is back from hospital - here is what happened

[Guest guest]

Thanks for all of you that replied to my shout for help last friday (02.06.06)

friday when I

had regurgitated all my food and liquid and was forcefully regurgitating flem.

If it was not for I would have given it another 24 hours before going to

the

emergency department, heaven knows what state I would of been in then.

And I do agree with that I believe that the problem was partly caused the

the stress

caused by my time-scale to get treatment (waiting 2.5 months to see a person who

you

believe will do the surgery, only to discover it was the GI doctor again telling

you that you

have A and your options - the same conversation you had 3 months previously).

As in my last post, when I saw the GI doctor last tuesday he said it would be

another 2 to 3

months before I would get a chance to see the surgeon and then at least 6 weeks

before

surgery.

Well here we go, last friday lunchtime I decided to go to Bournemouth (Dorset

UK) A & E

(hospital emergency department).

Arriving at 2pm I was shortly seen by the triage nurse to whom had never heard

of A.

After explaining what A was and what my problem was she sent me back into the

busy

waiting room.

Luckily the A & E department is part of the same hospital that are dealing with my

A, and so

the clever nurse decided that it was a waste of time me seeing one of there

doctors and

phoned up the team of the surgeon that I was due to see in 3 months.

Within 5 minutes of sitting in the waiting room she called me back into her room

where

she directed me through the back door of the room and took me straight up to a

ward,

where I was admitted and put straight on a drip.

Unfortunately as it was all but the weekend I could not see the surgeon until

Monday

(yesterday) and so I was kept on a drip until Saturday evening, allowed/able to

drink water

from saturday afternoon, and put on Fortijuice (a high cal,vitamine,mineral

drink).

On the Monday (what a fun weekend - the hottest weekend of the year so far and I

was

stuck inside) I finally met the surgeon who later that day performed an

endoscopy on me

to ensure the E was clear and there was no blockage.

***THING TO NOTE : When waiting for the endoscopy a nurse brought me the

authorisation form for the procedure (I believed she was a specialist nurse that

worked

with the doctor, but I found out today she was just a ward nurse type) and asked

me to

sign it.

In my usual way I asked what I was signing (she was expecting me just to sign

without

question) she then went through the form, she said it gave them permission to

perform an

endoscopy under anesthetic and to use botox if they deem it necessary. I stated

that the

last endoscopys I had had I did not have anesthetic and that my GI doctor and

things I had

read on the net had suggested that surgery is better to be carried out without

any prior

treatments if possible and so I would really prefer not to have botox. She was

amazed that

I would question their suggestion/recommendation and she said that the surgeon

would

not suggest the botox if he felt it would hinder the surgery, she said she would

get the

surgeon to talk to me prior to the endoscopy about the two points, so I signed

the form to

save time later. The surgeon did not discuss either with me, one minute I was

laying on my

side and they were putting oxygen up my nose, and the next I woke up in the

recovery

room ready to go back to my ward. I did not see the surgeon until the following

day

(today) one his opening lines was that they did not use botox as they prefer not

to do this

if surgery is considered. Shortly after I spoke to the surgeon the nurse walked

by and

enquired if the surgeon had spoken to me, I said NO, she asked if they used

botox, I said

no because it can make surgery harder as I said. MORAL OF STORY = DONT SIGN

ANYTHING UNTIL IT IS CHANGED (not just for A - but in the real world also).

The result from my stay (4 days), was that I have now seen the surgeon (the main

A

surgeon for my area - with seemingly good track record) this has saved 2 to 3

months,

and surgery should now be in the next 2 to 3 weeks rather than 6 weeks - SO NOT

ALL

BAD NEWS )

Thanks for all your help (current and past messages)

I had never found any need for a support group before, this past episode has

made me

realise that when we all go through hard/difficult times the support and

comments of

others on the same road can ease the journey.

It is so good to know that you are all here in this rusty old station wagon ;o)

I will keep you updated as and when things change.

Thank you x