General Medical issues thread

[TheRealTMA]

Reinvigorating the subject of ....

South Australians should be proud of their and what a Bio Tech company is doing with it.
Special donors send their donation to this company who processes it and then sells it at $6000 a pop.
Its a treatment called Faecal microbiome transplant. AKA transplant - its in a syringe and looks like liquid and is instilled via a colonoscopy
its even TGA approved for very specific indications. No kinky stuff here.

The Australian Red Cross Lifeblood Perth also has similar. I call it PERfect

Must be exceptional quality in PERth and Adelaide. No such facility in NSW. Maybe our is not as good.

Pretty good technology these days. I read there's a project to grow different strands of sympathetic microbiota to make "artificial" View attachment 384854 to overcome the state rivalry!

Artificial super stool to bring hope for people with chronic gut disease

The urgent need for human stool donations to treat chronic gut infections could soon be eased with innovative research to develop artificial super stool.

www.rmit.edu.au

 

[RooFlyer]

Possibly the 2nd opinion surgeon wrote a letter to the OEM?

I was going to ask about that issue separately.

So I saw a surgeon, had a double open inguinal hernias operation and it didn’t result very well. Not disastrous just continuing occasional pain and regular discomfort on one side for a number of months. Went back to the Surgeon a couple of times early on, asking what’s up, what can be done and the answer was just about nothing.

I asked my GP for a referral to another surgeon for a second opinion and I went and they injected the site with steroi_ but that didn’t really relieve the things either so I just left it and after about eight months it came almost good.

Question for the medicos – what is relationship between a second opinion doctor and the original doctor? Is there a professional obligation for second to report back to the first? Emphasis on obligation.

I loathed going back to the first bloke, but my GP said that was a sensible thing to do as he mechanically knew what had happened during the operation.

 

[Quickstatus]

Is there a professional obligation for second to report back to the first? Emphasis on obligation.

@RooFlyer , Edited a few times:

No. Most do it as a matter of courtesy. Letters should be sent to referrer and you - technically, the correct practice is for #2 to ask you for permission to send copy to #1. I suspect GP's letter to #2 might have mentioned #1, then #2 corresponded with #1 either through letter or casual corridor chat. . Some may see it as a breach of privacy. You can easily discover if #2 sent a letter to #1 by getting a copy of #2's letter to GP. Usually at the bottom is "CC #x etc. Also keep that copy and take it to whoever you want to see next.

You have a right to request #2 to not send correspondence to #1. #2's opinion really has nothing to do with #1. You can also request a copy to be sent to other #3, #4, etc.

I also think there is no need/benefit to keep going back to #1.
Clearly you are unhappy with the overall situation. It is Ok to cut ties.
Can't remember if I mentioned pulsed radiofrequency treatment....

 

[RooFlyer]

Thanks @Quickstatus .

#2 obviously knew about #1 ( I gave him the history) but I’d be really annoyed if #2 took it upon himself to correspond back to #1 without me knowing. I’ve seen all ( I think) the referral letters and reports and there’s no cross mention of the two.

I would never touch the first one again except for the GP giving a decent reason why I should this time. However, this time the diagnosis was that my current issue isn’t hernia operation related and the explanation seems reasonable and consistent with the current symptoms. He said if it’s not alleviated in six weeks, go back for another steroi_ injection and I’ll do that.

. #2's opinion really has nothing to do with #1.

Yes, I want them thinking and diagnosing separately and not relying on what one of the other might’ve thought or said.

 

[Quickstatus]

really annoyed if #2 took it upon himself to correspond back to #1 without me knowing

Shouldn't happen.

Post automatically merged: May 15, 2024

I want them thinking and diagnosing separately and not relying on what one of the other might’ve thought or said.

Won't be that. Possibly #2 letting #1 know - "hey that Roo guy is not happy with you".

 

[RooFlyer]

Shouldn't happen.

Post automatically merged: May 15, 2024

Won't be that. Possibly #2 letting #1 know - "hey that Roo guy is not happy with you".

You are kidding, surely? One would hope that would never ever happen.

 

[Quickstatus]

You are kidding, surely?

No is the answer unfortunately.
Does #2 and #1 work in the same hospital?

 

[MARTINE]

No is the answer unfortunately.
Does #2 and #1 work in the same hospital?

Roo - hope you start to improve with the management recommended by #2

Echoing Quickstatus— It is only appropriate for #2 to communicate with whoever referred you to him/her and no one else unless written consent provided by you to involve other doctors. Specialists do refer amongst themselves but that is not the situation here.

