"A birthday to remember!"

I visited the A&E department twice over 2 days over a weekend as I was experiencing severe stomach pain. On the first occasion I was diagnosed with stomach cramp and given appropriate medication to deal with the problem and was told to return if this did not work. This appeared to relieve that particular problem but over the next 48 hours I experienced bouts of severe chest pain coupled with continuation of tenderness to the stomach. This problem continued for several hours over the Sunday evening with no signs of it going away. My wife called the ambulance service and a paramedic attended our home and after tests, including for cardiac problems, decided I should go to the A&E department at Yeovil. The department was quite busy but I was assessed quickly and coupled up to monitoring equipment, bloods taken for tests and given more pain relief. Bearing in mind how busy the department was at the time and the need for test results to be known and a doctor requested to examine me I was seen by a doctor in a reasonable time. I was told about the probable diagnosis and given some medication to relieve the problem. Fortunately this worked quite quickly and relieved the pain. There was therefore no need to make any further investigation into other potential or deep seated problems that might be causing the pain. I was released to return home having been in the hospital for 5 hours. When I returned home I felt better, even though rather sore, than I had done for may days. The diagnosis was that I had a severe stomach inflammation that originated from eating a rather rich meal several days earlier. This divested itself originally as stomach cramp but clearly developed into severe inflammation which caused the pain. Having enjoyed a life relatively free from may health problems (and yes the day of my last visit was my 70th Birthday!) and not being in a hospital since my early teens I have to say my experience could not have been better. I am probably not good with being ill and am a little impatient wanting to get sorted as soon as possible but my wife tells me I am not good with pain! Everyone from the ambulance service and in the A&E Department were very professional, understanding and helpful. Everything was explained in a clear way and we understood what was going to happen and why. A great team of dedicated people! It is always easy for people to complain about the service but I must place on record that I could not have wished for a better service from the NHS.