Thank you to everyone for your messages wishing me luck for tomorrow and my progress post op
I arrived at the hospital at 3.30pm for my 4pm admission to find on my ward (Doulton Ward ) there was already two other 4pm admissions sat waiting . We chatted for about 45 minutes then at 4.15 the ward sister came into the waiting room and spoke to one of the guys and told him sorry there are no vacant beds and he couldn’t be admitted he had to go to the hotel on site where relatives stay over and sleep there and come back at 8am on Tuesday (today) she then went away came back 15 minutes later and told the other gentleman there wasn’t a bed for him either and he had to sleep at the relatives hotel and come back in the morning. I fully expected the same treatment but at 4.45pm I was told she had a bed for me and I was admitted into a bay of 4 beds. Later on it became clear one of the other 3 men in the bay had mental issues apparently he had been released from prison in decembe4 2017 and had anger issues. He was ignorant to the staff and kept shouting obscenities . I was praying he would fall asleep or they would sedate him so the rest of us could get some sleep but this didn’t happen so a stressful sleepless night was had by everyone in our bay . I finally dropped off at 4am only to be woken at 6.30am to have my observations taken lol 😂😂 honestly you couldn’t write it !!
Prior to coming into hospital I’d had a CT scan with contrast booked for 9.30am this morning and at 9.50am when no one arrived to take me I mentioned it to a nurse who said don’t worry we know it’s booked they will just be running late . I offered them my paperwork regarding the appointment which I’d brought with me, thank god I did, it turned out that the Scan had been booked at the wrong hospital it had been booked at Guys instead of St Thomas hospital so the ward sister had to plead with the radiology department to squeeze me in as the scan is needed before my op tomorrow. Well the scan eventually happened and if you haven’t had one the blue dye they put in you makes your body feel warm and you get flushed and you feel like you are going to wee yourself ( they do warn you upfront) and honestly I really did think I was going to wee myself but thank god I didn’t.
I asked to move bays to get away from “Ronnie Kray “ and fortunately they’ve moved me into the end bay which only has two beds so there’s myself and a sweet soft spoken 81 year old Portuguese gentleman who is so polite I’ve literally gone from bunking with “Ronnie Kray “ to bunking with the Male version of “Mother Theresa”
It’s just before 4pm as I’m writing this on Tuesday ( day 2 ) and I’ve just been told they are bringing me some clippers later and I’ve got to clipper all the hair from my chest my arms and my groin she said I could leave a little bit above my genitals if I wanted too but the majority of people just whip it all off so I’ve decided to be trendy down below and see what it feels like .................. don’t judge me people !!! 😂😂
Joking apart everything that has happened has messed with my head a bit the situation yesterday was quite stressful thinking I was sharing a week of my life with that nutter especially post op when I’m gonna need some peace and quiet then the cock up with the scan didn’t fill me with confidence and I started doubting what the hell have I travelled all this way for to be in this hospital ? Then when I pulled myself together I’m here because the surgeon I’m seeing is amazing and none of what’s happened is anything to do with him and could have happened at any NHS or private hospital in the country it was just circumstances but remember you are more fragile when your in hospital and things that wouldn’t normally phase you do so be prepared for that. I’ve done what I usually do I’ve got over it I’m positive again and trying to look further than the op tomorrow
I probably won’t be able to update my progress until, the weekend from what the nurses have said so I’ll try my best to give you an honest report ASAP but please bear with me
Take care and thanks again for all your kind words
Pete ❤️
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Ticktock61
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Hi Pete, quite a start to your hospital stay! Hope it hasn’t messed with your head too much and that you can stay focused, especially when you use those clippers😁.
It has been a weird 24 hours both physically and emotionally and yes I will need to keep focused when I’m using the clippers I can’t afgord to lose any lol 😂😂
Good to hear you’ve got on the first step. I know what you mean about the sleeping. Thankfully I took earplugs with me (although the hospital did have them available but they were foam ones and I prefer the wax variety). I had to tell the nurses on night shift that I was wearing them for when they came to wake me for my obs. So frustrating when you’ve at last managed to get to sleep to then be woken up to take your blood pressure!!!!
Hope everything goes well tomorrow and look forward to your updates.
When I was in St Thomas's I was meant to have a scan before discharge but nobody told me and the information was not passed on during handover. I was back in Hertfordshire when I got a call asking me where I was as I had a scan booked. The scan was carried out on an outpatient basis. Fortunately I picked up the appointment was at Guys. Even the technician found the saga amusing. Some things never change!
Wow Pete. Good luck mate. Difficult times for you but you're absolutely right that sort of stuff can happen anywhere. Not that that makes it any easier! Hope everything goes ok for you and will be crossing fingers for you. Keep strong. Nic
What a stressful start for you! My husband is on day 7 today and is doing really well. A bit spaced out for the first few days and any pain was dealt with with painkillers which of course made him sleep more but it seems to have been much easier than we envisaged (easy for me to say I know!).
Good luck with your op - sounds like you have exactly the right attitude to get through it. Onwards and upwards x
Pete , we had a Reggie Kray type and a bloke with mental health issues during my stay at Doulton ward. Reggie spent a peaceful night in room number 1 . I felt sorry for the prison officer who spent all night chained to him while sitting in the bedside chair. The other guy constantly dressed and left the ward only to return an hour or so later only to repeat the process. It must have been a nightmare to try to keep tabs on him.
The staff on the ward get no choice in the matter. They have to provide proper care no matter what the status of the patient is .
Trying to get a full night's sleep in hospital is notoriously difficult!
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