I have to attend hospital in a couple weeks for my annual review check up and i thought i would write about it and what it consists of as its not your average doctors appointment.
Once every year or every six months I have to go for a major check over for the doctors to get a fully detailed report on what im doing and more importantly what my bodies doing. You could say its an MOT to check im working correctly and theres no faults that need addressing.
Heres a short list of what the day consists of
Arrive 9am
X ray 9:30am
Ultrasound 10am
Dextra bone scan 10:30am
Lung function 11:15am one hour approx
Body scan (if required or heart check which I had last time) 12:30pm
Lunch 1pm (the cf team like you to have a break and get some food)
1:30pm Physio
2:00pm Dietician
2:30pm Diabetes Doctor/nurse
3pm CF Doctor
3:30pm home time if all goes well.
For a start its a long day and quite boring but as ive been going for so many years its made a little better as you normally already know the people doing x rays and scans so its always friendly and have a chat etc. Ive particularly always enjoyed the ultra sounds as Ive been scanned by the same lady for about 10 years now and she the kindest person ever and is very informative during the scans as I like to ask alot of questions.
So why do we have to do these days of MOT Checks?
Its quite easy it gives my doctor a full in-depth look at what my body is doing and how its coping and helps to plan a forward looking agenda on tablets physio and keeping fit etc and the worst bit is, it shows if I need to come in for treatment (I always hate that discussion).
X-rays are done to show if the chest has any damage to it like scarring of the lungs etc (for the past few years this has increased slowly and my lungs I think are around 30% scarred and therefore not able to repair themselves anymore)
Ultrasounds are done of the liver and kidneys and sometimes the heart to see whats going on and if they are damaged or enlarged or not working proberly. My liver is forever bruised and damaged but nothing to worry about as this is normal with cf sufferers and if its only bruised it can get better but some part is always bruised. The heart is checked for valves and make sure all is okay. I find it weird looking at the screen and seeing things working particularly the heart as you can see the valves working and the blood being pumped through etc but it fascinates me aswell.
Dextra bone scan.
This is done to see how think my bones are to see if they are okay or if they are getting weaker. Im actually classed as osteopenia which isnt quite osteoporosis but its in that sort of bracket, as my bones are weaker than normal levels allow but this has improved over the years (Not that the doctors tell me that I always ask the people doing the scans to tell me even if there not meant to discuss it with me. Last year i had a bone improvement of 17% the biggest improvement they had seen in a while) Although im guessing this year its got worse.
Lung function.
IT is what its says in the title. Its a series of tests to gather how good the lungs are coping if they are getting better or worse and what capacity they are at. This is in my eyes the most important tests as I can tell if I have managed to keep fit and imnprove my lungs or if something is wrong im always the most nervous about these tests and sometimes that makes me do badly during the tests.
Lastly
I visit the cf team, physio dieticians and cf diabetes doctor and finally my cf doctor. This is where they normally tell me off for doing something wrong and say oh we think you need treatment in hospital (which is very likely this time as I just cant seem to get better or improve much at the moment or when i have improved and put weighton and clear my chest I then catch something and that puts me back to square one). I do like these things as I can see whats happening to myself but I also will hate it this year as its going to be the worst annual review ive done so far.
Anyway I just thought id give you an idea of what its like to attend annual reviews and what they are for.
Boring I know but hey thats cf live for you
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