"Transanal haemorrhoidal dearterialisation with..."

I saw a consultant in December 2015 and was put on the waiting list for the above mentioned operation.

I received a phone call in late May and was offered the operation in early June but was told it would be performed by a colleague of my consultant.

On the day of my operation I received excellent care from the the nurses that looked after me in the Day care unit, it was clean, tidy, organised and the nurses performed their duties in a very professional manner.

I'd done plenty of research on the THD procedure and felt very positive on the outcome of the operation but felt a bit dismayed when prior to the operation the surgeon told me that among the list of complication on the consent form, the fact that I could end up wearing a bag had not been included and I had to resign the document before the operation could take place.

In light of the situation i was put in i was tempted to ask whether this would be Gucci, Chanel or a nice Valentino bag but surely not a colostomy bag as they are so passe.........but decided against that thought and just signed as requested.

I felt fine after the operation but a bit light headed from the general anaesthetic and after having something to eat and drink was looking forward to going home.

Unfortunately this was not the case and I didn't leave until approx 11 pm.

Looking back, I regret than when the surgeon came to check on me after the operation I didn't ask them whether everything went as planned but surely the consultant would have told me if it hadn't or pre warned me on any surprises that I might have on inspecting myself.

After getting home and while cleaning myself before i got into bed I was shocked at what I discovered.

It's been been 12 days since I had my operation, I've seen 2 Doctors about my post op issues and made numerous calls to Boston Hospital and have now discovered that my discharge papers have no mention of a follow up appointment with a consultant at an outpatients clinic.

The NICE (National institute for health and care) in their latest September 2012 revised update state.

Haemorrhoidal artery ligation:

Selective ligation of the arteries supplying blood to the haemorrhoids using a specially designed proctoscope with a Doppler-guided facility to identify the appropriate vessels.

A review concluded that there is insufficient evidence to judge the effectiveness of this technique, although the mean hospital stay was shorter than after closed haemorrhoidectomy, and there were fewer post-operative complications.

The United Lincolnshire Hospital website states

The colorectal surgery department at Boston offers the most up to date treatments for proctology conditions like haemorrhoids and fistulas and are dealt with using the latest technology including doppler guided surgery.

As I don't have a follow up appointment I can only gather that Boston Hospital assumes a 100% success rate with the THD procedure and that patient feed back is obviously not required.

Back to my Doctors to get another referral.