"Lack of follow up appointments"

It has been a very stressful and tough year! In Nov 2016 after almost dying while carrying our son my partner took ill with sepsis after having a badly infected gall bladder. 

The night before that my partner was violently sick and in extreme abdominal pain, she was heavily pregnant. I called Crosshouse Maternity outpatients late in the evening and was told to keep her at home, as there was an outbreak of norovirus at the hospital. After watching her writhe about in agony for over 12 hrs I had to phone an ambulance, I could not let her suffer any more as I felt totally helpless! 

On arriving at Crosshouse Hospital we were met by a midwife at the maternity emergency entrance and she immediately started doing obs and running tests and it was then she diagnosed sepsis (6) and advised that both my partner and our son were in immediate danger. Both were tachycardic and immediately they administered an general anaesthetic to my partner to prepare her for emergency surgery. I was standing in a room with super efficient surgeons and midwives and my son was born within minutes and was given antibiotics as a precaution. Thankfully my son was healthy and happy due to the speedy response of the Surgeons and midwives.

My partner was kept in high dependency for several days on many bags of fluids, broad spectrum antibiotics and morphine before being transferred to ward for a day! Prior to being sent home she went for an abdominal scan and that was when they discovered a very inflamed and infected gall bladder, which was full of stones. The gall bladder was so inflamed that they could not operate until it was less inflamed as she had just had a major surgery for her section! Both my partner and son returned home . My son had jaundice which soon cleared up on its own but my partner was still very ill. 

Within 8 weeks of being sick and being in a lot of pain my partner had a bad flare up with her gall bladder so in desperation I took her to Accident and Emergency where we were told to sit in the waiting room with her being violently sick and screaming in pain. I had also informed the receptionist that she had just got over a very serious case of sepsis and I had an 8 week old baby with me! When she did get to a cubicle the staff nurse, who went above and beyond to help my partner, observed and administered morphine within minutes. She was then sent up to station 2, who were caring and attentive to start with but then I felt the care became absolutely atrocious. She was screaming in pain and they gave her paracetamol, even though the doctor had prescribed morphine orally. She had to beg for more stronger pain relief! One night when I was visiting she was violently sick and unfortunately urinated at the same time. She could not get out of bed for all the lines and cannulas so I went to the nurses station and asked for help. After waiting nearly 15 minutes I got up and asked again to be told they were very busy and I would have to wait unless I took her to the toilet myself to clean her up. Normally this would not be a problem as on occasions I have had to wash and change her on numerous occasions this year but she was in extreme agony and inconsolable! I did manage to change and wash her, with her holding on to me shaking and feeling very ill. The staff nurse appeared and told me they would take over. I was finished and she had to just get back into bed which a nursing assistant had changed in between her numerous roles, she was rushed off her feet! She was allowed out just before Christmas Day and in hindsight should not have been allowed out as she was in extreme pain and could not even enjoy our son’s first Christmas. 

She was then admitted to day surgery to have a ERCP procedure.  This did not go to plan and she was kept in for 24 hrs for observation. She told the anaesthetist she could feel the whole procedure and she was basically ignored. On visiting her that night she could tell me the whole procedure from start to finish, surely if she was sedated enough she would not be able to replay the procedure to me bit by bit? She was left traumatised. She was let out the following evening and struggled on in extreme pain vomiting bile daily and suffering painful diarrhoea daily too! As well as the gall bladder and bile duct pain. 

She was then admitted in Feb 2017 for her cholecystectomy Which we thought would just be a quick op to remove the gall bladder, she was in surgery for almost 4 hrs and the surgeon stated it was one of the worst they had seen and not all stones were removed! On the day before she was due to be released the surgeon arranged for her drain to be removed. The staff member came in and asked her to take a deep breathe and ripped the tube out and my partner let out such a scream! The following day my partner was told by a nurse to take off her own dressings which I was appalled at, what if she had bacteria on her hands?( which is highly likely as she is in a hospital ward). At this point she basically begged to get home because we both knew she would get on better at home rather than being treated like a nuisance! The surgeon come to see her and release her and we both heard them say they would see her within 6 weeks. We did not both imagine it! 

I called after not hearing anything by week 12 to be told that they do not do follow up appointments and best to go back to our GP. We went to the GP and within a few weeks had an appointment to see a consultant. We went to see a consultant at Ayr Hospital and they did numerous examinations of her abdomen and they did notice something was not right and said she was very tender where her gall bladder had been so they sent us away feeling confident all the pain and discomfort would be over soon upon waiting for an MRCP of her abdominal area and to have a endoscopy and a Sigmoidoscopy. 

Within a couple of weeks she had her MRCP at the Royal Jubilee hospital (late Aug) as you will be aware that is now 12 weeks ago with no sign of the other 2 procedures or results of the MRCP. This is now over a year in extreme pain and being unable to live a normal life. My partner has not been able to enjoy her first year as a mother due to all the operations and procedures and she cannot cuddle him for long without a) being sick b) having to run to toilet c) being uncomfortable and in pain. We cannot lead a normal life and visit family or go for lunch/dinner, the usual simple and everyday things that families do! She also had a flare up in between her scan at jubilee and September when she was kept in A and E for 6 hrs receiving fluids intravenously and sat in a corridor for over 2 hrs. Which inadvertently was not A and E staff fault it was just an extremely busy day! We are now at a loss as what to do now! For the sake of our family life and my partner getting better, we are desperate for someone to listen to us and help us.

This week has been particularly bad as we have spent the last week housebound because she has been violently sick every time she eats. 

We are begging for help