I am beyond cross tonight, I am so wound up I feel like a coiled spring and woe betide anyone who gets on the wrong side of me tonight!
Why - well here's the story.
When we lived in Hemel, I use to go to Boots Opticians in the town centre. It was a small practice and very good. I always saw the same lady, she knew me, knew my eyes. I have very bad eyesight (most people are anything up to a -6 and these people consider their sight bad, mine are -13!). I automatically transferred to Harrogate Boots, a much bigger opticians as I pay a monthly amount for new lenses yearly and all my eye care. In the last 18 months they have lost my records from Hemel, it took 4 attempts and 4 different opticians to fit a new pair of lenses last year, and this year is shaping up to be no better and I have never seen the same optician twice.
Last week saw me picking up the 2nd pair of lenses in an attempt to get the right fit for my new ones. I also mentioned that occasionally I see a slight shadow across my right eye first thing in the morning which clears within a minute. Due to my prescription and family history I am at risk of detached retina so I was asked to go in on Friday to have my eye dilated and looked at in more detail. Fair enough, I was impressed by the care. The lady I saw (yet another optician) was brilliant and wasn't happy so referred me to the hospital and less than 24 hours later I spent 3 hours on Saturday in the emergency eye clinic seeing a consultant.
The consultant also dilated my eye and was happy with it and said the back of my eye looked very normal for someone with such a high prescription and not to worry so sent me on my way.
Today I should of had a routine contact lens check at Boots, but this morning while on a teleconference my right eye started watering and on investigating I could see a large yellow blister on the white of my eye. I rang the optician who was very undisturbed by it as it didn't hurt and was not impairing my vision and told me to go in at my allotted time. I took my lenses out however as I wasn't happy with it. It has to be bad for me to wear glasses as despite the ultra thin lenses they are still like bottle bottoms.
Yet another new optician looked at it and said it looked like a blister or cyst and was probably nothing to worry about. She could tell I was not happy with this so eventually said it was my decision if I wanted to go to A and E and get an appointment through them with the eye clinic. I asked her to ring through and refer me and she said there was no need and to go to A and E.
I did, organise my mum and dad to pick the boys up and settled down for a 4 hour wait in A and E. The triage nurse said it just looked red but rang the eye clinic and I was told to go and sit and wait there and they would see me at the end of clinic. I saw the same consultant who started by saying she didn't think it was appropriate for me to be at an emergency clinic but as I had waited so long she would see me to put my mind at rest. She took one look at my eye and actually said 'oh my god'.
These are not the words you want to hear. It seems my bloody optician has failed to see a bloody big ulcer on my cornea which has spread to my stroma and if untreated could blind me. The consultant said if I had of gone home by tonight I would of been in agony and probably ended up admitted on IV antibiotics in an attempt to stop it damaging my sight.
I am now on one type of drops which I have to put in hourly for 24 hours and then 2 hourly for the next 24 hours. A second type of drop 3 times a day and some cream and I am back on Wednesday morning to see her.
I am so, so angry. How could a trained optician miss this? The consultant said it should not of been missed. In my time in the hospital the blister had popped which had spread the infection. The consultant said it could be poorly fitting lenses that has caused it, although I wonder if it could of been the drops being applied. Who knows, point is, I was told it was 'probably nothing to worry about as it doesn't hurt'.
Tomorrow I am taking the lenses into Boots, giving them back to them, asking for a refund for the year I have paid and moving opticians to a small private practice. I will also write to head office and complain and if Boots refuse to refund me, then I am going to try and take it further.
Showing posts with label hospital. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hospital. Show all posts
Monday, 21 May 2012
Monday, 7 November 2011
Eye tests and ASD
We have noticed Little Man has been sitting closer and closer to the TV recently. Now living with an IT/Gadget geek we don't have a small TV, so there was no reason why he should be almost sitting in it.
I am so blind I get free eye test and have worn glasses since the age of 4. T'husband has also started wearing glasses in the last few years. So it comes as no surprise to me that one if not both boys will eventually need glasses. So I duly booked the appointment with Boots opticians. I decided to have mine first so Little Man could see what was going on. At 7 Little Man was expected to read the chart even though I told the optician he is struggling in school.
