"Emergency appendectomy"

From phoning 111 with a pain in my abdomen to the admission to Ward C31 in QMC (via the brilliant NEMS), I have nothing but compliments to the NHS.  I am so grateful I live in a country where I can just go for a CT scan on a Sunday afternoon and have a diagnosis that was clear where the physical examinations were unclear what was causing the pain. I was urged to have an emergency appendectomy and transferred from C32 to C31 that afternoon.  I was amazed to find myself in a room with a lovely view of the Castle rather than a ward!

I sort of expected not to sleep much on Sunday night as I was due in theatre on Monday but every time I dozed off, someone woke me up or the buzzers from other people lit a light in the room and took ages to stop. I was also told they would put a saline drip up at 2am but that didn't happen until 6am and I was already getting very thirsty because I had been told not to drink anything from midnight.

The wait for theatre was a long one. I finally went at 1:00 pm but that's to be expected I know. During that time I got very cold and no one on the ward offered a blanket. I used the dressing gown from home which wasn't exactly sterile over the theatre gown until I went along to Theatre. How I appreciated the warm blanket in the Theatre waiting area from a blanket warmer!

Back on the ward, the nurses seemed under such pressure to get things done. When I needed something it was "in five minutes" and that usually took an hour if it was remembered at all.

And because it wasn't their job, things like dressings remained dropped on the corridor floor until the cleaners came round - which was rarely and not very thorough.

I was discharged late in the morning after surgery having had hardly any sleep and the discharge procedure was rushed and incomplete.  My body was still loaded with morphine from the op so there wasn't much chance of remembering everything I'd been told. What I did remember was that the consultant on their ward round had told me that it hadn't been a straightforward op and I would need to rest for 2 weeks.  The discharge notes said nothing about that and also no information was given to me about care of the wounds.  The nurse who discharged me was in a great rush and didn't give me a chance to ask the list of questions I had.  They offered me some spare dressings (which hadn't been changed since the op) and said they'd come back with them.  They never did and when my daughter came to collect me there was no one around to ask. 

I am lucky enough to have someone to take me to the GP practice because the nurse there has been very helpful indeed and has removed stitches no one told me I had!