"Royal Edinburgh Infirmary gynaecology"

This is the next episode in the sage which has been going on for over a year.

Here's a quick update. My mum - aged 85 - has been suffering from post-menopausal bleeding since February 2013. The gynecology department of the RIE performed an ultrasound (4 weeks wait), followed by a hysteroscopy (four weeks wait). said she had a bulky uterus, could not take any scrapings and sent her away with no follow-up.

They diagnosed a bulky uterus, said they could not take any scrapings (so no biopsies) and sent her away with no follow-up though the symptoms persisted.

The GP contacted a consultant gynecologist (took them four weeks to answer) who sanctioned the use of progesterone to control the bleeding - which it did but only to some extent.

The next step was to do a bladder scan (4 weeks wait) followed by a CT of the kidneys (three weeks wait). The CT scan revealed a mass. An MRI scan revealed huge fibroid's. The on-duty gynecologist at the REI said no follow-up required.

Turns out that these huge fibroid's are a side-effect of the progesterone and do not necessarily have anything to do with the bleeding.

A year later the consultant whom the GP had been consulting decided that it was time - at last - to make an appointment. This happened recently. A second ultrasound revealed huge fibroid's and a 'lesion' around the cervix which could be a sarcoma. So ordered another stereoscopy and marked it SOON - which apparently means 12 weeks! ! !

We've got a cut-off date in June. The irony is that if I had asked my mum's GP to order this, it would have been marked urgent and the appointment would be made within - that's right - four weeks! But it turns out that I can't override this consultant. So what now? We still don't know the cause of the bleeding and the medication has caused an extra problem in the shape of huge fibroids.

BTW, I live in Europe. A guarantee of an appointment in 12 weeks is simply laughable here!

Watch this space...