The admissions unit was packed..I got there just before 7am in Torrential rain and high winds .. the unit was closed.I sat down alogside another man, both of us had 7.30am appts... we thought we were the only ones. The waiting area outside was next to the lifts.. by the time the unit opened it was 7.30am.. and people had emerged from the lifts like a football crowd, so there was abut 60 peple waiting to go in and all had appts for 7.30am
No-one had had anything to drink or eat for the previous 12 hours.. over the next 2 hours we were all processed in the super overheated unit, names checked, BP taken..etc... then the surgeons' apprentice came and checked where the surgery was to be done and marked it wth an arrow...
people were getting taken in for surgery on external limbs..face.. legs..knees..etc...everyone was very thirsty..
My surgery was secheduled for the morning... at around 11am, the surgeon came himself and had a look at me, and said, this surgery has to be done today but it won't be until the afernon now...apologies..
So..back I sat down.. not allowed to see what was going on left or right of me... just straight ahead... no-one telling us what's going on...
Next someone comes and says get into a gown and compression socks... and now you have to put all your clothes into a small carrier bag that they provided.. I said my clothes won't fit in.. and without any airs or graces they just grabbed my clothes and rammed them literally into a carrier bag including my big coat... .
the aneasthetist then came to see me and she told me all what was about to happen etc... ... then I sat there,, and watched in front of me as male after male was taken to theatre, and brought back with bandaged limbs....
Still verrrrry thirsty.. now 4pm everyone has gone exept me..I get told the patient before me is in theatre, and I'll be next... sat there again until 7pm ..when a nurse came and said...sorry your surgery can't go ahead... we have no beds ! I really thought she was joking, because she said it in a humurous way... but she wasn't joking... she said the surgeon was unhappy about it , but they just had no beds..
So I'd gone 18 hours without a drink, or food.. had all the other stuff happen, and then when I got dressed to go home I looked like a scarecrow because everything was creased from being rammed in the carrier bag
Finally I got a tiny cup of water ...and then I asked them how was I to get home..my dd had been scheduled to collect me tomorrow ( today )... so they called the hospital manager explained what happened and the hospital paid for a cab
I was exhausted when i got home and went straight to bed...