Appointment cancellations

[matab]

Since my husbands back was broken - a misdiagnosed unstable spine due to multiple non contingous compression fractures and Chance's fractures from sacrum to upper thoracic - I have had to attend a lot of hospital appointments with him. To accomodate this I have had to reduce my hours at work. Work have been great but the cost of hiring in cover for my absence is prohibative. They do not complain but I just can't bring myself to book time off every week to cover these appointments. I really struggle with this juggling act but what is starting to really annoy me (in addition to the misdiagnosis) after 2.5 years in the system is the cancellation of appointments. After I have booked time off work and childcare or organised a carer to take my husband to the appointments they are then cancelled. They have cancelled as late as when we were leaving the house to attend the appointment - luckily I went back inside when I heard the phone (to late to then get to work on time) - or sometimes not at all, they just do not inform you if it has been cancelled and leave you to turn up needlesley. After this, they wait weeks or even months to inform you that the next available appointment is 2-3 months down the line. If you dare to ask for an appointment to fit around a very minimal work schedule then the wait gets even longer. Not only does it take years (literally) for the GP to refer you (if you are lucky enough to get a referral at all) but when the referal occurs you have to go through a series of increasingly specialist appointments, each one just hearing the history and then sending you on to someone else and at each stage, all the delay of waiting for appointments and then having them cancelled. Two and a half years down the line, the extent of the misdiagnosis is still coming to light and it still feels like for every step forward we then take a step back. After a long wait and a series of referrals, there was an offer of treatment. That doctor then left and the next doctor signed him off without seeing him and refused to reconsider her decision or even review the notes. We then had to go back to the GP and go through the various levels of referral yet again. The doctors say he should not have been allowed to move at all for at least 6 weeks after the accident. But due to the misdiagnosis that opportunity passed. Now he is left with the consequeces of their misdiagnosis all they can seem to do is leave him languishing on waiting lists. After two and a half years, many of his symtoms are still completely unexplained and he is still living in extreme debilitating pain but also sleeping most of every day with his oxygen levels dropping to 78%. Why? We have no answers. How many years will this take?

Has anyone out there had similar experiences?