 

[drron]

Saw the Neurosurgeon today. Agrees that it is to me sciatica but they now call it neurological claudication obviously coined by a surgeon to confuse the average punter.
So having a cortisone injection in the L4,5 nerve root to assess the response. I am hoping I have a long enough response to keep me comfortable until hopefully the increased dose of Amitriptyline kicks in.
Found my old letters and when I had left sided sciatica it took 6 weeks to have an excellent response.
If not it will be surgery.

 

[RooFlyer]

From one battler to another @drron - hope it all ties in well.

No is the answer unfortunately.
Does #2 and #1 work in the same hospital?

#1 has rooms in Hobart Private (where he did his stuff on me) . #2 has his room in an adjacent building. Hobarts a pretty small place, so I dare say they are well known to each other.

The second guy I have time for. Easy to talk to and he explained my post-op situation well and remediated it as best he could (as far as I can tell). I would be quite surprised if he communicated to #1 what I was thinking. I never actually said what I really thought about #1 but in no doubt I was unhappy about the result of the op done by #1. I believe in the maxim "never put in an e-mail / online what you don't want read out in court" so will leave it there.

Roo - hope you start to improve with the management recommended by #2

Thanks - there's no management really. Second opinion about a month afterwards was that "about 5% (or something like that) of hernia ops give pain for X amount of time for reasons we don't really understand".# Also "Going back in and looking would only create more scar tissue, which could give new pain", which sounded fair enough. He gave me a couple of steroi_ injections which didn't do much, so it was then a matter of just hoping it would go away. Which it gradually did, over 8 months, during which time my 4 days a week gym and 2 days a week long walk routine was but a memory and I got fat again, which is the enduring legacy that I'm most pi**ed off about.

# I think it was more than that, but no where to go, there.

I'll ask my GP about all the corresp and see what happens there. I guess I'm just sore and annoyed right now.

Apologies for the above to those in much worse situations than me. I was going to delete but hope it doesn't offend anyone.

 

[prozac]

Apologies for the above to those in much worse situations than me. I was going to delete but hope it doesn't offend anyone.

I feel same when I post sometimes. When in hospital you'd see someone and think, oh that poor patient, when in fact your prognosis might not be as good. I think we might have a little bit of imposter syndrome.

 

[MARTINE]

Prozac and Roo - this is a safe supportive space ….pain/illness is enough of a burden without feeling you should not feel that way and others are worse off.
No need to apologise to us

 

[prozac]

Prozac and Roo - this is a safe supportive space ….

Thank you @MARTINE . It would feel more that way if this was a member only discussion thread like "Member Chit Chat"
Then AFF members would have comfort knowing this wasn't being hijacked across to some other group on the world wide interweb.

 

[prozac]

Anyone used fluorouracil on their scalp? I've shaved my hair off in preparation to starting application of fluorouracil cream to my scalp and upper forehead.
What I want to know is what others have done when the go to bed? Do you wash it off so that it does not get all over your pillow and sheets, just let it get on the sheets and wash daily, or do you wear something on your head?

 

[Quickstatus]

fluorouracil

Apply 3hrs before bedtime to allow time to absorb. Dont cover treated area is the usual advice. Use old pillowcases.
A little goes a long way - apply very sparingly. Dont put on normal skin

Can be quite uncomfortable

 

[Pushka]

Apply 3hrs before bedtime to allow time to absorb. Dont cover treated area is the usual advice. Use old pillowcases.
A little goes a long way - apply very sparingly. Dont put on normal skin

Can be quite uncomfortable

Or maybe lucky like me and barely noticed it even at the peak of 3 weeks. I had so little reaction to it but the crater gremlin has gone.

 

[drron]

Anyone used fluorouracil on their scalp? I've shaved my hair off in preparation to starting application of fluorouracil cream to my scalp and upper forehead.
What I want to know is what others have done when the go to bed? Do you wash it off so that it does not get all over your pillow and sheets, just let it get on the sheets and wash daily, or do you wear something on your head?

Or an old towel over the pillow.

 

[JohnK]

Wife has a Urology outpatients appointment in 3 weeks. I think that was quick as she only got out of hospital last week. Must have been assessed as high priority?

And I have general surgery outpatients appointment the week after. No progress as the excess weight doesn't want to leave my side. Maybe another appointment in 3-6 months. I'm not sure how I'm going to lose any weight.

 

[Pushka]

Hmm. That didn’t end well.


Currently in RAH. The most stupid of things. Two dishwasher pods got stuck together. I pulled them apart and one squirted full bore in left eye. I washed it out immediately then with eye drops. Then thought. Maybe more needed. Got myself to hospital. Was seen in 15 minutes. Then have had two litrre saline washouts. Because of all the meds they’ve got me an emergency ophthalmology specialist appt in next few minutes. Vision is blurred. The first test showed severe scratches. Its my close vision eye. Just trying to keep a lid on it.

 

[Quickstatus]

Currently in RAH.

Dont they have vital sign monitoring,