[Magdalen] Hate to think about the bill

[Marion Thompson]

What a business!  I'm impressed by the various kinds of care and 
assistance you received.  Especially I like that the OT people would 
check your home in advance of your return, a common sense solution.  In 
other places it might not happen like that -- red tape, liability, and 
all that.  Wishing you a quick and complete recovery from this surgery.

Marion, a pilgrim


On 7/29/2016 9:07 AM, Roger Stokes wrote:
> 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
> .
>