Hello
I’ve put this in the GN Café as I need you to be gentle with me, as I’m already worried thinking about it.
Please be gentle with me!
As some of you know, I recently had a total hip replacement.
It all went smoothly; the surgeon and anaesthetist, nurses and staff wonderful; apart from…
On the day after my op I wasn’t feeling well at all.
I was very dehydrated, so put on drip, my bp was low, I felt really sick, and I nearly fainted a couple of times.
As I say, I was looked after very kindly.
However, at one point, two nurses came in.
One said they were going to do an ECG (I think). She said that the other nurse was going to do the procedure, and she was going to observe. She said that the other nurse had done it before.
I wasn’t asked; I was told.
I was told to pull my nighty up to my chin (which was fine)
But then the other nurse started faffing around with the machine, and explained that all the wires were tangled up. (I thought to myself, why didn’t you untangle them first)
It became increasingly apparent that she hadn’t done the procedure before.
The two nurse started a hushed squabble; standing either side of me, above me, with me with everything on show feeling ill.
I said to the first nurse, in a quite voice, ‘I’m not really happy with this’
She said ‘what did you say?’ and gave me a right filthy look.
It really was. I’m gobsmacked looking back.
She then went on to say that ‘the doctors have told us to do it, you’d have to have it done anyway’
(I’m still not sure what it was).
They stuck the wires to me, which kept pinging off, didn’t speak to me.
I apologised (I know, I’m stupid)
The machine went a bit bonkers and spewed out loads of paper.
Anyway, it seemed to go on for much longer than it should have.
Later on the first nurse came in (for no reason, she wasn’t one of my nurses) and she patted my knee and said that she wouldn’t hold it against me as ‘she was professional’.
This isn’t right is it? What do you think?
Thank you
