Back to see my GP today. I wanted to make sure everything was registered and understood re: the knee op and required weight loss, and the procedure we would follow. After my long-time friend, GP (and ex-student) Agustín retired just after lockdown it’s been a bit hit and miss with front line health care. At first I was assigned Heartless GP who didn’t listen to anything I said and clearly couldn’t wait for me to leave her consulting room asap. Then in June 2024 I had to see the GP again and was surprised to see a different woman at the desk. Pleasantly surprised as it turned out because, in spite of a somewhat serious demeanour, she was actually a Nice GP! She got stuff done. It’s thanks to her that I’m even seeing the proper specialists. In other words, she understands the job.

So today she looked over the last report from Traumatology, including the weight loss requirement, and her first response was to say that I should see an endocrinologist. Since the first step to a new knee is the weight loss, she said we needed to find ways to have that happen as quickly and efficiently as possible. And well, yes please! Then I remembered how back in 2023 Heartless GP had sent me to The Endo for bariatric surgery (!!!) when I thought that appointment was going to be about getting to grips with metabolism, post-chemo and menopause issues, trying to work out a way that would help me not have to take statins and other meds that had recently been prescribed. Anyhow, that appointment was a complete disaster (read at your own risk).

Today it felt different. Again, Nice GP is no-nonsense, I can’t joke with her, I can’t say anything actually personal, she’s just dealing with the facts. The facts today included making a new appointment with an endo (hopefully not the same one as before) and also putting in a new “preferential” request for my shoulder (that appointment seems to have gone missing) and then that was that. And for now that’s fine. Because for now, that’s all I’ve got.