store for about 15 minutes. That's all it takes, obviously. I am seriously worried, because the knee is deteriorating quickly. I'm wondering if the Syn-Visc shots will help at all, at this point.....!

My brother has given in at last - he collects his new "automatic" car next week! He has at last realised it would be better for him. He still waits to hear about any ops. Hopefully he will be up here next weekend to see mum.

My mother is in hospital now - I had just begun arranging a 'care package' for her, when she couldn't breath properly, so a neighbour rang for an ambulance.

My husband is away at the coast, awaiting a fridge/freezer delivery, so I can't get to visit her till Saturday

My daughter would like me to go & visit her again for a few days too.

Why oh why does everything happen at the same time

I'm on the diclofenac tablets (+ an ant-acid tablet), but the ache/pain in my right knee is still coming through. Ah well, see the rheumatologist again in a few weeks.

Madmum, I strongly advise an auto, even if you have a knee op, & it sounds like you ought to get to see the doc again very soon!

Oh dear, Shirps, I hope your Mum improves quickly.

How long do you wait to have your knee done, madmum?

I finally got called in for my pre-op assessment. Everything is looking good for the operation, except that my blood pressure was high due to a headache (my theory). The high blood pressure is now being sorted out with my local GP. I was favorably impressed with my surgeon. He is very experienced at doing hip replacements and seemed caring. They said I should call in a week's time to get the date for my surgery.

I saw the x-ray of my hip. The thigh bone is jammed right up into the socket and both the top of the thigh bone and the socket itself are honeycombed and crumbling. The surgeon said it was an interesting case, as it is rare for the socket to be so damaged. He's doing a bone graft to repair that before the titanium socket gets screwed on. Then I get a ceramic ball on a sort of a pike jammed down into the shaft of my thigh bone and cemented into place. Wah-lah! a new hip joint that should be good for 20 years.