I hadn't expected 2015 to start like this.
A month before Christmas I'd returned from a once in a lifetime holiday trekking in the Himalayas. I'd left my job as a Radiographer to become a University lecturer. I was at my happiest.
It was literally just as medical books describe it. A 'thunderclap'. It was just after 2am when the headache woke me up on December 27th 2014. My hands cradled my head to try and relieve the pain, but it didn't help. The pain was excruciating and for the first time in over 25 years I cried out for my mum. She came and tried to calm me. I took some paracetamol and ibuprofen but as I had a winter cold the pain was exacerbated every time I coughed. I managed to sleep but on waking again my head felt worse. The sun poured through my curtains and it hurt my eyes. Photophobia I thought or was I just imagining it and thinking it was worse than it really was. To cut to the chase, after speaking to NHS 111 we drove to the Royal Derby Hospital to be seen at the A&E department.
It was the first Saturday after Christmas, there was snow and ice everywhere and the waiting room was packed. I felt like a fraud, yet I knew I needed to see a doctor. I booked in and sat amongst the broken limbs and coughing, still holding my head to stop it falling off.
A male nurse called me through to triage. He didn't introduce himself, he was grumpy and clearly thought I was wasting NHS time. He made me stand up and stamp the floor to see if it made my headache worse. No shit Sherlock, that did hurt. He had no time for me, offered me no pain relief and I was to take a seat in the waiting room. The receptionist I'd seen kept looking at me, she could see my discomfort. A female nurse called my name and I was taken through to the minor treatment area where she did a set of observations. At last a doctor called me in, took my history and examined me.
My neck was stiff, I couldn't put my chin on my chest, and I was increasingly photophobic.'You'll need to stay in overnight. It's probably Viral Meningitis, but given your symptoms and your age, I think you should have a CT scan and a lumbar puncture to rule out a Subarachnoid Haemorrhage.'
I felt a sense of relief. It was probably the former and I wasn't wasting NHS time. I sat and waited to be admitted to the Medical Admissions Unit (MAU). As my pain got worse I was transferred to the major treatment area, put on a trolley and given some codeine for the pain. An hour passed, more observations taken and I was taken for the CT scan. This was weird. Eighteen years of scanning patients in A&E and now I was on the other side. It was quick, the radiographer gave nothing away, just as would have been, and I returned to my cubicle. It was normal I said to myself. About 45 minutes passed when a different doctor came in to the cubicle. I needed to have another scan with contrast. Immediately I panicked, this meant there was an abnormality. I questioned him furiously, but he just said they wanted a clearer look at the Circle of Willis. I needed a cannula inserting and a nurse and the doctor attacked me from both sides searching for a vein so I could have a contrast scan.
Back to the scanner and the radiographer gave me the same explanation I had given patients about the feeling of IV contrast. I lay there waiting for the hot feeling in the groin and the metallic taste in my mouth. Wow! I was not expecting the intensely hot feeling sensation in my body, and the warmth in my groin really did feel like i had wet myself, no wonder some patients didn't like the experience! Back to the cubicle my mum had been joined by a nurse waiting patiently to take a set of blood samples.
Time passed with no results from the scan.I'd been there over 5 hours. I was blocking a space in major treatment so I was wheeled off to MAU to wait for an available bed. Lying on my trolley in the corridor another doctor came to see me amd my mum, who'd waited with me all this time.
'So you've had the results of your CT scan then' he said.
'No' i replied, 'what's wrong with me?'
'i think we should go somewhere more private'
'No tell me now, i've got an aneurysm haven't i?" i said.
'Yes' he replied......'We need to blue light you to Queen's at Nottingham to see the Neurosurgeons".
The next bit is all a bit vague to be honest. I think my new relaxed post Himalayan mindset went into shutdown and shock kicked in. I was way too calm. I was transferred to a bed and then my body was taken over by the nursing team. I needed to lie flat, be catheterised, have another cannula inserted and be given a special drug. I managed to send a couple of texts telling my friends what was happening. I called my friend Rachel. She said it was nothing to worry about, and that the headache was just because of my cold. My friend Audrey replied to my text and asked if i'd had a bleed. They'd have told me surely i thought, so when the doctor came back at which point I asked him.
'Yes you've had a Subarachnoid Haemorrhage'.
