Appointment with phlebotomist at W Medical Centre

Rachael attended her appointment at W Medical Centre for her liver function test which was carried out by C.

Catheter change at Wy Hospital

As S will not be set up in his new department until sometime in the New Year, he carried out Rachael's catheter change in his small, cramped office so that Rachael would not be left without a catheter change over Christmas.

S changed Rachael's catheter, there was still some cuffing. S said that the Solution R seemed to be beneficial, though there was still some grit in the end of the tube. 

S will phone Rachael to make a new appointment, he is hoping to be in the new department by then.

Rachael experienced bladder spasms later on in the evening, but the discomfort was no worse than it usually is.

Hydro

The Session Supervisor, M, was on his own today, therefore Rachael's session was very short.

M did not pay any attention to Rachael as she was being lowered into the pool and consequently allowed her to slip off the chair, causing her to land face down in the water.

M gave Rachael a neck massage but struggled to do anything more as he had no assistance and was not confident with keeping Rachael in a comfortable position.

Visit from GP

Rachael's GP visited her today to carry out a routine cervical smear test. The results of the test will be sent out in the post in two weeks time.

Letter from Hospital Trust

Rachael received a letter from TG Hospital Trust about the changes  which are to take place within the urological services in the near future. The letter informed Rachael that her consultant will be moving to Wy Hospital. It also suggested that patients may wish to stay at TG Hospital with a new consultant and urological team but that there is still an option to transfer care to Wy Hospital.

Appointment with Wheelchair Services

Rachael attended her appointment for an assessment for modifications to her wheelchair controls due to her increasing difficulty in using her joystick.

Rachael was offered a small joystick that she would control with her chin. Rachael was concerned that this would be unsuitable as she felt that she would knock the joystick accidentally due to not being in full control of her chin and neck movements.

Rachael asked if the joystick could be adapted so that she could just control her legs with it.

Two other members of staff were consulted. When they plugged Rachael's wheelchair into a computer they found that it would not be possible to separate the control of the legs from the control of the back.

They are going to contact the technical staff at Invacare to see whether they can solve the problem or if a new programme could be written for Rachael's wheelchair.

Rachael was disappointed that a solution couldn't be found, she said that she would send an email to S showing him how one of her friends had had a wheelchair adapted.

S said that he will continue to work on the problem and will contact Rachael as soon as he finds a solution.

email from Speech Therapist

Mandy sent a follow up email after her visit to Rachael on Monday. Mandy has spoken to the finance dept at Inclusive Technology. Unfortunately they cannot split the invoice so that Rachael could pay part of the cost of the larger stand. Mandy can foresee delays if she tries to re-negotiate with Community Loans so she has asked them to do a straightforward swap. The Rehadapt stand has been returned and a vertical desk stand with Daessy plate has been ordered. Mandy hopes to hear about the delivery soon, she will keep Rachael up to date.