Well, I’m (almost) speechless. I have received a letter (a copy of one sent to my GP) from the hand consultant guy’s registrar, which basically said “the nerve conduction tests show no evidence of carpal tunnel syndrome, so we’re discharging her back to you”.

Discharging me? but I’m still wonky! and still in pain! I got in touch with the physiotherapist, who had kept my case open and given me her mobile phone number. We had a long talk and she will re-assess me next week. 

Meanwhile I phoned the consultant’s secretary and said I don’t understand. This gives the impression that the consultant can only deal with carpal tunnel, and if it’s not that, he can’t do anything, which I know can’t be the case. Also, when I initially saw him, and he said I think it’s carpal tunnel but we’ll do the nerve tests to be sure, I said What if it’s not carpal tunnel? and his reply was Well we’ll look for something else. I don’t think that discharging me counts as looking for something else. Hmph.

The secretary did try to fob me off a bit, but eventually, when I’d finished, said she’d have a talk to the consultant guy. Particularly as it was the registrar, not the consultant, who wrote the letter (in very bad English I will say, the grammar was appalling, which doesn’t give one much confidence in the system).

And to top it all, it wasn’t the GP who referred me to the hand guy, it was the physio!

We will see.

Meanwhile, again, the osteopath has been making noises about my needing a steroid injection (yeah, another one!) in the elbow. But you can’t just ask a consultant to do that, they know best. So I’ll see what the physio says, and possibly, if necessary, go back to the osteopath and see if she has any ideas about what to do next.

The shopping has just been delivered, all put away tidily. I’ve started making a trifle, just need to make the custard later on, and have made a coffee cake which I will fill with chocolate buttercream when it’s cooled. Hubby’s sister is coming to stay this weekend, hence the abundance of sugary treats. Excellent.