A day of firsts...

[JamezF]

Yesterday was a day of firsts for me... First time in an ambulance, first time in an operating theatre, first time having a general anaesthetic, though I'd happily not have needed to achieve any of them under the circumstances.

Also the first time in the forty-odd years I've had one that the single-tooth denture (replacing a tooth I had smashed out when I was at primary school) has fallen out for no obvious reason, in this case at a time when the result was that I inhaled it as I breathed whilst swimming front crawl and ended up with it partially obstructing my airways.

Thanks to the competence of the staff at the pool (who had to rescue me from the deep end of the pool), the ambulance crew and the seemingly endless number of staff who looked after me at the hospital including the ENT specialist who must have brought his fishing rods in to recover it, I am sitting here this afternoon with nothing worse than a very sore throat.

I shan't be getting back in the water for a few days at least, and when I do it will be after I have removed the denture

The general anaesthetic was quite a strange experience. They said they were giving me oxygen via a mask and putting the anaesthetic in via the cannula. For what seemed like a while I felt that nothing was happening. Then my vision suddenly blurred and I remember absolutely nothing after that until I woke up in post-op.

I even got a free ECG into the bargain as they were concerned about my blood pressure. They were very happy with that though, unlike me when I realised how much chest hair they were going to tear out with the sticky pads used to connect the ECG unit.

James

 

[user 20297]

A scary and dramatic few hours behind you....and relief that you're safely over it.
It's reassuring to know that despite the regular scare stories we hear about the NHS, you've had the same positive experience of the quality of care and skills that I and many others here will have already enjoyed.

 

[Wilco]

Glad all's well. Bot the strangest thing I've heard of being removed from the respiratory tract. A spanner or this:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.th...yle/2009/apr/16/urals-lung-operation-fir-tree

 

[Murox]

Glad its all good.
Just for a laugh.............I got an invite to go for a small procedure I have been waiting for at my "local" hospital which is around 3 hours drive one way. Well the invite was to attend another hospital at Inverness, still in the same catchment area but its at least a six hour drive, around 200 miles one way all on small roads and would involve at least one overnight stay somewhere for a procedure that would take an average of less than half an hour. I declined and choose to wait til my "local" hospital has caught up with itself.

 

[Sutty]

Really? Don't blame you for declining, but a 6hr drive is Manchester to Aberdeen!

 

[Sutty]

Oddest thing I've seen in the respiratory tract was the metal handle of a dining fork - deliberately "inhaled"!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Really? Don't blame you for declining, but a 6hr drive is Manchester to Aberdeen!

and who wants to go to either!

 

[Murox]

Really? Don't blame you for declining, but a 6hr drive is Manchester to Aberdeen!

But there are no motorways or dual carriageways on the west coast roads max safe speed would be around 45mph with bursts of 55 on the straight bits. Rush hour consists of dodging cattle, sheep and deer in the main ,

 

[enrico]

I sympathise, when living in Shropshire had a panic over possible heat problems. We lived mile's from anywhere.. paramedic on a motorbike took ten minutes. He called for helicopter. Another ten minutes. On the operating table in another fifteen minutes. Luckily all a false alarm. Now I live near Taunton with its own hospital. My wife smashed her head open falling off a wall. No ambulance available full stop. Took her myself in the end! It pays to live in the countryside! Glad you are ok James

 

[JamezF]

It's reassuring to know that despite the regular scare stories we hear about the NHS, you've had the same positive experience of the quality of care and skills that I and many others here will have already enjoyed.

It was generally very positive, I have to admit. Not perfect, but nothing even remotely worthy of complaint, and in some instances the level of care was genuinely astonishing. After leaving surgery I was taken to a small ward where I ended up with two elderly chaps who were in for observation and clearly didn't really understand what was happening to them. I don't think either of them really knew where they were which left one very distressed and the other noisy and sometimes a bit aggressive. The kindness, care and understanding shown towards them by the nurses was way beyond anything I think I could have managed.

James

 

[JamezF]

I sympathise, when living in Shropshire had a panic over possible heat problems. We lived mile's from anywhere.. paramedic on a motorbike took ten minutes. He called for helicopter. Another ten minutes. On the operating table in another fifteen minutes. Luckily all a false alarm. Now I live near Taunton with its own hospital. My wife smashed her head open falling off a wall. No ambulance available full stop. Took her myself in the end! It pays to live in the countryside! Glad you are ok James

Thank you. It was Musgrove (in Taunton) that I went to because it's the nearest major hospital, though I was at the pool in Wellington. The ambulance did arrive pretty quickly, but I think I rated as a very high risk (wet, almost naked, "old" by medical standards it seems, blocked airway, gagging, and may have water in the airways) so may have been pushed up the priority list.

James

 

[user 20297]

It was generally very positive, I have to admit. Not perfect, but nothing even remotely worthy of complaint, and in some instances the level of care was genuinely astonishing. After leaving surgery I was taken to a small ward where I ended up with two elderly chaps who were in for observation and clearly didn't really understand what was happening to them. I don't think either of them really knew where they were which left one very distressed and the other noisy and sometimes a bit aggressive. The kindness, care and understanding shown towards them by the nurses was way beyond anything I think I could have managed.

James

Your experiences were exactly as mine...including the weird timelessness of anasthesia.
The aftercare when coming round from that process does seems to be carried out the most genuinely caring way...the nursing team are obviously aware of the bewilderment it induces.
A few years ago, I unfortunately required surgical attention in a very sensitive and embarrassing area of my lower body. The respectful and yet lighthearted way that female nursing staff attended to the very amusing form of bandaging afterwards definitely blunted the pain and embarrassment.
I immediately felt compelled to send an email to the hospital loaded with gratified comments.