Little Man was a little unsure of the glasses they use but kept them on, but by the time the optician had fiddled with these, Little Man had had enough and was not going to sit still, was not going to stop twiddling the sides of the glasses on his face and was definitely not going to even attempt the letters. I was furious with the Optician though, he clearly did not have much experience with children and did not listen to me. After only 2 attempts he said he couldn' possibly do Little Man's sight test as he was being so naughty and could we please rebook to see the manager and have drops put in his eyes so they wouldn't need to use the glasses or the reading charts. Our old optician in our old town was fab at Boots Opticians and always used pictures with Little Man and games.
Anyhow I re-booked for a few days later for 2pm and told school he wouldn't be back due to blurry vision. He happily sat in the chair and the manager seemed a lot more clued up about children and sight tests. However she then tried the eye drops.
Little Man took one look at something approaching his eye and flipped. He got himself backwards in the chair screaming and shouting his eyes were burning and it hurt (nothing had actually gone in his eyes). The poor woman didn't know what to do. He was so distressed and shouting 'that woman is hurting me, take me away mummy, take me home'. When we eventually calmed Little Man down and left the room at the back of Boots, lots of people turned to see us exit the room so it is obvious most of the shop heard about the poor manager hurting Little Man! Going back to school was not an option due to Little Man's distress so we went for a hot chocolate and muffin until pick up time for Mini Man.
The next step was a referral to the hospital who are experienced in putting drops in children's eyes. The morning arrived (not without a little trepidation on my part), and we trotted off to the department. After waiting half an hour, we were shown into a tiny, long room and Little Man sat and chatted with the optician. She gave him a choice of either bright green or red glasses to put on - they looked like sun glasses which she was then able to blank one eye out of, and asked him to look at both letters and pictures. She concluded with little fuss that Little Man did need glasses and asked us to wait in a different corridor so the nurse could stick some drops in his eyes and then they could work out his prescription.
Another half hour wait and we were shown into a room. Little Man was asked to hop up onto a bed and I could see he immediately put his defenses up. Two nurses came in and I had a quiet word and said he would be difficult as soon as he realised what they were going to do and perhaps they could do both eyes at the same time and very quickly before he realised what was going on. In principle this should of worked but one of the nurses decided to make a big deal of opening the vial about 5 inches from Little Man's nose and when he asked if she was going to put them in his eyes she said 'of course we are, just wait a moment'.
Que Little Man fighting to get past me and off the bed, and then screaming blue murder, thrashing around and trying to bite me. One nurse at least tried to aim in the right direction when she got the chance, the other stood back looking shocked (the one who had told him what they were going to do). As the nurses are not allowed to restrain a patient, this was deemed another disastrous appointment and after about 20 minutes of them trying to explain what it was and how it wouldn't hurt and would he try, they gave up. I think we were in that room for about 45 minutes. When we opened the door all these people sat in the corridor lent forwards in their chair to watch me carrying a sobbing, heaving Little Man out in my arms. now for 7 Little Man is very tall and thin and when one old man said very loudly to his wife that he was expecting a toddler to come out of the room, it took me all my remaining energy not to stop and give him a piece of my mind.
After discussion with t'husband we decided that to allow him to wake up with blurry vision could in itself be very frightening so we spent the next few weeks talking about putting them in, showing him pictures and practicing with water in the bath. In the end he agreed to be brave (in exchange for a treat - his idea) and we agreed.
The morning of the appointment we were prepared for problems despite Little Man agreeing. We got him laid on our bed, one on either side of him and used our knees to hold his arms down gently, said 1,2 3 and both aimed at the same time before he realised what was going on. He did get very distressed for about 30 minutes after and sat with his back to us but thankfully calmed down by himself and we got to the hospital and got the appointment over and done with in no time. And yes he does need glasses and is now the proud owner of some bight shiny blue ones and has taken to them like a duck to water.
I must admit I am not looking forwards to his next appointment!!
