Drop in Clinic

Hi everyone

So today was my first visit to the reheumatology drop in clinic. It was actually my second visit to the rheumatology nurse, but the first was a sort of introduction to what is going to happen over the next few months.

I was slightly nervous about this visit today, not because I was worried about what was going to happen, but because I was unsure about what time I was meant to be there! When I had my first visit to the nurse, it was a scheduled appointment, but she asked me to come to her drop in clinic in a months time, any time between 8:30 and 9:45 and that it was just a first come first serve basis. However on Friday I received a text from "NHS no reply" saying "this is your appointment reminder for Tuesday 6 November at 09:10". 

Initially I thought that this would be an appointment with the rheumatologist doctor, but when I rang to find out, they said that this was my appointment with the nurse. Very confusing!

Anyway I went today at 8:50, so that I was there in enough time for the appointment, but my nurse was there waiting for me. When I asked her about the appointment time, she said that the text was complete rubbish and not to take any notice of the text, it is definitely a drop in clinic.

In my appointment, the nurse checked my joints to see which ones hurt, made a note of my recent blood test results and had a chat with me about how I am feeling. It turns out that my white blood cell count had gone up, meaning that I might have picked up an infection already, but she said it wasn't too high so I wasn't to worry. The good news is my inflamation count has started to decrease, not enough to notice any changes yet, but it is going in the right direction!

Last time I saw the nurse, she gave me a prescription for my first months worth of MTX and Folic acid, so I assumed that I would be getting my second months worth today. WRONG! Apparantly I am meant to get the prescription from my GP from now on, although I dont remember being told that! I am due to take my next dose tomorrow, so I had to email my GP and ask for the prescription, in the hope that she would do it today, I could pick it up after work and be sorted for tomorrow. Once again, WRONG. My doctors don't do same day prescriptions, even though I explained the situation. They said they will try and sort it for after 5.30pm today, but they cant do it before then, and they may not be able to do it at all. I just have to turn up at 5.30 and hope for the best.

So all in all, quite a bit of confusion surrounding my first drop in clinic, hopefully it is just a few teething problems and it will all get easier in time...