Warning-pitfalls of heathcare

[Andrew MacLean]

there are two issues concerning post operative medication:

Pain relief
Anti Inflammatory and anti-biotic medication

After each of my grafts I needed nothing stronger than Paracetomol.
I had prolonged use of Dexamethasone and chloramphenicol. These were not prescribed by the hospital but by my GP on the advice of the surgeon who conducted my operations. I can see no reason why surgery conducted by a consultant operating privately should not lead to the use of an NHS prescription for post-operative medication.

All the best

Andrew

[Anne B]

I had to pay for my drops etc after my op. But some of the drops i have had are cheaper than the prescription charge! What i tend to do is get a private prescription then take it to my GP smile sweetly and ask for it to be changed into a NHS prescription. I also use a pre-
payment certificate which brings the cost down a little.
Going back to the drops after the op i had my op at moorfields and they gave me bottles of drops that only lasted a week. They were colour coded so i could easily identify what drop was needed when. They also gave me a colour coded print out with the times of each drop. This was really helpful and worth paying for! I only used these drops for two weeks, so i was soon able to get drops from local pharmacy. they didn't charge me for eye baths, eye shields or gauze for cleaning the eye.
Hope that helps

[rosemary johnson]

To answer Robcm's query:
At a certain hospital we both know (I presume you'll be there too??) I was given two bottles of each of two types of eye drops the day after the op.
No-one asked me to pay for them - I don't know if they shouldhave done.
If they had, I'd ahve said "Hang on a mo", gone outside and rung the prescription "season ticket" people with a credit card.
They gave me a bottle of diamox tablets the same night for the next 3 days - again, not asked to apy for them. If they had, would have said "sort it out tomorrw, can't cope now" and either they'd have given me the bottle or I'd have left the things till the next day. (At that stage, my eye was the last thing I cared about, but that's another story!)
At week-later check-up appointment, they gave me prescription for further supplies which I had to take to pharmacy and pay for. Except I got an annual season ticket.
They also gave me an eye shield. I had to go out and buy tape to stick it on with (for the first few days I used masking tape till I got my act in gear to get some proper stuff).
Pain killers - ibuprofen. Supermarket own label. Cheap variety from supermarket.
Required for first three days for splitting headache. Then for twisted ankle (fell on path to station because balance/dizziness major problem. Eye pain not an issue in comparison to either.
Can recommend the season tickets. But I'd be using it for asthma inhalers too, and contact lens solutions for other eye, so usually worth getting about 2 quarters a year anyway.
Rosemary

[Andrew MacLean]

One of the reasons they only dispense small quantities of medicines, and do not issue prescriptions in hospitals is that hospital dispensed medicines are free to the patient. This brings havoc to the already Byzantine budgeting system of the NHS.

Don't panic, Rosemary. You are not about to get a bill from your local hospital.

Andrew

[melissa]

All I would say is that I needed fairly strong painkillers for the 2 weeks. the stuff they gave me didnt work so I got something stronger... I used 'Myprodol' (Ibuprofen, Codeine & Paracetomol) which is over-the-counter here, but i know is not available without a prescription in the UK. your dispensing laws are ALOT stricter.

[robcm]

Hi everyone

had the graft yesterday under GA and went home in the late afternoon. Seems to have gone ok but the pain is much worse than i thought it would be. I'm sitting in a dark room in sunglasses taking codeine and diclofenac. It does seem to be improving over the course of the day.

Vision through the new cornea is pretty blurry but noticably better than through the old one. So it's just a question of time now I guess. Thanks for all the support - knowing so many other people have beent hrough this is very comforting

rob

[melissa]

I am glad it went well Rob. I found the pain quite bad too, but it does get better and was all gone after 2 weeks. just REST.... and don't expect too much from the eye just yet.

[Andrew MacLean]

There are now two stages to your recovery:

1 Your new cornea has to 'heal' into your eye. Your ophthalmologist will be able to see how well this is going as (s)he examines your eye through the 'slit lamp'. Do not be looking for brilliant eyesight during this time.

2 You will want to see improvement in your vision. You may become impatient that your ophthalmologist seems to think that your eyesight is a secondary concern. You would be right to think that (s)he takes this view, but do not be impatient. the surgeon's first concern is the health of the new cornea, and once (s)he sees that it has healed properly into your 'host' tissue, (s)he will begin to think about fine-tuning your sight.

All the best, and well done so far.

Andrew

[rosemary johnson]

Rob!
Good to hear you're done and home and posting again.
Sorry to hear about the pain - hope that improves soon.
Keep us posted.
WHen do you have follow-up appointments? - I've got one next week with our mutual consultant, so might even see you there??
Rosemary