"Crohn's Disease"

I have had Crohn's Disease for about 21 years and I have been on Prednisolone for most of that time constantly with varying doses. After an emergency operation due to a perforated bowel 19 years ago, I had a colostomy bag fitted. The stoma nurses are very good and prescribe the items I need through Medilink at Dundee, who are very helpful.

When I was taken into Ninewells with a very bad flare up in the early hours of a Friday morning, I was lucky in getting an ambulance almost immediately, found there were no queues at the Emergency building, was checked over and blood tests done quickly and was then put in the Acute Medical Ward. Later that night I was taken to Ward 2/Bay 3, which was nice and quiet. There seems to be a separate TV room which is great for those that are really too ill to listen to TV programmes at night (something that always used to bother me before).

It turned out I was low on potassium and iron which was rectified immediately. Over the next few days I had an endoscopy, x-ray and a CT Scan. My bloods were checked constantly. The doctor and his team visited me every morning on their rounds to update me on results and treatment. The nurses are very hard working (12.5 hour shifts) and dedicated. The care I received was wonderful and the meals were surprisingly pretty good as well. Even though it would be easier for me to go to Perth Royal Infirmary and would therefore be my first choice if they still had the gastroenterology ward, I would have no qualms about going back to Ninewells.