"Admittance to Bolton general with Pulmonary emboli & pneumonia"

Dear @~@~@~@@~~

I feel compelled to write bringing to your attention of my recent admittance to The Royal Bolton Hospital. The timings, titles, names & their spellings might be slightly different to the actuals, for which I apologise, but my excuse is pain, lots of it & drugs, lots of those also! I am a non-smoking, reasonably clean living, 48yr old male, 3 stone overweight, who likes a drink.

On the day of admittance Saturday I awoke at a friends house around 08. 30, with a small tightness in the left side of my chest. Hoping that it would ease over the day. Thought not too much of this, thinking that I may have ‘slept funny’. This never happened. In fact the exact opposite. As the day progressed, so did the pain, not being one to cause a fuss, I decided around 16. 00 to take a Lemsip to ease the pain (Northern lad you see, stuff & nonsense), thinking I’ll sleep on it & if this persists in to the next day I’ll pop to the outpatients. By 19. 00 the pain was unbearable & the voice of my departed Mother came in to my head ‘What if you don’t wake up tomorrow? Get an ambulance! ’ A friend of mine was here & after he had finished watching his program I asked him to drop me off at A & E. Thankfully he did around 19. 40.

I walked in to The Royal Bolton A & E & approached the receptionist. Only me, no queue, was met with a smiling, caring, enquiring face “Hello, can I help you? ” I, clutching the left side of my chest, breathless & sweating profusely uttered, almost inaudibly “I’ve pains in my chest & am finding it hard to breath. ” “Are you by yourself? ” “Yes! ” “How did you get here? ” “Friend dropped me off & they’ve gone now. ” I was asked all my details etc etc and ask to sit onthe front front row of the red chairs and told someone would be with me very soon Which I did. This registration exchange must have taken around a minute. I sat on the red chairs waiting. About 90seconds later, I was in with a triage nurse, bloods, ECG (? ) & questions of which most I can’t remember, life style & identity & what had I been doing, I think. Sat back outside the triage. Straight in to a wheelchair & in to meet an A & E Dr, whose surname sounds European, begins with ‘S’ & her first name is Sara/h. Electrodes, canulars, questions, oxygen all coming from all sides, pain killers (trust me should be renamed, because the pain is still there, it is just dulled ever so slightly). Then another Dr attends Dr Durrant & a staff nurse, Janet who was a constant support. Not forgetting the jovial Staff nurse Steve, making me smile. During my brief stay in A & E I was X-rayed & CTscanned & ECG’d again. All of these people concerned & doing their upmost to find out what is wrong & how can they make it better. I felt completely safe & cared for at all times & have the ultimate praise & thanks for all concerned (esp Dr Sara/h S. & Dr Durrant).

All this prodding & probing took around less than 4hrs from me arriving. I thank you all.

Diagnosis: Pulmonary emboli both lungs & pneumonia in the lower left lung.

I am then moved to D2 the assessment ward around 01. 30 where I am met by Ward nurse Ina (same name as me, different spelling “We might be twins! ” I suggest. The drugs are working by now I think) &Ward nurse Rebeccca. This stay here is a little fuzzy, even though I was awake all through the night & never slept until the following night (pain can do that, esp accompanied with Oramorph). Later that day Sunday 07/04/2014 around 13. 30ish I was moved to D3 where I was to stay until my release (discharge, tomato, tomatoe). Ina & Rebecca I thank you.

During my stay in D3, the vast amount of which was lucid, again I have but praise for all concerned with my stay & treatment; from the auxiliaries who were always friendly, smiling & happy, always having time for a chat, albeit small, but a welcoming piece of human interaction. Their names I never really got, but Hannah sticks (whether that’s good or bad…good) the other lady with the long hair in a ponytail & the bearded nurse (great smile), great brews, I thank you all. The Chefs & kitchen staff who made the food, we never met, but I had no complaints, just praise, the quality, flavours & texture of the foods excellent, I thank you. The porters, always cheeky chaps, not rude, but Del Boy Trotteresq, esp Jimmy the porter who is always looking forward in happiness & never back in anger, he took me for my sonarcardiogram (? ), which was interesting in itself as not many get to see their own heart beating, (well most Drs & nurses I suppose, but not many I know) the ‘ologist’ who did that & explained to me what was going on. I thank you. Brings me to the student Drs; made my stay. They were; Light hearted, but professional. Fun, but commited. Enquiring, but knowledgable. Ying & yangs everywhere. I wish them all well & know that they will make great dart players. ; -) I thank you. My consultants Mr Ahmed & Mr Leo Zachariades, always keeping me informed of what was & is going on & how I can help myself get better, calming & professional & made me feel that I was an individual & important to them, even though I was one amongst many, I thank you. Dr Sara/h (you again) from A & E who ‘popped’ up to see how I was, that surprised me & meant a million, I thank you, possibly more than you are aware, I THANK YOU! My penultimate thanks goes to the Ward nurses of D3: some whom had to put up with me in a lot of pain & I think I may have been rude, not abusive, but loud & demanding relief. For which I do apologise. I know you take it all in your stride, but that’s not my normal demeanour. So nurse Jenny (there’s loads of you (3), but I thank you all individually when I say thank you) I thank you. Nurse Jervie, I thank you. Nurse Paula, I thank you. Nurse Jodie, I thank you & Nurse Amy, I thank you. Any other nurses that I may have forgotten, I never meant to, but I thank you. Each & every one of you made my ‘visit’ an ultimate pleasure & I have nothing but thanks & praise to you all. My final thanks goes to Mr Aneurin Bevan, without whom I would be penniless & possibly 6ft under.

This was my first time since I was 8yrs of age that I have stayed in hospital overnight, I had my tonsils out at The Cambridge Military Hospital, Aldershot. Since being an adult I have on many occasions visited many times & not always the best outcomes, that’s life. I write to bring to your attention of jobs well done at The Royal Bolton, but also to please keep our NHS what it is, if not better. Do not privatise it via the back door. Once it’s gone, it’s gone!

Many thanks & kind regards