A night of isolation

Now was my chance to see if our health service was worth its salt. A simple visit to the doctors ended up with a not so simple visit to the hospital. I rang the doc for more pain killers, I told her I knew what would work for me . Unlike the others she wanted me to go to her for yet more tests.

She poked, she prodded and she typed. "I think we should do a blood test for a DVT " she said. As I had received a barrel of tests over the years , why not not another. She drew blood, put a drop on the test kit and asked me to wait in the waiting room.

After a short sit down she came to find me, "its positive, I have the paperwork for you to skip the emergency room"

Looking at the papers I had to find ward 17, not one I knew but did what the doctor wanted. I entered the front door at 9pm and didn't see natural light again for 13 long hours. I am used to fighting through crowds of people to get anywhere, at this hour there were staff and cleaners. They were pretty much the only people I could see. The coffee shop was shut, the waiting room was empty and the wide open space echoed with a mix of footsteps and polishing machines.

I followed the arrows, went up a flight of stairs and discovered my ward. The bit I was to wait in was a room with 4 beds and a group of old and threadbare chairs. 3 of the beds were occupied and over time the last bed was being used to prepare people for their stay. For me that meant going to the bed with a nurse, sitting on the bed and answering a few questions. Then she put a cannula in my hand. A surprise, as no one had tried to find out what was actually wrong.

After a few minutes on the comfy bed it was back to the horrible chairs. The one I was in faced the nurses station, so I could see nurses and doctors working hard, unfortunately not with anyone around me. I presumed none of us counted as serious, just bad enough to skip a stage. Some us were quite vocal about the time they spent waiting, I had been around long enough to know 3 hours was about the time to shout, not much point any earlier. Gradually people around me were taken to the spare bed or were guided to other rooms. I tried to remember who had arrived before me and after me, so I could guess when I might get seen.

The next 5 hours mainly included trying to sleep while sat upright and going to the toilet for some variety. A senior nurse arrived , but she was trying to find us somewhere we could be more comfortable while we waited. That immediately started me thinking of my wife in our nice, warm, comfortable bed. Also, she was in a dark room, hospitals are in perpetual light. There were windows in the ward but they opened to the entrance hall and more artificial lighting.

I got moved to another room, with one of their deadly folding chairs. It was fine as a chair but a different beast if you tried to use it as a small bed. If you stretched and pushed the right bits the back went down and the front stretched out. The problem was it didn't lock in place, there fore if you moved in the night you could get eaten. If you didn't maintain the pressure on the back it would try to return to the vertical.

So, if you curled up towards the bottom of the bed and only had your head at the top beware, it would be a test of strength between your neck and the chair. I did wonder how many people were hidden around the hospital with neck injuries. Maybe even few in the mortuary, cause of death given as a chair.

After a few hours I finally saw a doctor. He apologised for the 8 hours wait and said he didn't think I had a DVT and the test wasn't especially accurate. To be sure he sent me for an x-ray, another weird experience at 5am. Again empty corridors leading to an empty waiting area. Staff were ready and I went straight in. After a quick burst of x-rays it was back to the ward for some more waiting. After an hour it was time for another blood test, easy with the previously unused catheter.

Naturally it needed to be tested and the xray checked, so I added at least 2 hours onto my release time. At least I had been isolate from the dark and it will have become light again when I got freed. Also hopefully fresh air, hospitals always smelt of burnt toast in my experience. Maybe it was what patients requested the most.?

So I arrived 9pm, see doctor and go for x-ray at 5am, blood test at 6am and then back to waiting. Finally around 8 am I got the final answer, they couldn't find anything wrong. I didn't know if I should celebrate or demand a recount as after 12 hours I deserved to have something.

There was of course one final wait, to have the cannula removed. For 11 hours of waiting, fitful sleep and a bit more waiting I had a needle taped in my hand. Finally I was unplugged and fit to return to the real world. The shops were open , the corridors full and noisy and everything as it usually was. In a way I was back to how I had been when I went in the night before. No diagnosis but still the pain. At least now i could see furter then 4 white walls, I could hear birds and not blood pressure machines and above all I had a safe and comfortable bed waiting.