Day 3 - The first night

Friday 11th September 2009

I was woken at 6.25am by a staff nurse coming into my side room to give me another batch of intravenous antibiotics. I started taking them early in the morning and already my hand where the antibiotics was administered, was hurting.

As expected I didn’t sleep at all. I think I finally nodded off at about 4.30am. My back was really hurting me as the bed was so soft.

The IV line in my hand was now really painful and I could feel the antibiotic fluid flowing through my vein.

Sister came into my room. “Hello”, she said, “I’m Deb, the Ward Manager and I always pop in to say good morning to all the patients”.

I saw her again shortly as she accompanied Mr O’Brien and his team of doctors when he did his rounds. Mr O’Brien explained that I was now to be under the care of an orthopaedic consultant called Mr Green. When my original consultant retired, all his patients were transferred to Mr Green. However no-one at the hospital bothered to inform me of this…

Deb, the Ward Manager, asked if I had seen Mr Green before. I said I hadn’t.
“Oh, he’s gorgeous”, she drooled, “you should see him when he’s all gowned up for theatre and all you see is his baby blue eyes. Oh!!!!”.

Mr O’Brien who had been talking into his Dictaphone stopped speaking and looked at Deb.
“Well, he is handsome. Don’t you agree”, she asked the women student doctors.
They all blushed.
“See! You’ll think the same”, she said to me.
“I’ll let you know”, I replied.

Just as I was about to start eating my breakfast (bran flakes. They were the best that what was on offer), the Swedish chef doctor who came to see me last night called back to finish getting of his details.

Throughout the day the pain in my back was gradually getting worse. By the time John left that evening I was in agony.

About 9pm I decided to get ready for bed, however, when I stood up from the chair, I was in excruciating pain in my right leg and lower back. I grappled for my buzzer and bleeped for a nurse.

A young auxiliary nurse arrived. I asked if someone could come and have a look at my back as I was in agony, and nothing like this had ever happened to my back before. She said she would inform one of the staff nurses.

At 9.20pm, I was in even more pain and as no one had been to see me I buzzed again.
“I’m really sorry”, I said to the same auxiliary nurse, “but I’m in excruciating pain with my back”.
“I did tell her”, she snapped at me, “I’ll tell her again but we are very busy”.

The slightest movement sent unbearable pain down my leg and lower back. Even breathing hurt. If I had been at home I would have phoned for the Paramedics as the pain was now unbearable. I had never experienced pain like this before – and hoped I never would again.

At 10.25pm a staff nurse appeared and by this time I was crying with the pain. However she hadn’t come to see about my back, she had come to do my observations (blood pressure, temperature etc) and to give me my IV antibiotics.
“Give me your arm”, she said as she moved the blood pressure machine towards me.
I cried out in agony as she wrapped the blood pressure strap around my arm.
“Do you know when someone will be coming to see me about my back”, I enquired.
“Soon”, she said, disinterested as she connected me to the antibiotics drip.

‘Soon’ turned out to be another hour. “When will it take effect”, I asked as the staff nurse put a small plastic container of liquid morphine on my table.
“Dunno”, she said as she disconnected me from the drip as the bag was empty, “it could take 10 minutes or several hours”.

She was about to leave my room when I asked, “do you think you could push the table towards me please. It’s out of my reach and I can’t move because of the pain in my back”.
She moved it towards me in annoyed silence.

I was still sitting in the chair at 1.30am. The morphine had done nothing to ease my back. Rather than ask for some more painkillers, I figured it would be morning before I got any, I thought I’d settle down in bed and try and get some sleep.

It took me an hour just to move off the chair and onto the bed. It was going to be a long night…