"It feels like they are not taking my pain seriously"

I’m a patient in ward 31 Victoria hospital Kirkcaldy.

I’ve had the same catheter bag on for 9 days now when I've been told it’s actually supposed to be changed between 5-7 days.

I have started experiencing horrible burning pain at my catheter site plus I was also told I had an infection in a broken tooth that would require antibiotics. The pain from both is agonizing and my tooth pain is preventing me from talking properly.

No doctor came to look at my catheter site until about 3am, two days after the pain started. They noted that the area was red and warm to touch. I wasn’t able to communicate properly about my catheter bag not being changed.

The ward staff are not taking my tooth pain or catheter site, catheter bag and bladder pain seriously.

The last time my catheter bag was emptied was last night. It’s now 16 hours since my catheter was emptied and I’m having awful pain in my right kidney plus the pain in my catheter site is getting worse.

The nurses keep telling me to talk properly but I can’t because of my tooth. They also keep expecting me to swallow my medication without any trouble, I can’t even breathe through my mouth without severe pain, never mind swallow fluids and tablets.

It now feels like I’m being punished for being a nuisance on the ward.

I can’t easily get to the toilet by myself because I’m a spinal cord injury survivor.

I now only just realised that I cannot remember the last time my blood sugar levels were tested even though I’m type 2 diabetic.

On metformin and bydureon, I think they have not been tested for days.