I have had one of those days. Was not allowed to eat but I was allowed to drink as I was to have a scan at 6pm.
I arrived at the hospital in plenty of time to deal with the formalities of car parking and found a disabled space.
Then it was in to the League of Friends Coffee shop to have a couple of drinks in preparation for the scan. My darling husband had something to eat as he hadn't eaten at lunch time.
By 5.30 I was desperate for the loo but had to hold on until the scan was undertaken. Unfortunately I had to wait over half an hour passed my allocated slot as a consultant decided to use the ultrasound room to check some x-rays. Meanwhile I was wriggling and trying not to burst in the waiting room. My husband bless him patiently asked staff how much longer I would have to wait as I was bursting for the loo. This caused me to have tummyache.
In the end the staff allowed me to visit the toilet just to let out a trickle.
This happened half a dozen times before the scan was undertaken. Having waited an hour for the ultrasound room to become free I was on the verge of going home and told the staff I was fed up of this happening to patients undergoing ultrasound scans.
I am sure the nursing staff are "sadists" and wonder how long patients can hold on before their tempers fray.
Finally I underwent the scan. It appears that the ovarian cyst they discovered in November has been absorbed back into my body. Didn't know that this could happen. The radiographer said she frequently undertakes scans prior to an operation to remove an ovarian cyst just for this very reason thus saving a patient unnecessary surgery.
So today ended on a positive note.
I still have to attend hospital at the end of September but am hopeful I can now be discharged from one of my consultants. That will leave 12.
I have my fingers crossed with my writing ventures and had some positive feedback today about something I have proposed.
So am feeling much better than I was at the start of today.
Hope everyone else is keeping well.
Best wishes
Fee
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Hi Fee, that was very good news indeed, about the cyst.But how miserable, that long wait you had to suffer.
ReplyDeleteDidn't know you were an artist, mysterious lady...hugs....
I dabble and play carole I am not much of an artist I only started playing in september last year. So am no way an expert.
ReplyDeleteIt is like writing you fail if you don't put anything on to paper but to try is something.
I understand your discomfort and frustration at having to wait for your scan, Fee. I know what it's like to be bursting for the loo and the anxiety that comes with having a scan, but I take exception at you accusing the nurses of being sadists.
ReplyDeleteBeing I nurse myself I know this is simply not true. You said yourself that it was the Dr in the room looking at x-rays that caused the delay so why do you not accuse the DR of being a sadist? It is not the nurses fault your scan was delayed so please do not take it out on them. God knows they have a hard enough job as it is without flippant comments being directed at them like this.
I hope your scan results are okay and that your tummy ache passes, but please direct your frustrations at the appropriate people and leave th poor nurses, who are only trying their best to help you, alone!
Julie xx
Dear Julie
ReplyDeleteI didn't mean to cause any offence to nurses.
I was just frustrated at the way I was treated as this was not the first time it had happened to me or other patients around me.
Hope everything is ok with you.
Best wishes
Fee
Yes, Thank you, Fee, all is well here and I'm glad your results were favourable. I understand your frustrations but you have to try and remember that the nurses are not your enemy. Sometimes tests and treatments get delayed. The patient before you in the scanner may have had special needs that meant they were in the scan room for longer than anticipated. The doctor may have had to take more time to explain things to a patient. The doctor or scan operator may have been delayed in starting the clinic for some reason and singling nurses out to vent your frustrations at, no matter how wound up you are, is unfair.
ReplyDeleteI have been on both sides of the fence now, as a nurse and a patient, and being blamed for things that are beyond the nurse's control is one of the reasons I left nursing. Yes there is bad practice in some hospitals and yes things do go wrong. But when you are a good nurse working under impossible circumstances with not enough resources or staff to do your job properly and patients decide to have a pop at you because you are on the front line and an easy target - it does get to you and in my case it made me wonder why I bothered! Those who were complaining knew that as a nurse I could do nothing about the situation but they still had a go - in the end you just give up and let them get on with it. There comes a time when you have to get out to preserve your own sanity!
If patients have gripes they should keep their temper in check and aim their vitriol at the managers and the government who are the real villains in the NHS. Otherwise the situation will only get worse as more nurses get fed up of the bricks falling on them and leave the profession, as I did.
Nurses train hard for three years for a pittance in pay and are expected to be scapegoats and take the flack for a system that is inadequate. Most of them work hard to give the best care possible to their patients and all they get in return is a constant bashing from the media and society. All I wanted was for my patients to be well looked after and to make their stay in hospital comfortable and less scary but in the end I was in danger of becoming ill myself from the stress of not being able to deliver the care my patients deserved due to understaffing and the increasing aggression from some patients and their relatives. These days nurses are damned whatever they do.
If nurses are at fault then yes they should be held to account, but if it is the system that's at fault then we shouldn't be taking it out on the nurses. There are many stories in the media where nurses have been blamed for things that have gone wrong in hospitals when if you look deeper you can see it's actually the management's fault. That is why I am so hot on making sure the real culprits are named and shamed.
How do you think those nurse would feel if they read your blog accusing them of being sadists?! They are powerless to change the system and there was nothing they could have done to speed up your scan appointment. I'm just asking for correct documentation of the facts.
Julie xx