"My Knee Arthroscopy."

After a sporting accident, I visited A+E, and further tests shown I had torn my lateral meniscus, a piece of cartilage in my knee and needed an operation. One week later on the scheduled day of my operation I was greeted by a lovely team of nurses to get me ready and prepared for my operation. Due to the priority system, my operation was 7 hours late, which made me very anxious, however when I was there, the nurses did everything they could to make me comfortable, and ease the time I had to wait. When consulted by the surgeon before my operation, I met a lovely, humble person who took time to explain in great detail what I was having done, and really made me feel like i wasn't silly for being scared, and It was alright to be this nervous over a surgery everybody was telling me "is minor". The time I saw in theatre was very short, due to the brilliant anaesthetist who made me very comfortable and knocked me out straight away! After waking up, the surgeon said the extent of the damage was very borderline in whether It could have been fixed, and even though it took them a good hour longer than it would have, the doctor took the time to fix the inside of my knee the best they could - which made me feel great to know someone believed I could come back from this injury, and cut the risk of me delevoping arthritis massively. The fact that the surgeon took time to do a job that many would have declined because of the damage, just shows the expertise that the Orthapaedic team have. Due to the complications of my operation my knee couldn't be packed full of anaesthetic like it generally would have, which meant I suffered with intensely severe pain and needed to stay overnight. Although waking up with the worst pain I have ever felt in my short 19 years, the surgeon came round and made me feel comfortable, explaining the procedure to my family who could relay it back to me, and was genuinely one of the most lovely doctors I have ever met. The nurses in the recovery were amazing, one nurse refused to leave me to go on their break which tey had already waited 3 hours for, this demonstrates how lovely the staff are here, and how even though they are overstretched and overworked, they still strive to give excellent care to their patients, and even though I still feel mega guilty about this nurse missing their break because of me, it just goes to show what a brilliant work ethic they all have. When I was transferred to a different gate, I was looked after very well all night, and the nurses the following day were brilliant. The nurse who was looking after me was very wary of how much pain I was still in and was constantly monitoring and checking on me. The nurse also taught me how to use my crutches, managed to get a physio therapist to come and visit me, as well as a lovely visit from my surgeon from the day before, who came to make follow up appointments, and gave me their personal secretary's number to go home with if I suffered any problems! genuinely lovely people!