Back to the Hospital!

taken last night at about 11:30pm as we left A&E

 

Monday's plans didn't quite work out. I managed to sort out the solicitors so now, almost three months after I originally submitted the documents, they are satisfied that my financial situation is exactly what I say it is. That involved a trip to Devizes (about 11 miles each way) to a different branch of my bank to get the letter the solicitor wanted as the Trowbridge branch wasn't operating a full counter service due to water damage! While we were there I took the opportunity to take some photos in Hillworth Park, some of which you'll see in this blog as the week progresses.

When we got home I finally got round to using the E-Consult system to contact my GP about an intermittent pain I've been getting in the centre of my chest for the past 4 - 6 weeks. I'd thought it was nothing serious, probably something like indigestion, but it seems I was wrong! A GP phoned me within 10 minutes of submitting the E-Consult and told me to go straight to A&E - phone an ambulance or get someone to take me - but go straight away as my symptoms matched those of a heart attack and it was potentially life threatening!

So we took ourselves off to the RUH (which is fast becoming a second home) and presented at A&E, where I was told to sit on one of the special 'red star' chair for seriously ill patients (!) and was then seen by the triage nurse within 30 minutes. He referred me on to the next stage of the A&E to wait for the A&E doctor to see me, so it was back to the waiting room and my special 'red star' chair. It was then at least a two hour wait to see the doctor so I decided a heart attack wasn't imminent if I was allowed to wait that long.

I was eventually called through to be seen by the doctor, have an ECG, a chest x-ray, and a whole series of blood tests. The ECG was fine but one of the blood tests had highlighted the possibility of a blood clot so I was downgraded from a heart attack to a possible blot clot. I was issued with blood thinners and classed as an ambulatory patient, which in RUH terms means I wouldn't be admitted (phew) but would need to return at 8am the  following day for further tests. After 7 hours in A&E with very little to eat, we eventual got home at midnight.

So today we returned to the hospital at 8am as ordered. I had some more bloods taken and was sent for a CT scan, then we went for an English breakfast in the hospital restaurant while they waited for the results. The breakfast was yummy! Back to Ambulatory Care and a short wait to hear the results. Good news ... no heart attack, no evidence of a blood clot, but the CT scan had picked up a bad chest infection so I've been sent home with two lots of antibiotics to treat that. I have to go back in about three month for another CT scan. 

We're both shattered! Hospital waiting rooms are exhausting, so we're having a restful rest of the day and plan to watch the last two episodes of The Night Agent ready for when the second series is released next week.