Hi All,
Am not sure if this is the right place to write this but it has been playing on my mind since my Op on Xmas Eve & because of it being Xmas everyone who has asked how my Op went I have just said ok as not wanted to put a downer on anyone else’s Xmas.
I was Dx 2nd December & booked in for WLE/SNB on Xmas Eve, my treatment at BCC & upon DX was brilliant, I was introduced to my surgeon who happened to be the husband of the Doctor that DX me & i was informed by just about everyone that my surgeon was indeed one of the best & I was in the very best hands, in fact some of the nursing staff went as far to say that if they ever required breast surgery it would indeed be him that they would want, the reassurance received was fantastic as i was extremely nervous.
On the morning of my Op I arrived at 7 am & was informed that i was 2nd on theatre list & was sat in a small room for an hour on my own, i was then asked if i could go back & sit in the waiting area so that they could use room for another lady, eventually i was called to come get a gown on & taken to another waiting area to wait to be called down for surgery. Whilst sat there for approx an hour with about 12 other ladies all in for their carpal tunnel surgery the nurse came in & advised me that I had been bumped down the list due to an emergency (no problem with this at all) she then came back 20 mins later & said that I would now be going at previous time as they had changed my theatre it suddenly occurred to me & the rest of the waiting room who were listening that if my theatre had changed had also my surgeon so I asked & was told rather flippantly, yes thats right but its no big deal our other Breast Surgeon is very good too so dont worry, great now everyone knows why i am in
I feel embarrassed to say but i fought to not cry, so many things were going through my mind for example did the new surgeon know what the other surgeon had in mind for me did they know my fear of being put to sleep etc, etc ? ? All i wanted to do was ask if i could cancel, go home & wait for another appointment where my original consultant would be available, the man who for the past 2 weeks had reassured me, answered any questions with patience, squeezed my hand when the tears had come but felt in a room full of strangers who were not really aware of what i was going through it all sounded rather pathetic, as it turned out i could give the situation no more time & was walked down to theatre (in tears) where i have to say the Theatre staff on learning of my anxiety did everything to reassure & the new surgeon came out & introduced himself.
Roll forward 2 hours back on day surgey ward where i woke to a nurse putting BP cuff on bad arm, managed to inform her of this to which she giggled & said “silly me” & then proceeded to tell me that it was now 1 pm & i arrived into recovery at 11.05 so as long as i ate a piece of toast i could go home as i ticked all the boxes of what i needed to do in order to be released, she then went back to the Xmas Party that was being held on the unit for the staff, lots of laughing & singing (not that i am against people celebrating Xmas or anything else, just hard to listen to when you feel so low) I still felt very groggy & had a visit from the physio, i dont even remember what she said as i kept drifting off to sleep & the paper with the exercises on the nurses threw away before i woke & had to be rescued from the bin, it was at this point i asked another nurse why i felt so sleepy
& could she check the time of arrival in recovery room as i had been told 11.05 yet i was pretty certain that i hadnt gone down to theatre till 10.30,she checked & advised me that I hadnt infact arrived into recovery until 12.15 & would not be able to go home for another hour or so,I asked this nurse if she knew if all that was supposed to be done had been done as was aware that i had no blueness around breast just 2 cuts & she answered your colour does look ok so maybe they didnt do it (SNB), i asked why & if she could find out but she was unable to help, so am now worried as i feel like i dont know what has been done to me.
Eventually i was informed that my husband was on his way to collect me & when he arrived he helped me dress & then as we left we searched the unit for a staff member to enquire about pain relief, dressings etc but to no avail, it seemed everyone had left which was quite worrying as there were still 2 woman on the ward asleep.
Apologies if this seems one long rambling disjointed account but I just feel totally shell shocked & very uncared for, I am not either a negative person or a complainer & i wish at times i had the ability to shout louder but the one thing that i am sure of is that i did not & have not received the after care that i am surely entitled to & as i dont have my results appointment till January could anyone advise me how i can find out exactly what was done to me on Xmas Eve if only to put my mind at rest.
Thank you for reading
Sarah.x