"The best treatment possible"

From day 1 of being diagnosed with a colorectal tumour, to now being given wonderful news 6 weeks later that the cancer hasn't spread, I cannot fault a single thing that Ms Fine and her colorectal and surgical teams have done for me. Regardless of the outcome; the care, support and treatment have been second to none.

The consultant I saw is one of the very best kinds of consultants, as well being one of the most widely respected surgeons for her clinical excellence, she is also completely down to earth, friendly, kind and personable, basically just a beautiful wonderful human being. Southend is extremely lucky to have her! The very best.

Thank you everyone from the wonderful Doctor who performed the initial colonoscopy and discussed the CT report with me, the rest of the endoscopy recovery nursing team - especially the Nurse who sat in with me for the bad news (thank you!), the colorectal nurse specialists, stoma nurses (who I luckily didn't need) all the other surgeons involved including Urology who stented my ureters during surgery, the lovely anaesthetist registrar and ODP who made me feel completely at ease, the pain management team who listened to me and changed my analgesia the day after surgery, the brilliant elective lounge nursing staff who let me in early and got my pain managed as I arrived in agony with my bowel obstructed the morning of surgery and of course the phlebotomists, HCAs and porters who played their important parts, taking my blood and observations, chatting to me and being kind.

Unfortunately my experience of the recovery suite and initial pain relief was nowhere near as good, I spent 24 hours suffering intolerable post operative pain which in my eyes was completely unnecessary, pain control needs to be a priority for patients, especially in those first couple of days post surgery. However my experience with the colorectal and surgical teams more than make up for the short time I suffered so I will save that constructive letter of advice for another day.

Thank you again SGH and the consultant for saving my life and giving me more time with my precious son, hopefully even allowing me to reach old age! Xxxx