"Lovely staff"

On Easter weekend I slipped on wet decking and broke my radius. I was seen very quickly in A&E. I was told the day before would of been a different story.

I’m afraid I don’t remember all the names of the lovely young doctors and nurses that looked after me but they were very reassuring.

Dr Conor said, when he could see I was in pain, told me what they were going to do and said, we’ll give you something to send you away with the fairies. That was reassuring as I was in a lot of pain at that point. I do remember a very good nurse, she had just come back from her hen do. I just recall a very busy, efficient A&E ward, with a bit of banter thrown in too which was a good distraction.

So the pain relief I breathed in enabled me to relax whilst Dr Conor put the bone back in position and then the nurse I mentioned put the cast on. When I was fully awake I was surprised that everything was sorted . I was very relieved and was sent home with painkillers.

Two weeks later in the fracture clinic the x ray shows the radius to be drifting back to injured position so a week later I had surgery. By the way the fracture clinic and X-ray close by, ran a very tight ship and are very organised and I met some lovely nurses and doctors and receptionists there.

So the day before surgery in hospital I was in no doubt about anything that was going to happen. Dessie the surgeon was very chilled and reassuring and said it was like his workshop at home with his tools- funny really but I didn’t mind the analogy.

Anna was a lovely night nurse and chatted about her mum, Lisa was a lovely nurse who took my blood, had a lovely way with her. Hope was funny and I made her laugh when filling in my details when I said there was nothing artificial in me. Jennifer was a lovely nurse and explained everything really well.

Darren the surgeon came and explained the procedure so I was fully informed of what they were going to do and I could ask questions.

Jag did my operation and told me that the bone had drifted and that it was now in the right place. After surgery I was given sips of water in the recovery room. That was so good.

So back in my room nurse Elaine was very kind; now what do you want to do? Do you need help with washing or anything?

A princess name- Elsa. Gentle like a princess and learning gave me cornflakes. I was even told how to make good custard by the man who served me as I said it tasted so good after my surgery.

Lorraine was cheery; she swept in and out tidying and chatting.

Conor the anaesthesia came and checked up on me which gave me an opportunity to discuss anything worrying me; I had a dead arm from the nerve block. When my arm was touched I felt my arm on my lap but it was on the side of the bed.

Well after two nights I was ready to go home and Noelle breezed in- she was very friendly and we covered a lot in a short space of time. I felt we could of put the world to rights if given half a chance!

Aisling was a lovely pharmacist and Lucia the physio advised me of movements I needed to do and that I would be contacted. On returning to the fracture clinic I met Elaine the one and only physician associate In Altnagelvin hospital. She loved her job working alongside surgeons and clearly explained the X-rays. She used a funny country phrase to say how well my recovery was doing.

Well there’s always a risk when you start naming people that you leave someone out or get names up; so apologies for that. I think I might have done that with the surgeons but then I was truly away with the fairies then.