"Thanks for the bants"

Dear Surgical Admissions,

Please allow me to apologise for being a little late for my 7.30am inpatient appointment on 26 November. Having been to the hospital only once prior, any hope I had of getting to Surgical Admissions at the first attempt was a slither at best.

I arrived at the department reception window to a flurry of activity.

"Sorry!"

"That's OK, were you just running late, or...?"

"No, I got lost, this place is like a rabbit warren."

"Oh well you can't come in then."

Banter. And before 8am.

I appreciated the humour, especially as it distracted from my tardiness. I was directed to a room where I could continue to enjoy the buzz of it all. One by one a nurse, a physiotherapist, a doctor, my surgeon, an anaesthetist and someone else in an unidentifiable uniform came in to see me for various pre-op stuff. There was so much energy that in a good way it felt like I was in an episode of Fawlty Towers.

I was only in for a minor knee op to fix the damage caused by a sporting injury sustained in my glory days. Buy me a beer and I'll tell you all about them.

"Pop your hat in your bag too."

"Where will you take my bag?"

"Don't worry, it'll be safe, it'll be locked in a room."

"Oh I just don't want my hat getting crushed. I'm precious about my hats."

"So ... you're OK with your bag getting stolen as long as your hat doesn't get crushed?"

More banter. Respect.

Next up, the anaesthetist's room. And as I lay on a gurney in the centre of the small space the energy was in here too. At 43 years of age I'm not about to compare myself to a finely tuned high performance machine but with four people, one doing something near every corner of the bed, this felt like a pitstop.

I bravely fought the drugs for as long as I could in that room, and despite not being fooled by the lovely young lady trying to distract me from my imminent blackout with conversation, my bravery was futile.

I don't remember much from that point of course but what I do remember is that your health professionals have an unaffected aura of kindness, effortless conversation, an unquenchable British sense of humour and an impeccable bedside manner.

I am well aware that we have some of the finest medical professionals in the world in the UK, so I didn't doubt that I would be well taken care of. I just wanted to thank everyone with whom I crossed paths during my procedure and for making my experience such a positive one. I would go as far as to say I had fun.

Kind Regards,

Nick Burt.

PS. No doubt I'll see you again soon. Thanks to you I'm getting the band back together.