Just like that…

It’s already been two months since I posted. Sigh. In this time, I learned my new gp that I liked is leaving the practice in a month. :( I suspect she may be a registrar and is required to do stints at various practices along the way since she seems reasonably young. Well, anyway, I will have to seek another doctor to see on a regular basis.

It seems like I’m in to the doctor all the time at the moment. Lots of little things happening. I saw my gp for a regular visit and she was going to do my flu shot but then we both forgot. It may have been as well since I had cycled there and might not have felt comfortable riding afterwards…although I probably would have been fine. So I went in later in the week and did the vaccine. Then over the weekend I developed significant numbness in my left hand. I have had issues off and on for a while but it wasn’t constant. Anyway, by Monday it was enough I made an appointment again and saw a different gp as mine was off the next day.

That gp was fine although she seems really young and inexperienced. She seemed to think it might be a problem in my neck although she wasn’t sure. She sent me to the physio who also seemed to feel it was a neck issue but did some work with me and had me doing exercises at home. Then she referred me back to the gp for further examination after three visits where there was no improvement. I made an appointment to see my current gp as the one I’d seen previously had no appointments available until well into next week.

During this time I suddenly developed a hacking cough which got bad really quickly, enough it has been disturbing my sleep for several nights. Not to mention other members of the household. I thought it might be a reflux cough but using my medication for it didn’t make any change. Anyway, I decided I would mention it when I went back about the hand issues.

So today I arrived at the practice and had to wait nearly an hour. It was my luck the gp had a complicated situation with another patient and had to take a lot more time than usual. She did eventually call me back and she found she couldn’t read the notes the physio wrote but did a bunch of checks on my hand and several tests. This has been the case each time I’ve seen the doctor or physio. But almost all different tests. She thinks I may have a carpal tunnel issue and wasn’t keen to send me for CT scans or nerve testing. The latter requires a neurologist so I didn’t figure that would happen. She’s sent me to have an ultrasound of my wrist and we will take it from there.

As to the cough, she could clearly see I was coughing up sputum and she thinks it’s bronchitis and wrote a prescription for antibiotics. But she was in a bit of a hurry (I think I was her last patient) and I wonder about how likely bronchitis could be. There was no illness before the cough started and my lungs sounded clear when she listened. Even so, as I understand it, bronchitis is almost always a viral illness. So I don’t know what to think.