High Temperature

I’ve had this sore throat and cough now for just over a week. Yesterday I felt really bad and took my temperature. It was 38.2. Now during my chemo if my temperature went above 37.5 I was to call the hospital for advice. I wasn’t really sure what the best course of action was as to who I should call. I didn’t want to bother the ward if I didn’t have to, when the oncology unit is closed I had to call ward 40 for advice. I knew I had to get my temperature down so I put the fan on blowing cold air on my and started drinking cold water. I also took some paracetamol as that brings the bodies temperature down.

I decided to go through the NHSDirect help line first. Thinking they would be able to give me the initial advice before contacting the hospital. I called the number and after about 10 minutes waiting in a queue I got through to a man that asked me some basic questions

(TIME: 22:20)

- Name
- Date of Birth
- Post Code
- First Line of address

Then the symptom:

- I have Myeloma cancer and had a stem cell transplant on the 26 August and my next appointment at the hospital isn’t until the 29 Dec.
- I’ve got a cough and sore throat and my temperature is 38.2
- I’m not sure what I should do as previously I would have contacted the hospital direct. I put a fan on and taken paracetamol as well as drinking plenty of water.
- Should I go into Accident and Emergency? (thats what I had to do last time)

There then followed a number of question:

- Can you move your chin to your chest? (Yes)
- Any difficulty breathing? (Only when I lie down but nothing major)
- Can you look at the light OK (Yes)

‘OK Sean I’m going to refer you to the nurse that is on tonight, I have your number and she will call you back. Unfortunately they are very busy tonight and it may be up to 2hrs.’

After waiting the 2hrs and still having the high temperature I was beginning to wonder if it was a bad idea to have called the NHSDirect line, but thought I would wait to see what they had to say, at least I would know what I needed to do.

…. so I waited

…. and waited

… and waited.

I was freezing cold and very tire when finally the phone rang

(TIME: 06:50 – or there about, I was too tired to properly focus on the clock)

Over 6 hours of waiting … finally I would get to find out what I needed to do.

It was a nurse who asked me some basic questions.

- Name
- Date of Birth
- Post Code
- First Line of address

Then the symptom:

this is beginning to sound familiar!

- I have Myeloma cancer and had a stem cell transplant on the 26 August and my next appointment at the hospital isn’t until the 29 Dec.
- I’ve got a cough and sore throat and my temperature is 38.2
- I’m not sure what I should do as previously I would have contacted the hospital direct. I put a fan on and taken paracetamol as well as drinking plenty of water.
- Should I go into Accident and Emergency? (thats what I had to do last time)

There then followed a number of question:

- Can you move your chin to your chest? (Yes)
- Any difficulty breathing? (Only when I lie down but nothing major)
- Can you look at the light OK (Yes)

Did the last person I spoke to actually make any notes!

‘OK Sean I think what’s best is if I refer you to a doctor’

They couldn’t put me through to the doctor so I had to call my local number and listen to the message to find out the out of hours number.

I called the number and the first thing it says is ‘for medical emergencies only call this number…’  mmmm was it a medical emergency? I’ve been waiting over 7 hours now and I wasn’t dead yet, so is it an emergency. I decided to wait for them to answer …. and wait … and wait. I was too tired to do anything else so gave up as I was just falling asleep waiting. I thought the best thing for me to do is to try and get some rest and call my local doctors again in a few hours.

I managed to get to sleep for just over an hour and though I would try the number again. Again a long wait. After much thought I decided I would give up and just ring the hospital for advice.

A lovely nurse Sue was very helpful and after taking some of my details, my hospital reference and my name, she said she would call me back. Now where have I heard that before…. but five minutes later she did call me back and said she had spoken to the doctor and if possible could I see my local GP to see if the infection was on my chest, if it was I would need to go in to hospital. She advised in future though to just call them and not to be worried about asking for advice.

Back to the emergency number again … I finally got through and didn’t have to wait as long this time. I think they had finally got some staff in as it was was early morning. An appointment was made for me at a local doctors for 11:30, not my usual one but close to where I live.

The doctor I saw was really nice and helpful and I’m glad to say it hasn’t infected my chest, but he gave me a course of tablets for the next ten days to help clear it up.

I would have liked to have said that the NHSDirect was a good facility; however after my experience I just found it to be a waste of time and a way of delaying medical care and attention. Next time I will just go straight to the hospital for advice, I have learned my lesson!