Week 3 Summary: Waiting for 6 months

One step closer but still far away if I choose not to pay.

Last week was pretty much a waiting game as my consultant was on leave. I did however move forward and arrange for bloods to be taken today at 1pm.

So today I met a very kind senior nurse at the hospital who explained the procedure and took some more blood tests. I’m actually a little deflated as she confirmed my initial suspicion with regards to going private. It turns out that the consultants secretory I spoke to last time round misunderstood and was actually talking about a routine biopsy which is done without using a guiding ultrasound. So just as I suspected the NHS waiting list is long, in fact, I was told by the nurse that she has some patients that have been waiting for over six months.

Taking all of this into account, I am forced to take the private route and pay for the procedure. Hopefully, pending the blood results I should be seen quite soon, most probably within the next 4 weeks. My case has been referred to the radiologist who I suspect will get back to me within a week.

• The positives are that I am one step closer to obtaining the biopsy, I have a direct number to the senior nurse and I know that I will be seen a lot quicker as I am funding the procedure privately.
• The negatives are that I am having to fund this myself privately in the first place.

I have been feeling bloated over the weekend so I’m really watching which foods I eat. Also, I have started to feel dizzy when I get up quickly. This is normally indicative of having low blood pressure. The nurse checked my blood pressure which was 111/75 and pulse was 69, I’ve checked just now and my BP is 104/71 and pulse is 74. I’m sure that I have been around this mark for a while and there is nothing to worry about but I’ll mention this to the GP when I see him next.

I am hoping to chase for the results on Wednesday and see if the radiologist has come back with a date for the biopsy.