"Recent surgery at the Mater Day procedure unit"

I was invited to attend the Mater hospital day procedure unit for surgery recently. 

My initial experience with the hospital and the nurses was very positive. They were lovely, gentle and caring. The hospital facilities were excellent - very comfortable, visually pleasing and not too busy. I felt very comfortable.

The person carrying out my operation was very experienced, very gentle and ensures the patient has all questions answered and is made to feel totally cared for and comfortable.

My experience changed when I went for anaesthetic.

The anaesthetist at first seemed pleasant enough. They didn't explain much of what they were doing to try to put me at ease. The nurses in the room were really lovely.

When the anaesthetist began giving me injections, it was extremely painful and I advised them so. They kept on going. One of the nurses told me I could hold their hand during administration of the anaesthetic. I had no idea how painful it would be, having previously had the procedure before and much more anaesthetic with an anaesthetist who was gentle, caring and trying to keep my discomfort to a minimum.

This experience was the opposite. They were doing a job, but I didn't believe they saw me, the patient behind what they were doing. It was excruciatingly painful, I could even describe it as torture as that is what it felt like. At no point, did they try to help me, comfort me or walk away and give the injections time to take effect. At one point I cried out that they had to stop. They continued on, until I had to demand they stopped. At that point, they did stop, took the clamp out of my eye and allowed me to close it for a minute. Then it started all over again.

At no point did I feel the anaesthetist showed me any care or concern. I just wanted to burst into tears the whole way through. When they finished putting in the injections, the next I felt excruciating pain, as they shoved their hand so hard into the injection site. They used such force, I felt they would injure me. I told them it was extremely painful. They just said they had to put pressure on to disperse the anaesthetic.

By the time I was being wheeled in for the operation, I was so traumatised. I clenched my jaw and was in extreme trauma throughout the operation, having raised myself completely out of the bed for the majority of the operation. This wasn't obvious as I had a blanket over me.

The person carrying out the operation, would speak to me, checking I was ok and letting me know where he was at. I have every trust in him.

At the point where blood needed taken from my arm, I knew the anaesthetist would take it from the sorest part of my arm, and that is exactly what they did. They took the blood from the side of my wrist and I let out a gasp of pain.

When the operation was over, I was being brought down to recovery. I had to apologise to the nurse who had held my hand as I knew I had probably caused them pain by crushing their hand while they tried to console me. I could feel my body starting to shake. As soon as I was handed over to the nurse in recovery, I burst into tears. The nurse was really comforting and lovely. They pulled the curtains round me. My blood pressure was sky high. The nurse talked to me and got me tea and something to eat to try and calm me. I told them I felt it was because I was traumatised by how I had been treated by the anaesthetist. I struggled to take in the information the nurse was giving me, and had to get them to go through it a few times which they kindly did.

I have never experienced this with a procedure before, and have a high pain threshold. Since the operation, I have still suffered with trauma from the experience.  When I came home that night I said I could never go through something like that again.

All the other doctors and nurses involved were very gentle, kind and caring.