[Magdalen] Hate to think about the bill

[Roger Stokes]

Now I am home I can update you on my activities, and lack thereof, since 
Monday. I am part of a walking group that has 3 groups doing different 
walks eacg week.  The usual pattern is to start at a pub in a local 
village where we can park our cars, order lunch and then do a circular 
walk, mostly on public footpaths, over the next 2 hours befire returning 
to the pub and having our lunch. For various reasons I have not been out 
for several weeks so was looking forward to it this week. We'd been 
walking about 50 minutes when my right foot went down a large hole and I 
couldn't get up even with help so the emergency ambulance was called at 
11.25 a.m..

Some people stayed with me, others went to the nearest bit if road, 
perhaps a mile away, to direct the ambulance crew, and the rest 
continued their walk. Because there had been a number of more 
life-threatening cases there wasn't an ambulance available for some 
time. When they got there they realised it would be difficult to get me 
to their ambulance so they called for back-up from the Hazardous area 
Resource Team. There are 15 of these scattered around the country as a 
national resource, each consisting of 7 paramedics on duty at any time 
who have undergone at least a further 8 week training session and the 
majority do a further 2 week urban search and rescue course after that 
so they are very well-trained.  They travel in a convoy of three 
vehicles - an ambulance, a support vehiche and a pod which contains 
other equipment.  It must have been quite a sight seeing them making 
their 40 mile journey under blue lights to where we were!

When they arrived they off-loaded their Polaris, not an old nuclear 
missile but a 6x6 ATV which can carry a patient in the back. I was 
trabsferred to the basket stretcher which was then phuysically lifted 
onto the vehicle for the journey across the field (under blue lights) to 
the road where I was unloaded and slid across to the ambulance 
stretcher.  The suspension did its job and it was a comfortable ride - 
more so than in the regular ambulance to the hospital where Accident & 
Emergency was jammed.  This meant the ambulance crew had to stay with me 
for another coup;e of hours before I could be handed over to hospital 
staff, sliding over to one of their trolleys.

Over the next several hours I was seen by three doctors and had an X-ray 
which showed no bones nroken but there was a diagnosis of a ruptured 
quadriceps tendon which holds the muscle at the front of the upper thigh 
to the knee. I was told I would be admitted to a ward and the surgical 
team would decide on Tuesday morning what happened next.  That final 
transfer happened at 1 a.m. Tuesday morning, with a further slight delay 
as there wasn't a bed for me to transfer to when we arrived in the bay.  
These delays would not have occurred if my condition had been 
life-threatening or liable to deteriorate.  I was safe and nothing 
adverse was likely to happen as a result of the delay.

Tuesday morning the team duly came round, declared I needed surgery but 
it wouldn't be that day but the next so the Nil by Mouth order was 
lifted and water appeared on my table, followed closely by a doctor who 
said there had been a change of plan so I would be operated on that day 
so not to have anything to eat or drink.  An anaesthetist appeared to 
tell me that he proposed using a spinal block if I agreed, which I did. 
Having signed the necessary forms I was taken down to theatre where 
three people checked that the forms they had related to me and I 
confirmed my signature, the block was administered.  Tests with a 
cold-water spray indicated that it had taken effect so after the needles 
went in I felt nothing from my chest down for a couple of hours.  The 
operation lasted 65 minutes, under the supervision of the consultant but 
actually performed by two other members of the team. About 30 minutes in 
recovery with no side-effects before I went back upstairs to the ward 
and was able to eat and drink.

Wednesday morning's round I was told I was fit to be discharged once the 
physiotherapist had got me out of bed.  Before she got to me the doctor 
came back again to say that the latest blood test indicated dehydration 
as my kidmey function was not in the right range so it would be another 
night in hospital.  The physio came and got me out of bed and using a 
frame for a short walk. Early Thursday afternoon she came back with her 
occupational therapist colleague and we went for another walk, where I 
felt more comfortable and confident. The OT lady said they would need to 
see me at home to check any extra kit I would need and the timing meant 
that would need to be Friday after my discharge.  A little later she was 
back again to say that if I could give them access to my place she and a 
colleague could do it that afternoon so another form was signed and the 
front door keys handed over.  It made things easier for them that I am 
10 minutes walk away from the hospital. She got back as I was being 
taken down to the discharge lounge.

Another wait there, not as long as for another patient who was waiting 
for her medication (I already had mine), the discharge letter was 
printed out and I was wheeled out to the Patient Transport Service 
vehicle for the short journey home where I arrived about 6 p.m. Supper 
was pizza, one I had got on offer about a week ago, and I was glad to 
collapse into bed at 10 for an undisturbed night's sleep.  Got out of 
bed this morning, shuffled across to the bathroom for a proper 
strip-wash and my first shace since Monday and back to the bedroom to 
work out how to get dressed when you can't bend your right leg because 
it's in a splint to immobilise the knee. I have discovered that the 
computer tower offers a good support for that lag, withe padding at the 
back of the splint providing some comfort.

Roger