My wife in her seventies was told to arrive for a mastectomy at 7:30 am and kept in a Covid Isolation room alone till after 4:00 pm by which time she was in full panic mode but they still went ahead. The day case she had been assured of became an overnight she wasn't prepared for and despite five phone calls to the surgical ward I never received a single update on how she was till she called on her mobile in considerable distress at 6:30 the following morning. She was begging me to collect her immediately nd telling me the the operation had been botched. The drain had come adrift and the ward staff were berating her over that and the blood on the bedding. A nurse interrupted and asked if my wife was always awkward, confused and disoriented. I gave a categorical NO and the nurse hung up & I believe switched off the ring tone so I couldn't call back.
After several more unreturned calls to the ward a passing physio answered the phone and got the answers I needed. A "doctor" had seen my wife & as soon as a healthcare visitor was lined up she could leave. At noon I collected wife she was in a dreadful state, struggling to walk my very frightened and obviously in shock; I got her into the car and home as fast as possible and into bed.
The "doctor", instead of sorting out the drain just put a big sticking plaster over the drain wound to seal it, preventing any serum from the very large skin flap from draining - that and the month of manual wound drainage was the least of our problems.
During her ordeal she had had a stroke as evidenced by the sudden total confusion and disorientation complained of by the nurse - in my view either no-one on the Surgical Team in Greetwell Road Hospital had the knowledge to recognise a stroke or they ignored the symptoms .
End Result - I believe the untreated stroke triggered Parkinsons which now a couple of years later has developed into full blown Dementia which will probably cause her early death.
"Poor outcome following mastectomy"
About: Lincoln County Hospital / Breast surgery Lincoln County Hospital Breast surgery LN2 5QY
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