"They go above and beyond to keep us patients healthy"

I need biologic infusions every 8 weeks for Crohn's Disease. For my most recent I was overdue by 3 weeks due to being unwell (the biologics suppress the immune system so you can't have them while you're fighting an infection). My Crohn's wasn't happy at the delay in treatment and I was anxious at both the thought of not having the infusion and actually having it. The longer the gap between infusions the more chance my body will have an adverse reaction or worse reject the drug, this petrified me because this drug (Infliximab) brought me back from the brink and I never want to return to that.

I needed pre-infusion bloods done to make sure there was no lingering infection signs that might prevent me getting my treatment. Crohn's Disease and its treatments have not been kind to my veins so the nurses on the Day Procedure Unit had quite the battle trying to get blood from me and insert a cannula. It took 7 attempts and 4 different nurses such is the dire state of my veins.

These nurses were absolute troopers, I felt so badly for them because they were down on their knees at times trying to get to veins in my hands. I heard so many apologies from them which was ridiculous because they were only doing their job and doing it with such care and upbeat humour that I felt overwhelmed by it. They chatted away to me, put me at ease and reassured me about my fears. There was such great camaraderie between them that the 3 and a half hours I spent on that unit seemed to fly in.

I want to thank each one of my nurses, Shauna, Una, Beinha, Linda and student nurse Eoin. You were each wonderful. These nurses along with the IBD team in South West Acute Hospital go above and beyond to keep us patients healthy. There is a brilliant team in place, the secretary Siobhan, the IBD nurse Tracy, the pharmacist Sharon and then our doctors Dr Elyrah, Dr Fox and Dr Geoghegan. I dread to think where I would be had I not been lucky enough to come under the care of these women and men.