"Quinsy infection"

The infection started a few days before when I started to get pain in the back of my mouth, this progressively became worse, after a few sleepless nights, headaches, ear aches, being unable to communicate, the inability to swallow food, drink or saliva and breathing was coming a concern in my sleep. At the time I decided to seek professional help as no recovery could be seen in the near future. I was staying with Peterhead with work and so went to the local clinical drop in. They told me that I had to call 111 to get seen, calling them I had to go through a lengthy process with a very painful voice to get all my information across. After this I received a call to say my appointment was at 02:40, at about 23:00. After going back to our digs to get some rest I received a call at 01:00 to come in as they were ready to give me an examination. After a brief inspection it was deemed that I needed further medical assistance as my tonsils had swollen greatly and was quickly told that I was going to be admitted into Aberdeen hospital at least for the night to reduce the swelling and get further inspection from a specialist. My colleague drove me to Aberdeen hospital with a location given to me within Aberdeen hospital. This took us a little while to find the correct ward within Aberdeen hospital, as the coloured zones only become obvious when inside the hospital and so we had to re-park to get close to the ward I was to be staying in, ward 210. By the time we had found the ward it was about 03:30 and was told to wait for the doctor to prepare the necessary documents. This took about 45mins, this then led to an inspection in which the doctor confirmed that I had tonsil swelling with a high probability of qinsy in my tonsils. I was then led to a room to wait for preparations for an IV drip in my arm for steroids, antibiotics IV fluid to be put into me, blood to be taken and my vital signs to be checked. This took until about 06:00. When I woke the swelling had greatly reduced from what I was told by the steroids and was able to eat and have a proper conversation for the first time in a couple of days. That morning I got an examination from a doctor and she decided that the abscesses in my mouth should be drained. These were drained later by her and I believe a junior doctor whom had not carried out the procedure before, this was done by a syringe and on a particularly big abscess an incision with a scalpel. I was given a local anesthetic and something afterwards (I can't remember the name) to help the healing of the abscesses. These were left to drain and I was instructed to take water regularly. I was given antibiotics at regular intervals by the nurses and was told I would stay another night, so they could keep an eye on me. My IV was taken out the next day and was given antibiotics and a painkiller mouthwash to take for the next week with instructions to take care of myself and not go to work till early the next week.

During my stay the nurses especially took care of me very well, so compliments to Megan and David (the ginger team) and the night nurse who took care of me whose name I have completely forgotten (glasses guy sorry). They made my stay at the hospital a lot more enjoyable than I could have imagined under the circumstances, and really appreciate their efforts in looking after me. I also appreciate the extra care given to me such as a pharmacist coming round and asking whether I had any questions about the drugs being put into my body.

In conclusion, I was very happy with my stay at Aberdeen hospital and the care I was given, but it was a little difficult under my circumstances to explain my symptoms as I was struggling to speak over the phone. It would have also helped us if areas of the hospital were also labelled outside as we struggled to find where we were supposed to be when we got there.Thanks, a very grateful patient.