"Nothing short of perfection"

If you could say that a visit to hospital was a pleasurable experience, then I'm just going to say it out loud!! VERY VERY LOUD!!

The absolutely incredible treatment and amazing experience I had under the expert care of the entire Vascular team at St Thomas's Hospital was nothing short of perfection! 🥰

I was very quickly settled into a bed at around 1am. Within 10 minutes of me being admitted, I was seen by a Consultant Surgeon, who had been called in from home to review my case as an emergency. Me = TOTALLY impressed already by the speed at which I was seen and put at ease by this lovely man. He took time to explain my situation and spoke to be me in layman's terms, that was easy for me to understand and he answered any questions that I had for him.

He explained everything to me what had been discovered by the CT scan and very quickly allayed any concerns that I had with regards to loosing my leg/foot.

"We are a VERY long way off having to chop off your leg! There are lots of options we have before we would even consider that option!

Anyway, it was decided that an emergency operation wasn't necessary immediately and that I would be placed first on the operating list, later that morning. He arranged for immediate pain relief for me and asked that I try and get some sleep, which I managed to do, thanks to the wonderful care and medications given to me by the lovely night nurses!

I slept very well indeed until the following morning, but when my operation went ahead. Even the anaesthetist welcomed my choice of anaesthetic drug, which I had had for my previous appendix removal operation!

To cut a much longer story short now, my care and subsequent stay from HDU following my op and back onto the Sarah Swift ward, to be looked after by the fabulous team on Vascular Surgery, was nothing short of perfection! The care which I was shown and looked after was truly incredible. I cannot fault the whole ward team from housekeeping right up to the Consultants themselves. All part of a very tight knit team, who all had their part to play in my care and that of others that I saw taken care of during my 8 days stay. I had a partially successful op to remove the clot from my leg, then sent home to rest and recoup in the care of my family. I was then scheduled to return to have the main aortic embolism removed in the biggest operation I have ever undergone.

That's a story for another time....... for now I want to round off by my saying that if you ever find yourself heading towards the Vascular Surgery team here, then be relaxed in the peace of mind that you will be looked after by one of the most professional and experienced team ever!

Thank you so very much for taking such great care of me! In these most trying of times, it is most definitely appreciated!