"It is one thing to listen but another to hear"

I have breast cancer.  Yes, I finally wrote the words down.  Diagnosed in January and a lumpectomy on the first anniversary of my mum's death to breast cancer, I have struggled. It has spread and I have struggled. I knew something was not right and my wound dehisced.  19 days after surgery and I was devastated. Attended A&E, admitted and put on IV antibiotics.  Released the next day with oral which I took faithfully for the full week with the exact advice on the box.  I did not feel I was getting any better.   The wound continued to weep and the my breast continued to be painful and hard.  

I began to have the same feeling as I did the previous week, I knew something was not right and contacted the breast team.  They were closed and the message said call NHS111.  I duly did.  It tells you there is a 79 minute wait.  Is it a co-incidence that on the exact 79th minute my call was answered.  All the time, I am saying over and over in my head, you need to say the words.  All the time, I am listening to white noise music which is horrendous and I recorded to show NHS this is a horrific way to treat a patient.   

The call is answered.  It is one thing to listen but another to hear.  The first thing I noticed was how incredibly rude the member of staff was on the telephone.  I am a nurse, we are not taught empathy, compassion or kindness - it should be integral in everyone, including a NHS call handler.  I was abruptly asked why I was calling. I said as quickly as I could get the words out..  I have breast cancer, I had surgery, admitted to hospital and the infection has not gone.  Hold the line.

The call handler then came back and asked - and I still am reeling from this  -if the call was for me or someone else. I said, seriously I just told you I had breast cancer. I am only doing my job they retorted. I explained the situation again. They told me to hold. I turn to my husband and say, Can you believe this. Can you believe after me saying I had breast cancer they just asked me if I was calling about me or someone else.

They then retorted - I am doing my job.  I said, excuse me, I had been neither rude, aggressive or harassed you but that was a private conversation between myself and my husband. The rudeness went on.  I am quite sure I was deliberately and unnecessarily kept on hold.  The call lasting over 1 hour and 38 minutes.  I took a picture on my phone as the call ended.  

The whole experience was horrendous. This member of staff spoke to me like I was a piece of dirt. 

I was eventually transferred to a nurse, who was superb.  After just a few minutes, the nurse arranged for me to have a call from a doctor. The doctor called me and asked me to attend ADHOC.  I duly attended and saw a superb medical professional, sadly I did not get their name as I was crying by this stage. 

I explained the situation and how I felt something was not right. Turns out I was right. They called up my swab results only to discover that my wound infection was resistant to the antibiotics I had been prescribed.  This information was on my notes but never followed up.  This was a huge worry for me.  I lost my brother to Sepsis and worried all week that my wound was not healing. I was duly prescribed new antibiotics and sent home.  

So many questions:

Why was the call handler so rude?

Why was my swab not followed up?  

Had I not went with my gut I could have developed sepsis and died...  Scary but just as worse is the 79 minutes you have to wait to be made to feel like a fraud, like you should not be reaching out for help and that you are a hindrance to the NHS.