"Fantastic nurse - I'm so lucky to have met her"

Endoscopy/colonoscopy at the Mobile Endoscopy Unit

I'm autistic, and was absolutely terrified for these procedures. I was in hysterics for weeks before hand, and up all night the day before struggling with the prep and having a horrible time.

I had been in and out of hospital the last few weeks and had quite a difficult time, with blood tests getting lost and moved from room to room, waiting all night for blood transfusions and changes of medications. Safe to say I have become very wary of hospitals in general.

So today we went to the mobile unit at Gartnaval for an endoscopy and colonoscopy. The receptionist was so lovely, calling ahead to make sure we hadn't gotten lost. And then the nurse, Carrie, came out to talk to me. She explained everything that was going to happen, she helped me plan hand signals I would use if I needed to stop.

She let me try the mouth guard on before to see how it felt and understood the difficulties of wearing the hospital gown with my sensory issues. She gave me lots of warning of how the throat spray would taste and feel so I was prepared. She took her time and made sure I understood everything in the consent form, and she actually managed to make me laugh which was really impressive considering how horrible I was feeling.

Through the procedure she and the other nurse held my hand and helped me when I was crying and gagging and panicking, they helped me to breathe and stay calm and reassured me all the way through it.

She made sure that if I needed to stop then we stopped, and then she calmed me down and reassured me before we tried again. Carrie was very gentle and kind and did everything she could to make it as easy as possible. She chatted to me through the colonoscopy and kept me updated with everything that was happening at each step, helping me to relieve pain and move positions and stay calm.

The consultant and all the other nurses were also wonderful and looked after me very well.

I've had a lot of different experiences with doctors and nurses and she is the most wonderful one I have ever met. I am so, so thankful that I got her today. I truly don't think I could've done it without her.

I've never been more scared for anything in my life and I can't put into words how much she helped me. She told me so many times how well I was doing and how brave I was and how she knew I could manage, and it really helped.

I just really hope that this will get back to her so she can know how much she helped me, I can't thank her enough. She did such a wonderful job, I'm so so grateful. I really hope that she can read this and know how fantastic of a nurse she is. I'm so lucky to have met her.