well that was not expected!

A trip to A&E is never expected and this one certainly was not!

Having visited friends on a Saturday night, and not drunk anything really as I was cycling the following day, we returned home 1030 ish. I had a piece of bread before I went to bed and that's when it began.

I got to bed and was really uncomfy...a bit of indegestion... it'll clear. And that was that.

2am and I'm awake... something's not right- this is now hurting. I got up and went downstairs to wander about to try and shift the pain- it was all in my chest- very similar to the pains I'd experienced before my gall bladder was removed... as the early hours progressed, so did the pain until it got unbearable- I tried to make myself sick. Nothing. Went to the loo a couple of times- made no difference. OK, ambulance please.

So the ambulance crew turn up asking all the usual questions. HR low as ever (that's fine- my resting pulse is between 40-50bpm) but unusually, my blood pressure was really low. By now I was also really cold and clammy. Not good.

They tried to get a cannula in- I did warn them that my veins were all collapsed thanks to my previous hospital encounters- they always think they know better- after 4 attempts, they gave up!

So we get to A&E at Lincoln County Hospital- which for a Saturday, I thought was unusually quiet!- and they did all the usual ECG etc etc Oh and let's get some bloods- here we go again.

The nurse has a go..."erm, I think I'll leave it for the Doctor to do" (we are now at 8 attempts and they have also looked at putting one in my foot!) Doctor comes in a totally BUTCHERS my arm in trying to get some blood!. I'll point out that by now, I've had some morphine, so I was adlibbing like a good un!
"Look, it's clear you are not going to get any blood out of my arms or feet. Why don't you just get on with it and take some out of my groin... even though i know it's cheating"
"Oh, is that ok to do that"
"Yes...but it is cheating you know"
"It's not cheating Mr Crow"
"Yes it is and you know it is- just get on with it!"

In between all this, I can hear the nurses at the nurses station...
"Oh, I've not been feeling too good on this shift"
"I know what you mean. I'm not firing on all cylinders today either"
"Yeah, can't wait to finish...not been felling up to it tonight"

And we, the public- in the cubicles- can hear all this... doesn't fill you with confidence does it, especially when my wife tells me the nurse had 2 leads the wrong way round when she did my ECG (brown and purple- apparently an easy mistake to make! FML!!!)

Next we went to X-ray for a picture of my chest.... this was clear as, it transpired, were my bloods (white count slightly raised)... "Mr Crow, we'll need to redo your ECG as we had an inconsistent reading" (see above...useless!)

By now there was a shift change (must be 8am) and the new nurse assigned to me was also less than useless... didn't even know how to use the blood pressure machine. To be fair, she was agency staff, so I'll let her off this ;-)...and she didn't know how to use the ECG machine (but she DID get the leads on me in the correct places!)

Another smart ass doctor comes in and after checking the new ECG print out and all the other paperwork, has not got a scooby doo what is wrong with me, so with his 6 years of medical training and however many years on wards, his massive salary and experience leads him to... "It's just a bit of gastritis and you can go home now"

Bit of a fob off but hey... my heart and lungs are fine. I've had some morphine. I'm still in pain. Off ya pop! if it flares up again, we can put a camera in your stomach and have a look. If that was an attempt to put me off returning, IT WORKED!

It's now Monday and I'm back at work... like I have any choice as self employed. Am I better? Pretty much- my chest hurts when I take a deep breath... almost like I've been hit in the chest. Otherwise, I think I'm fine apart from my arms... I look like I've had a weekend on smack!

So have I learned anything... no late night eating for me, that's for sure! I've looked at diets for people with gall bladders removed and there is no hard and fast rules. There are blanket suggestions of fat free diets and I know eating lamb and KFC sets me off, but so far everything else has been ok. My accountant, for example (who also had her gall bladder removed) cannot drink alcohol or eat beef, so it seems to effect everyone differently.
If I discover any other foods I cannot eat (oh yes, aubergine makes me throw up though I've no idea if that's an allergy or if it is gall bladder related) I'll post the info here somewhere. 

Finally, today I got a text from the hospital...

We would like you to think about the care and treatment that you received in our A&E department. How likely are you to recommend our A&E department to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment? 1 Extremely likely, 2 Likely, 3 Neither likely nor unlikely, 4 Unlikely, 5 Extremely unlikely, 6 Dont know. Please reply today, texts are free of charge. Your feedback is anonymous & important to us. Please reply STOP if you dont want to receive any further surveys from the trust. Thank You

Hysterical!... like you have a choice which A&E you are gonna be rushed to!

Not that I have replied, but I'm sure you can guess how I'd score them!