"Me and my own experience under the care of William Harvey Hospital, Ashford, Kent."

Earlier this year, I was rushed into A&E at William Harvey with acute appendicitis. I had an emergency operation and remained in hospital for 10 days. The care, doctors and nurses were very helpful and kind. My first experience in staying in hospital wasn't an awful one at all.

Then the problems started. During my appendectomy, the surgeon also discovered that I was suffering from endometriosis on my ovaries. The pain never went away and instead of decreasing over time, it began to increase.

Recently I ended up back in A&E in tremendous pain. I was admitted onto (Gynae) Kennington ward. After a couple of days, one morning I woke and couldn't wee. As the day progressed I was given a catheter to use for 24 hrs. The next day this catheter was removed to see if I could wee. No luck, so another catheter was inserted. The following day I was told that I could go home with the catheter. No check was done to see if I was able to wee. I was sent home still in pain and now with a catheter. I was a bit shocked.

I had to go back in 4 days to have it removed and to see if I could wee then. I returned to the ward at 9am. I sat there all day drinking water and being drained as I could still not wee. By 6pm I was told that I had to go home with another catheter. I refused and said no, explaing that coping with the constant pain was difficult enough, let alone coping with a catheter and wee bag as well, especially as I live on my own and unable to drive due to the pain medication that I was on.

I became very upset. Nobody seemed to be listening to me. Nobody would explain why I couldn't wee.

In the end I had no choice but to have another catheter inserted. The only compromise was that there was a drain, instead of a bag, which had to be opened every 3 hrs.

I felt totally let down. I was the patient but nobody seemed to be listening to me or respecting my wishes and needs.