Re: Coo-eee, I'm home!
- From: "The Brownie" <me@privacy net.>
- Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:56:47 +0100
"Gareth" <gareth@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:mn.7b1d7d9adb0b2b28.9103@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Val told me that she'd kept you all up to date and I'd like to thank youYou leave all thoughts of thatpatio, and similar. Youve got to get really
all for your kind wishes. :-)
Anyway, this hernia was exactly eight weeks since my last one but it was
on the other side. However I encountered more problems again.
OK,here's what happened:
So Sunday night/early hours Monday morning I woke up in terrible pain and
found a 'lump' on my left side - about 6 inches to the left of my navel.
It felt like a hernia and the pain felt like a strangulation. So I took a
shower using the HiBi Scrub that I used last time (to prevent infection)
and phoned the out-of-hours surgery. A doctor then phoned back and from my
description he also said it appears that I have what I said (strangulated
hernia) and to phone an ambulance - which I did.
Anyway, I got to the Hospital A&E at about 03.15am where they left me
until about 7am, then they sent me down for two X-rays.
Just before they changed over from the night shift staff to day shift
staff, the lady Doctor came and said I should go home now and go to see my
own Doctor who would refer me to hospital for tests as the X-Rays didn't
show anything.
I pointed out that X-Rays would NOT show tissue like that, which she
agreed, so I emphatically refused to leave. I told her there was something
seriously wrong and it needs seeing to. She handed me over to the daytime
Doctor who reluctantly then sent me up to the emergency admissions ward
for investigation.
They didn't seem to treat me with any urgency and it was not until
mid-afternoon that I was finally sent down for an ultrasound scan on my
left abdomen. The doctor there poked the spot saying "Is it here?"
"OUCH!!!" I screamed out in pain and said "I think you now know where it
is now." Anyway the scan confirmed that I had a *strangulated left
Spigelian hernia*.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spigelian_hernia
I pointed out to the doc doing the scan that A&E wanted to send me home at
8am.ish and he said it could've killed me!!!
So it was back to the ward and a visit by the surgeon. As it was, the
surgeon said they may have to take out some of my bowel as I'd had the
strangulation for quite some hours and it even took the hospital 16 hours
before they operated on me. But fortunately for me the bowel was ok as I
lay flat on my back whilst waiting which helped a tad... and it was less
painful for me like that.
Anyhow, I went down to the theatre for my op at about 6pm but the
anaesthetist wouldn't allow me to go through for the procedure as the
doctor had failed to write if it was on my left side or right side and
that I had signed and agreed to the op. That took another HOUR to get that
sorted, then in I went...
Oh, I forgot! Because my type of hernia was a rare one, compared to other
types of hernias, the doctors/consultants wanted the student doctors to
come and take a look. I must have had about 5 or 6 'groups' of them
popping in and having a feel and a look. LOL
(Southampton General is a teaching hospital)
After my op which took about 1 hour 40 mins I found myself in recovery and
in worse pain than when I went in so they gave me some morphine... then
some more... then more... and more... and more - I had loads of shots
altogether after which I could've floated back to the ward by myself. ;-)
But they took me back to a ward where I spent the night awake and taking
more pain killers and by morning I was feeling fairly ok. Although when
the nurse came in to take my observations at about 1am she saw that my
'drip' wasn't flowing and that it hadn't been turned on so she said that
she may as well take it down as I was drinking now anyway. I told her to
leave it there and turn it on as I was NOT drinking - I was trying to
sleep.
Then in the morning someone came round dishing out breakfasts but missed
me out entirely (again! - this happened 8 weeks earlier too), so I asked
the person dishing out the food why I hadn't got any and she said I'm on
Fluids only - but the doctor/surgeon said that I could eat, so I called
the nurse in. She confirmed that I should have breakfast and asked if
there was anything I didn't like "Yes - cereals" said I, and I asked if I
could have a sandwich to which she said 'No problem'. Then she returned
with a bowl of cornflakes and said they (the hospital) doesn't have any
bread!!! I won't tell you what I said!.
Anyway about five minutes after that in walked a young lady who said "Good
morning everyone, I'm Matron."
Wa-Hey! I grabbed her (not literally) and asked why a hospital of this
size does not have any bread and why I did not get any breakfast. She
looked at my name and said "I'm sure I've just written to a person with a
name like yours about another complaint a couple of months ago."
Yes, it was the same person - me ... she went ballistic and told off the
nurse and ordered her to go and fetch me a Chicken Sandwich pronto - and
one arrived within 5 minutes.
Matron also gave me her personal telephone number and told me to contact
her if I should encounter 'any' further problems.
They finally discharged me at around 2pm yesterday but when I read my
discharge papers it said ONCE AGAIN that I had Sclerosis instead of
Cirrhosis.
When I queried it, the nurse said that they had copied it from my notes
(which I had pointed out were wrong 8 weeks previously). I told her that
I'm not leaving until they get it right. It took them four hours to get it
right on the computer and to print out a new discharge paper for me.
So she then said I could leave as she'd ordered a taxi but once again I
had to ask for a chair to be taken down to the entrance/exit. In their
reply about my previous complaint the Hospital agreed that all discharging
patients must be wheeled to the door in a chair by a hospital porter.
And now I'm home with a five inch scar which is a little tender and I'll
leave my patio paving slabs alone now for a while. :-)
--
Gareth ( email address invalid ) .....
Good to *see* youre back, Gareth. You certainly have been through the
mill, haven't you. Lucky to be alive from when we read.
fit first.
Marg
.
- References:
- Coo-eee, I'm home!
- From: Gareth
- Coo-eee, I'm home!
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