And so it began.
A month before Christmas I'd returned from a once in a lifetime holiday trekking in the Himalayas. I'd left my job as a Radiographer to become a University lecturer. I was at my happiest.
It was literally just as medical books describe it. A 'thunderclap'. It was just after 2am when the headache woke me up on December 27th 2014. My hands cradled my head to try and relieve the pain, but it didn't help. The pain was excruciating and for the first time in over 25 years I cried out for my mum. She came and tried to calm me. I took some paracetamol and ibuprofen but as I had a winter cold the pain was exacerbated every time I coughed. I managed to sleep but on waking again my head felt worse. The sun poured through my curtains and it hurt my eyes. Photophobia I thought or was I just imagining it and thinking it was worse than it really was. To cut to the chase, after speaking to NHS 111 we drove to the Royal Derby Hospital to be seen at the A&E department.
It was the first Saturday after Christmas, there was snow and ice everywhere and the waiting room was packed. I felt like a fraud, yet I knew I needed to see a doctor. I booked in and sat amongst the broken limbs and coughing, still holding my head to stop it falling off.
A male nurse called me through to triage. He didn't introduce himself, he was grumpy and clearly thought I was wasting NHS time. He made me stand up and stamp the floor to see if it made my headache worse. No shit Sherlock, that did hurt. He had no time for me, offered me no pain relief and I was to take a seat in the waiting room. The receptionist I'd seen kept looking at me, she could see my discomfort. A female nurse called my name and I was taken through to the minor treatment area where she did a set of observations. At last a doctor called me in, took my history and examined me.
My neck was stiff, I couldn't put my chin on my chest, and I was increasingly photophobic.'You'll need to stay in overnight. It's probably Viral Meningitis, but given your symptoms and your age, I think you should have a CT scan and a lumbar puncture to rule out a Subarachnoid Haemorrhage.'
I felt a sense of relief. It was probably the former and I wasn't wasting NHS time. I sat and waited to be admitted to the Medical Admissions Unit (MAU). As my pain got worse I was transferred to the major treatment area, put on a trolley and given some codeine for the pain. An hour passed, more observations taken and I was taken for the CT scan. This was weird. Eighteen years of scanning patients in A&E and now I was on the other side. It was quick, the radiographer gave nothing away, just as would have been, and I returned to my cubicle. It was normal I said to myself. About 45 minutes passed when a different doctor came in to the cubicle. I needed to have another scan with contrast. Immediately I panicked, this meant there was an abnormality. I questioned him furiously, but he just said they wanted a clearer look at the Circle of Willis. I needed a cannula inserting and a nurse and the doctor attacked me from both sides searching for a vein so I could have a contrast scan.
Back to the scanner and the radiographer gave me the same explanation I had given patients about the feeling of IV contrast. I lay there waiting for the hot feeling in the groin and the metallic taste in my mouth. Wow! I was not expecting the intensely hot feeling sensation in my body, and the warmth in my groin really did feel like i had wet myself, no wonder some patients didn't like the experience! Back to the cubicle my mum had been joined by a nurse waiting patiently to take a set of blood samples.
Time passed with no results from the scan.I'd been there over 5 hours. I was blocking a space in major treatment so I was wheeled off to MAU to wait for an available bed. Lying on my trolley in the corridor another doctor came to see me amd my mum, who'd waited with me all this time.
'So you've had the results of your CT scan then' he said.
'No' i replied, 'what's wrong with me?'
'i think we should go somewhere more private'
'No tell me now, i've got an aneurysm haven't i?" i said.
'Yes' he replied......'We need to blue light you to Queen's at Nottingham to see the Neurosurgeons".
The next bit is all a bit vague to be honest. I think my new relaxed post Himalayan mindset went into shutdown and shock kicked in. I was way too calm. I was transferred to a bed and then my body was taken over by the nursing team. I needed to lie flat, be catheterised, have another cannula inserted and be given a special drug. I managed to send a couple of texts telling my friends what was happening. I called my friend Rachel. She said it was nothing to worry about, and that the headache was just because of my cold. My friend Audrey replied to my text and asked if i'd had a bleed. They'd have told me surely i thought, so when the doctor came back at which point I asked him.
'Yes you've had a Subarachnoid Haemorrhage'.
And so it began.
No comments:
Post a Comment