"Breast surgery with the best team and care"

I recently went to Antrim Hospital to have surgery. The procedure was to help me with pain management, to reduce anxiety around cancer and to help improve the quality of my life. It was an emotional experience which I have waited a few years for and which I am enormously relieved is now behind me.

From the moment I arrived at the pre-surgery area to the moment I left the discharge suite, all staff treated me with dignity, respect and compassion. I felt well cared for and very looked after for the duration of my time in Antrim Hospital. This matters greatly as I was very anxious and scared about the process and how the surgery would impact me and my life afterwards. 

Mr Simpson (my surgeon) was kind, thoughtful and considerate and I found Dr Potla (my anaesthetist) to be remarkably compassionate and diligent and a steady force of reassurance when I was most distressed and worried. I was very scared when he was preparing me for surgery and his calm demeanour, soothing voice and gentle words and his attention to detail reassured me at the moment I felt most vulnerable. I will never forget how him and his team (small army of loving, gentle and funny women) were so kind and reassuring at a particularly difficult and hard time for me. 

The porters, the nurses, those who served me tasty, nourishing meals and the good humour and fun of those in the discharge suite, all of it helped and all of them impacted me. I was greatly impressed by how I was treated by every member of staff I encountered and I am delighted with how it all went and enormously relieved to be sitting in the comfort of my own home, less than 48 hours after the surgery was completed.

I want to thank them all and I particularly want to thank those who reassured me when I was most scared and nervous. Surgery and recovery is scary and every gentle word, soft reassuring touch and act of compassion was appreciated and mattered to me greatly. 

Thank you to everyone who turned a difficult time into a lovely experience. 

Every one of you should feel proud of what you do and how good you are at your jobs.