"The Spinal Unit Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham. HDU E12 and Ward D8 - Thankyou!"

I can DITTO everything said by 'Cornflake Girl'.

A Huge, Huge thank you to ALL of the Staff at the Spinal Unit at Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham.

Earlier this month my husband (very nearly) after waiting 13hrs for an ambulance to get him to A&E was examined and the clinician suspected Cauda Equina, we were told he needed an MRI scan and if confirmed, he would need to be transferred to Queen's (60 miles away) for en emergency operation. He was unable to pass water and had gone numb in his buttocks, groin, and parts of his legs. He was admitted to a ward early hours of Saturday morning and was still unable to pass water, at 4am a catheter was fitted to empty his bladder at this time I came home to see to my dogs and get a few hours rest.

I returned to the ward on Saturday morning by which time my husbands catheter had been removed. He was told that he would be seen by the registrar when he came out of theatre. We were also told that there was no one in the MRI dept until Tuesday. Saturday passed and my husband had still not been seen by the registrar. Another catheter had been fitted to empty his bladder and then removed. My husband was in so much pain that he was well dosed with morphine. I left the hospital late Saturday night.

On Sunday morning, I received a text from my husband asking me to bring lots of clean undies as he had been incontinent during the night. I made my way to the hospital. My husband had another catheter fitted and at 09. 40 he was seen by the doctors. At around midday my husband was collected by the ambulance team and transferred to Notts some 60 miles away. We had had a hellish time all of which my husband was in pain and was now worrying that something awful had happened to him.

Arriving at Queens was a God send. Within a couple of hours my husband had had a MRI scan, had been prep'd everything had been explained in laymans terms. All the risks had been explained to us. My husband has other underlying health problems so it was explained that following the op he would move to recovery and then to the high dependency ward E12 before moving to ward D8. At 19. 40 I said goodbye to my husband and off he went.

As we lived so far away, I was made comfortable in the quiet room of D8 where I rested. At just after 2am the ward sister came to give me a message from my husband and to tell me that he was in recovery. the nurse told me that he was going to HDU where he would be looked after by the Adult Critical Care Team. I was told that someone would come down from HDU and take me up to see my husband for a few minutes.

When I got to HDU, as I walked through the door, I was greeted by a lovely man called Matt. Matt said that he understood that I lived some distance away and told me he could not offer 5 star accommodation but told me he could make me comfortable in the Family Room. I thanked him and told him that I would be just as happy in a chair next to my husband. I was provided with a comfy chair, pillow, blanket and foot stool. What more could I ask for! What a perfect caring gentleman, and wasn't I grateful to find that Matt was my husbands dedicated critical care nurse for the night. What a grand job he did and I was allowed to stay by my husbands side all night. In the morning a lovely girl 'Dominique' took over from Matt. Dominique was just as caring and let me stay with my husband until he was transferred to ward D8. I must say that everyone on HDU E12 worked really hard and remained professional, polite and courteous throughout their very long, very busy shifts. A huge THANK YOU to ALL of the staff in HDU E12 especially Matt and Dom.

At 4pm on Monday, my husband was transferred to ward D8, where he was cared for until 7pm on Thursday. During this time the care that my husband received from the nurses, doctors, care staff, dinner staff, cleaners and anyone I have forgotten, was second to none.

Everyone was cheerful, professional, hard working and turned a horrible medical nightmare into a pleasurable stay at Queen's.

THANK YOU ALL

SPECIAL THANKS TO; Matt, Dom, Julie T. , and of course Abhishek and his team!