"Not a nice experience at all"

At 22 weeks pregnant I began to experience unbelievable pain in the right side of my stomach. I contacted NHS24 and got an out of hours appointment for St John's Hospital that night. When I got to the waiting room, I passed out and was rushed through to A&E. I was seen by a nurse who began taking all my observations and then a junior doctor. I explained to both my symptoms, my concerns I had appendicitis based on the pain being 10/10 and its location. I was told that I was more likely dehydrated as appendicitis pain would be in my groin, not my side. I was sent home, despite protesting that the pain was 10/10.

The following day I was admitted to Ward 11 at St John's and sent for an MRI. This confirmed I had acute appendicitis. I was then blue lighted through to Edinburgh Royal. I was put on the maternity ward there and seen by a senior surgeon. I was asked what pain medication and fluids I'd been given since being at St John's. I advised I'd had no fluids and only paracetamol. The surgeon seemed very unhappy that neither had been administered as my notes apparently stated I'd had them. At that point the risk of surgery was explained and I was advised it was a straight forward low risk procedure and that I was top of list unless any emergencies came in.

The following morning an anaesthetist came to see me to talk me through what was going to happen next. It was at this point they informed me that this was very high risk, high chance of miscarriage and that in their opinion I was being bulldozed into having this operation. I instantly panicked as no-one had ever mentioned any of these risks to me. My surgery was delayed a few hours until I spoke to the consultant obstetrics Dr. Eventually I was reassured and went for the operation.

The following days were very tough and I was made very aware of the battle between surgical and midwifery departments. The midwives were amazing and tried their best to stay on top of the surgeon's orders in regards to medication etc, however quickly discovered there was no consistency on what I should be given and when. This resulted in pain medication wearing off completely before being given any more and being left in limbo whilst they tried to speak to the surgeons. I also was unable to get any clean wound dressings as the midwives didn't have any suitable and the surgeon's solution was that I walk along to the surgical ward to get some. I was at that point unable to even walk to the toilet in my room unaided.

A few days after my operation, the surgeons visited me and advised that in their opinion my appendix was about 2 hours away from bursting. Had that happened, the outcome for both myself and my baby could have been catastrophic. I can't help but be angry that I came so close to that due to what I feel was a Dr at A&E not being thorough. 

My experience overall was very worrying and in hindsight, I actually don't know why I accepted being sent home from A&E. 

If I was able to give my opinion and ask for anything to be done differently, it would be to ensure that pregnant women are not put under the same blanket of typical appendicitis symptoms. The location of my pain, I have since been told by a midwife, would be in an atypical location because of the movement with my uterus and baby moving. I shouldn't have been sent home without being seen by someone from the obstetric team. 

I also think that the us vs them mentality between midwifery and surgeons at the Royal needs to be addressed. I was very aware that the midwives didn't feel I belonged on their ward as I was a surgical case (although this did not impact the care they provided, they were all amazing but was clear their hands were tied) and that the surgeons didn't want me on their ward because I was pregnant. I don't think that's a nice experience at all.