"The wait is certainly worth it"

I had fallen from a ladder one afternoon in June 2019 (4pm) and landed awkwardly on my left ankle. As the evening wore on the pain became unbearable and my wife drove me to our nearest A&E dept at Larbert (21.10pm) .I was seen quite quickly (1.5 hours) or should I say moved from waiting area to a cubicle. Eventually I was seen by a doctor (23.30pm) who straight away thought my ankle was broken. However after an X-ray (Which Only took under 5 minutes and the person doing it seemed very uninterested) by that time it was midnight the result was inconclusive and I was sent home and advised to come back up if I could not weight bare after 24hrs. Just elevate the ankle and take pain killers.

I have had issues with my ankles on and off over the years and in 2016 underwent surgery on my right ankle to repair a condition known as “snapping perineal tendons” where the main perineal tendon comes away from the ankle bone and jumps out of place and over the bone. The operation repairs the bone/cartlage which keeps the tendon in place. When I came off the ladder and injured my right ankle I also noticed that the same thing had happened (the perineal tendon was “snapping” out of place and over my ankle bone. I passed on all this information to the doctor while getting assessed but they didn’t seem too worried about it.

I didn’t have a good night pain wise (Wednesday) and all day Thursday it was only ok if I kept the leg elevated but extremely pain full if I had to go to the toilet on crutches. I didn’t sleep on the Thursday night at all due to continued pain and on the Friday morning I was unable to get out of bed due to the extreme pain which made me faint and feel sick. The swelling had increased massively and was now half way up my shin bone and being vertical on the crutches was excruciating. the pain was also shooting up my leg and into my thigh anytime I tried to be upright. My wife decided we were going back to A&E  Larbert.

We arrived and checked in at 11.15am. I was taken to a cubicle at about 13.10pm where I was treated by 2 nurses Jennifer and Sharron. This is where I can’t praise both nurses highly enough for their care and attention to detail with my injury. Right from the moment I first got out the wheelchair and onto the bed they were superb, especially Sharron. She seemed so much more interested in how I got the injury, how I fell, what way I fell, where the pain was, how was the pain, what type of pain and not only checked my ankle, but my shin, leg, hip and back. Both of them were convinced that the injury was more than just a sprain. They did explain that some tissue injuries can be as painful as a fracture for example but wanted to do further xrays as they were not happy with the pain I was in or that I couldn’t be vertical without extreme pain. 

After further xrays of not only my ankle, but my shin, foot and more importantly my heel, Sharron was convinced she could see something on the X-ray indicating a possible fracture to the heel. She was determined to get to the bottom of the pain and persisted in checking the X-ray from different angles and with the help of a consultant she found a fracture on the X-ray.   

I was given pain killers, anti inflammatory and a surgical boot to wear and an appointment to return later next week. 

I have to praise both these nurses for their determination not to just give up and to eventually find the cause of the pain. They were so nice, upbeat, made me feel confident that they would get me sorted out. Nothing seemed too much bother and they were great at interacting with different patients. During my time in the shared cubicle Jennifer also dealt with a pensioner and another gentleman and in both cases she was super with them. 

We always hear about the long wait when people go to A&E but when you get two nurses like I did the wait is certainly worth it. Well done to both nurses and without their attention to detail I would probably still be in a lot of pain

Thank you both