One year on ...

Today is the first anniversary of my diagnosis (see MS History - part two).

Health professional bodycount so far.

Starting with the first GP visit last year, the bodycount is as follows

• GPs 4
• Practice Nurses 2
• MS nurse 1
• Ward nurse 1
• Occupational Health nurse 1
• Phlebotomists 6 (estimate)
• Physiotherapists 1
• Neurologists 5
• Neuro-psychologists 2
• Radiologists 4

If you consider the medication as well, I have probably cost the NHS more money over the last year than some of it's employees.

Symptom recap:

Current symptoms:

• mild optic neuritis (since Jan '09)
• doublevision / nystagmus / intra-nuclear opthalmoplegia / oscillopsia
• fatigue
• tingling / pins and needles
• neuropathic pain in legs

Symtoms that have cleared up for now:

• L'Hermitte's sign
• vertigo
• muscle weakness
• involuntary muscle movement

Of the current symptoms, the fatigue and optic neuritis aren't quite as acute as they were at first onset, so I feel much better, relatively, than I did last year. I think it is important to stress that I still have bad days, though (I nearly fell asleep in a meeting yesterday). Things are also helped by friendlier medication.

Health Professional Body-count

With my long-awaited referral to a neuropsychologist finally coming through and my work leave sheet bursting with hospital and GP appointments, I thought it might be amusing to tot up the number of health professionals I have met regarding my MS since last summer.

• Phlebotomists - 5
• Neurologists - 4
• General Practitioners - 4
• Radiologists - 4
• Practice Nurses - 2
• Ward Nurses - 1
• MS Nurses - 1
• Physiotherapists - 1
• Neuropsychologists - 1
• Occupational Health Nurse - 1

So without including pharmacists, medical students, drug company staff, couriers, receptionists, admin staff, haematologists and other backroom staff - a grand total of 24 healthcare professionals have been involved in caring for my MS face-to-face to date.