The Neurologist

One of the things arising from my visit to the epilepsy nurse was the promise that I would get an appointment with a neurologist and at short notice (we were offered a cancellation) we got to see a consultant today (yes, a Sunday). We were told we were going to see Dr Artal but we were met by someone else who said his name once but I missed it. Apparently he wasn't based at Raigmore but was "helping out".

I have to say that neither Beth nor I were very impressed by him, so much so that I wrote this in an email to the epilepsy nurse afterwards.

It didn't start well, silly thing really but he didn't offer his hand to shake, which pretty much everyone medical does in my experience.

And then he started talking. Which he did. Very fast. He seemed positively wired. I hope it was just coffee but it was disconcerting.

He also didn't help his cause by turning to Beth, when I'd asked her a question, and saying very brusquely, "Who are you?". Who did he think she was? Who would a 57 year old man turn up to something like this with other than his wife or partner? And if he wasn't sure then at least ask politely.

Anyway, the bottom line was that I was left with the impression that he felt we were wasting his time. He brushed off the two recent episodes as nothing worth worrying about. He didn't want any scans or any follow up appointments, just punted me back to you.

Oh, and no hand shakes on the way out either. He just sat at his desk while he left.

I'm writing about this not because I'm looking for a second opinion, I've got no reason not to believe his assessment, but I did want to feed back into the system that he's not exactly "patient friendly" based on our interaction with him.