my namesake

when i go to the gp surgery for an inr test, the nurses use a special programme on the computer to monitor your results and tell you what dose of warfarin you should be taking. i've noticed that there is another patient on warfarin with the same surname as me, but he is an older gentleman, so there should be no confusing of results!

well today i saw him. i came in and gave my name at the desk and was told to sit down, and as i walked over to the chairs, i noticed this older man looking at me. i didn't think too much of it, picked up a magazine and sat down. (i picked up a camping and caravan magazine - what has come over me? all this camping must be going to my head! do i need treatment? can you have several sentences in a bracket?)

engrossed in my magazine (!?) i suddenly heard my surname, so jumped up and as i was doing so registered that it had been a mr the nurse had called for. and sure enough it was this gentleman who had got out of his chair and was walking towards the nurse. then i realised why he had been staring at me, he had heard my name as i came in and registered. no doubt, this being cornwall, he was trying to work out where i might fit in in his family tree! i don't think we are related, but i could be wrong.

on another note, my inr has dropped, no doubt due to a recent increase in immunosuppressant, i shall be back at the surgery next week...

GP surgery update

had a blood test and an inr test yesterday. after a blip the inr seems to be back at the level it should be, but unfortunately i have to go back for another blood test as the bottles weren't labelled correctly and so they couldn't be tested (ummm).

the surgery still looks a bit bare, but the out of date magazines have arrived - so there is now something to read, and there are some books for the children in addition to the toy cars that were there at the beginning.

but the latest arrival is an aquarium!!! the staple of chinese restaurants and gp surgeries the world over. it hasn't got any water in it let alone fish, but it is now in the waiting room reading to sooth all those waiting patients.

there is also a nice plaque on the wall announcing that the surgery was officially opened by the Lord Lieutenant Lady Mary Holbarow. if there were a pair of twee curtains there, they are there no longer!!

notice of risk of redundancy

have had a slightly surreal weekend. on friday afternoon there was a staff meeting at work so that we could be updated on the ongoing structural changes in our work. we have been aware of these for a while now and with a new bishop and following a staffing review, a new staff structure was being created. we have also been told that there would be loss of jobs and as i work in one of the affected departments was aware that this would personally affect me.

however i was surprised by the method chosen and the number of job cuts that are being made. there are eleven of us on notice of risk of redundancy, 5 officers and 6 admin staff, and whilst there are 7 new posts being created, it doesn't take much effort to 'do the math'. i think the timing has also been a bit pants as we were told on friday afternoon with a series of interviews, for those affected, set up for today and wednesday, but then we were told to go home for the weekend and forget about it. as if...

unfortunately today i am only half fit for work and have a meeting this evening, so have not been in the office today, so am missing out on the general thoughts of my colleagues. i think more is being made clear through the individual interviews, but until then there are a lot of question marks and not even the chance to look at the summary job descriptions for the available posts. hopefully i will find out more when i am in tomorrow.

i suppose there is no easy way to deal with this kind of job loss, and in some ways treating everyone the same is fair. but some work has already been done in this re-organisation and those posts were treated slightly differently with posts being advertised and people invited to apply. i had assumed and from my recollection of previous meetings been told that this was the way that this process was being organised. therefore it was a shock to be told that i was at risk of redundancy in the way that i was. matthew and i have been doing some talking over the weekend and obviously there are a couple of the new jobs that i shall apply for, though i have to also say on a personal level that the timing is also pants as i really do not want to be thinking about application forms and interviews at this particular point, i would rather be concentrating on getting fully fit.

talking of which, i had an inr this morning, which has climbed to the heady heights of 5.6, so have to reduce warfarin and go back again next week. still building points towards my frequent visitor status...

frequent visitor award

went back to the gp surgery today, my inr and warfarin dosage had gone haywire whilst i was on the antibiotics, so i needed to do a new blood test and then on to see the gp to plan the next couple of weeks.

the surgery has only just moved from a rather cramped bungalow near the station in st austell to a brand new building about quarter of a mile from our home. i was a visitor there on their very first day of opening, and was back there again on the third day and the fourth day. in fact the one disappointment of being admitted to treliske on the friday was that i missed the opportunity to have been in the new surgery four days out of the first five, as i was unable to make my appointment that morning. had i made that appointment i was going to ask if there was some kind of award that i would be entitled to enter myself for, 'most frequent visitor' or similar. but then i realised that it might make me seem like a real hypochondriac so maybe i'll just let that one rest.

the new surgery also needed explaining to a few of the medical professionals during my hospital stay, some knew it was changing, others didn't.

after my visit today (it has now been open for two weeks) i can report that the building still looks shiny new, but the offices are beginning to look a bit more lived in - ie packing boxes have gone. the waiting rooms are a bit bare - no mass of posters advertising various help services/ clinics/ websites etc and one child was telling her mum how she might bring some of her old toys down, she obviously felt there weren't enough.

the upshot of my visit is that my inr/ warfarin dose still need to settle down (an appointment has been booked for a week's time) and i have been signed off work for a week - to start with. the gp was supposed to have used these new 'fit notes' that are being launched today - but she hadn't had a chance to talk with her colleagues about how to fill them in.