 

[Amari]

Oddest thing I've seen in the respiratory tract was the metal handle of a dining fork - deliberately "inhaled"!

Even stranger objects sometimes found inserted at the lower end of the tubing system, e.g, so I was told by a colleague, a bust of Napoleon.......

 

[Erichalfbee]

It pays to live in the countryside!

Depends where.
I had six weeks, 5 days a week, of treatment in Swansea 53 miles away, a journey that usually took 2 hours each way. On a day I had blood tests or consults we were gone all day
Friends living near were in and out in half an hour!

 

[Nige.Coll]

I've spent a lot of time under the NHS care.
Nurses are great, doctors are rare and consultants hit and miss. It all falls into place if you find someone that actually knows what's wrong with you. Finding that someone can sometimes be an issue but if you do it works out in the end.
MRSA isn't fun, been there done that.
Multiple general anesthetics have a toll on your mind and body. 15 so far hopefully no more.
As far as emergency care, they don't mess around.
I had a stroke one friday evening at home alone, managed to ring 111 the non-emergency line, wasn't thinking straight at the time.
Within a very short period the ambulance was here and the lady on the phone stayed on the phone until they arrived. I managed to unlock the front door, not easy when you can't walk, and was on the floor holding onto a 10 stone bullmastif when they arrived, he didn't like uniformed people. That was that a few tests, blood pressure off the scale and left side paralysis so in the back and off we went. The driver could have done a great job on a rally, rush hour traffic didn't slow him down. Misdiagnosed it as a tia because I could move within 4 hours and no MRI but hey I'm still here, it was the worst hospital in the area they took me to. After 2 years of problems I went to see a private consultant, I had suffered 2 strokes one of which they were surprised wasn't fatal. So me and my hole ridden brain carry on. 2 major strokes and 26 little scars according to the MRI, and people wonder why I'm weird. Blessed with a rare form of migraine that causes strokes they say. Now they want to stop the treatment that reduces the frequency of the migraines considerably, but that's a different story.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I've spent a lot of time under the NHS care.
Nurses are great, doctors are rare and consultants hit and miss. It all falls into place if you find someone that actually knows what's wrong with you. Finding that someone can sometimes be an issue but if you do it works out in the end.
MRSA isn't fun, been there done that.
Multiple general anesthetics have a toll on your mind and body. 15 so far hopefully no more.
As far as emergency care, they don't mess around.
I had a stroke one friday evening at home alone, managed to ring 111 the non-emergency line, wasn't thinking straight at the time.
Within a very short period the ambulance was here and the lady on the phone stayed on the phone until they arrived. I managed to unlock the front door, not easy when you can't walk, and was on the floor holding onto a 10 stone bullmastif when they arrived, he didn't like uniformed people. That was that a few tests, blood pressure off the scale and left side paralysis so in the back and off we went. The driver could have done a great job on a rally, rush hour traffic didn't slow him down. Misdiagnosed it as a tia because I could move within 4 hours and no MRI but hey I'm still here, it was the worst hospital in the area they took me to. After 2 years of problems I went to see a private consultant, I had suffered 2 strokes one of which they were surprised wasn't fatal. So me and my hole ridden brain carry on. 2 major strokes and 26 little scars according to the MRI, and people wonder why I'm weird. Blessed with a rare form of migraine that causes strokes they say. Now they want to stop the treatment that reduces the frequency of the migraines considerably, but that's a different story.

Perhaps you’re not worth saving? Who is? Where do you concentrate resources?

 

[Sutty]

Even stranger objects sometimes found inserted at the lower end of the tubing system, e.g, so I was told by a colleague, a bust of Napoleon.......

Bottle of Brut deodorant and an aluminium cover for a car tow hitch (not simultaneously).
People do some very strange things!

 

[Amari]

I've spent a lot of time under the NHS care.
Nurses are great, doctors are rare and consultants hit and miss. It all falls into place if you find someone that actually knows what's wrong with you. Finding that someone can sometimes be an issue but if you do it works out in the end.
MRSA isn't fun, been there done that.
Multiple general anesthetics have a toll on your mind and body. 15 so far hopefully no more.
As far as emergency care, they don't mess around.
I had a stroke one friday evening at home alone, managed to ring 111 the non-emergency line, wasn't thinking straight at the time.
Within a very short period the ambulance was here and the lady on the phone stayed on the phone until they arrived. I managed to unlock the front door, not easy when you can't walk, and was on the floor holding onto a 10 stone bullmastif when they arrived, he didn't like uniformed people. That was that a few tests, blood pressure off the scale and left side paralysis so in the back and off we went. The driver could have done a great job on a rally, rush hour traffic didn't slow him down. Misdiagnosed it as a tia because I could move within 4 hours and no MRI but hey I'm still here, it was the worst hospital in the area they took me to. After 2 years of problems I went to see a private consultant, I had suffered 2 strokes one of which they were surprised wasn't fatal. So me and my hole ridden brain carry on. 2 major strokes and 26 little scars according to the MRI, and people wonder why I'm weird. Blessed with a rare form of migraine that causes strokes they say. Now they want to stop the treatment that reduces the frequency of the migraines considerably, but that's a different story.

That's a tough story Nige. Best wishes and keep on talking to the bees.......

 

[Nige.Coll]

Perhaps you’re not worth saving? Who is? Where do you concentrate resources?

I've had my moneys worth out of them now. My Account is empty lol.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I've had my moneys worth out of them now. My Account is empty lol.

It was a throw away comment. You’ve been through a lot of rubbish. I hope you don’t have any more I really do