I am so blind I get free eye test and have worn glasses since the age of 4. T'husband has also started wearing glasses in the last few years. So it comes as no surprise to me that one if not both boys will eventually need glasses. So I duly booked the appointment with Boots opticians. I decided to have mine first so Little Man could see what was going on. At 7 Little Man was expected to read the chart even though I told the optician he is struggling in school.
Little Man was a little unsure of the glasses they use but kept them on, but by the time the optician had fiddled with these, Little Man had had enough and was not going to sit still, was not going to stop twiddling the sides of the glasses on his face and was definitely not going to even attempt the letters. I was furious with the Optician though, he clearly did not have much experience with children and did not listen to me. After only 2 attempts he said he couldn' possibly do Little Man's sight test as he was being so naughty and could we please rebook to see the manager and have drops put in his eyes so they wouldn't need to use the glasses or the reading charts. Our old optician in our old town was fab at Boots Opticians and always used pictures with Little Man and games.
Anyhow I re-booked for a few days later for 2pm and told school he wouldn't be back due to blurry vision. He happily sat in the chair and the manager seemed a lot more clued up about children and sight tests. However she then tried the eye drops.
Little Man took one look at something approaching his eye and flipped. He got himself backwards in the chair screaming and shouting his eyes were burning and it hurt (nothing had actually gone in his eyes). The poor woman didn't know what to do. He was so distressed and shouting 'that woman is hurting me, take me away mummy, take me home'. When we eventually calmed Little Man down and left the room at the back of Boots, lots of people turned to see us exit the room so it is obvious most of the shop heard about the poor manager hurting Little Man! Going back to school was not an option due to Little Man's distress so we went for a hot chocolate and muffin until pick up time for Mini Man.
The next step was a referral to the hospital who are experienced in putting drops in children's eyes. The morning arrived (not without a little trepidation on my part), and we trotted off to the department. After waiting half an hour, we were shown into a tiny, long room and Little Man sat and chatted with the optician. She gave him a choice of either bright green or red glasses to put on - they looked like sun glasses which she was then able to blank one eye out of, and asked him to look at both letters and pictures. She concluded with little fuss that Little Man did need glasses and asked us to wait in a different corridor so the nurse could stick some drops in his eyes and then they could work out his prescription.
Another half hour wait and we were shown into a room. Little Man was asked to hop up onto a bed and I could see he immediately put his defenses up. Two nurses came in and I had a quiet word and said he would be difficult as soon as he realised what they were going to do and perhaps they could do both eyes at the same time and very quickly before he realised what was going on. In principle this should of worked but one of the nurses decided to make a big deal of opening the vial about 5 inches from Little Man's nose and when he asked if she was going to put them in his eyes she said 'of course we are, just wait a moment'.
Que Little Man fighting to get past me and off the bed, and then screaming blue murder, thrashing around and trying to bite me. One nurse at least tried to aim in the right direction when she got the chance, the other stood back looking shocked (the one who had told him what they were going to do). As the nurses are not allowed to restrain a patient, this was deemed another disastrous appointment and after about 20 minutes of them trying to explain what it was and how it wouldn't hurt and would he try, they gave up. I think we were in that room for about 45 minutes. When we opened the door all these people sat in the corridor lent forwards in their chair to watch me carrying a sobbing, heaving Little Man out in my arms. now for 7 Little Man is very tall and thin and when one old man said very loudly to his wife that he was expecting a toddler to come out of the room, it took me all my remaining energy not to stop and give him a piece of my mind.
After discussion with t'husband we decided that to allow him to wake up with blurry vision could in itself be very frightening so we spent the next few weeks talking about putting them in, showing him pictures and practicing with water in the bath. In the end he agreed to be brave (in exchange for a treat - his idea) and we agreed.
The morning of the appointment we were prepared for problems despite Little Man agreeing. We got him laid on our bed, one on either side of him and used our knees to hold his arms down gently, said 1,2 3 and both aimed at the same time before he realised what was going on. He did get very distressed for about 30 minutes after and sat with his back to us but thankfully calmed down by himself and we got to the hospital and got the appointment over and done with in no time. And yes he does need glasses and is now the proud owner of some bight shiny blue ones and has taken to them like a duck to water.
I must admit I am not looking forwards to his next appointment!!
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