Health Service much, eh?

cocoa

ok, so I'm in for surgery again tomorrow on my ingrown toenail (yeah, I know, it's ewwy, but in toe weeks it'll be normal, yay! which is a really short thing on local anaesthetic (yay being awake but they really don't like it when you try to distract them...) but I was just wondering if many people 'our age' have been to hospital much for surgery etc.

I've only been in two or three times in my life for minor stuff, well, I suppose there was that other time for a while in order to get born but I usually don't count that one, and I've never broken any bones Personally I've always found the service fine, if a little bit pricey, although again, I've never had to be in for anything major. I find the health service on my college campus to be excellent though, with the cost being much more reasonable too, although it obviously doesn't go so far as a fully equipped hospital does...

eVeNtInE

This post has been deleted.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

Never had a proper overnight stay in a hospital, though I did once get stuck in A&E for twelve hours. Had the bad luc to injure myself on a Saturday afternoon and arrive at the hospital just as the first of the drunken injuries arrived and there'd been a fight during the course of a wedding between two...members of the travelling community, and someone had the great idea of bringing all the very angry travellers who'd been injured beating the bejaysis out of each other to the same frikking hospital, very angry family members in tow. Finally after twelve hours some very young doctor came in, had a look at me and said he couldn't believe someone hadn't sent me home sooner, I didn't even need stitches, I made him give me the paper ones though, otherwise I might have gone insane.

Insect Overlord

Had one overnight hospital experience when I was 12: was being prepared for surgery the following morning for a strangulated testicle :eek: but test results showed that it somehow corrected itself before becoming too serious. The surgery never happened, but I was doped up on pills for 2 weeks afterwards, 800 mg worth of something or other several times a day.

Broke my collar bone over 3 years ago. Got it seen to very quickly, was put in a sling and sent home for 3 weeks of agony. It cost me 3 months worth of sports

Finally, while I can no longer remember much of the experience, I spent several days in hospital the week before my 4th birthday for a hernia operation. I have the scar to prove it, and two vivid memories: receiving an injection a few minutes before going under general anaesthetic, and my godfather bringing me a bag of skittles to cheer me up afterwards.

Piste

cocoa wrote: »

(yeah, I know, it's ewwy, but in toe weeks it'll be normal, yay!

heh heh heh.

I went into hospital when I was 15 with what we thought was appendicitis, but on cutting me open found out it wasn't, so sewed me back up. Didn't even take out my appendix just in case. So that was pretty pointless.


I've been in and out because of "episodes" when I'd faint or get really dizzy, had a few tests and found ou I was anaemic to years ago, took iron, fixed it. Still got dizzy and faint, went for more tests, nothing conclusive. i don't think there's anything wrong with me, think I'm just prone to faints.

cocoa

lol, shows I was a tad preoccupied... All done now though A full week of painkiller fun ahead of me

Seems some people have had a little bit of time in the system, but no negative things so far, though I think everyone agrees that the waits are usually a bit long, though they're still not too bad.

Piste

Yeah once you get into the system it's grand and you're treated well, it's getting in that's the hard part.

thusspakeblixa

Was in hospital for 2 months when I was 13 and 15.
The health system has good people in it, but is quite inefficient and generally a load of bollix for that

WoollyRedHat

Have to wait a year until I get a procedure done. It isn't life threatenining or anything, but is a discomfort. I had a ct in August, results back in October and was then given a date for July of that year. Pretty stupid tbh...

I'm quite accident prone/unlucky

• Broke 2 fingers when I fell off a bike
• Sliced open the palm of my hand when it went through a pane of glass
• Cracked forehead when hit with a rock
• Bad asthma attacks
• A heart condition that had me in hospital multiple times
• Suspected lung collapse that turned out to be a severe inflamation of my ribs and chest
• Severely messed up knees+lower back through years of sport.
• Physiotherapy on my neck/spine.

Insect Overlord

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm quite accident prone/unlucky

• Broke 2 fingers when I fell off a bike
• Sliced open the palm of my hand when it went through a pane of glass
• Cracked forehead when hit with a rock
• Bad asthma attacks
• A heart condition that had me in hospital multiple times
• Suspected lung collapse that turned out to be a severe inflamation of my ribs and chest
• Severely messed up knees+lower back through years of sport.
• Physiotherapy on my neck/spine.

That's a nasty list! Hope you're enjoying a better run of luck now.
What were the hospital experiences like for some of those injuries?

KnifeWRENCH

I've had two operations.
The first was when I was 7 or 8 and there was a lump in my neck. I had to get a good few tests done but they still couldn't figure out what it was. They thought it might be something very serious so they took it out and did a biopsy.
Turns out it was just a gland. The doctors said they'd never seen a gland do that before.

The second was when I was 16. I had what is referred to as a twisted appendix testis. You can probably deduce from the name where it was. It was not a pleasant experience. The worst part was just before the surgery when the doctors informed me that the whole thing might have to be taken out and I might have to live the rest of my life with just one ball! :eek: Thankfully, that didn't happen.

I had one other overnight stay in a hospital but I was only a few weeks old so I don't remember it (dehydration).

My experiences with the health service have been mostly positive. I have tremendous respect for nurses - there's no way I could do what they do everyday. They have to work ungodly hours, sometimes deal with troublesome and rude patients and they have to do a lot of unpleasant jobs like helping patients go to the toilet and stuff.

Here's to nurses. *raises glass*

cocoa

Yeah, whatever about the overall efficiency / effectiveness and long waiting times, I've always found the people actually doing the work to be quite nice, and I'd always be full of thank yous because it is an amazing job they do.

*raises glass also*

Pigwidgeon

had my tonsil's out when i was about 4 in a hospital that is now closed down, i forget the name, from what i remember though it was good.

then tore a ligament in my knee about 3 years ago, got seen to in A&E after about an hour and a half which was quite good. the repeat appointment though i had my appointment and had to wait two hours after the appointment time to be seen. but got sent to physio after that and loads of repeat visits to the physio which were very good.
as the hospital didn't have an mri there though i had to wait about 6 weeks to get an appointment to have it done at another hospital which was annoying as they were treating me even though were'nt totally sure if had torn the ligament or not.

cocoa

Yeah I've found the same thing with being given an appointment time and ending up just coming in and having to wait. It is annoying, but I presume if the people working there who would be well aware of the system's faults can't find a better way then it wouldn't really help for me to complain about it. (not saying you're complaining about it It is annoying though

donmeister

The Health Service itself isnt bad,it's the waiting. Like October 2 years ago I broke my collar bone,and basically messed up my shoulder completely (still hurt's ) and it took like 5 and half hours to wait to see a doctor...! Took 20mins to get the bloody thing X-ray'd and into a sling and out the door again! So that sucked....

cocoa

donmeister wrote: »

The Health Service itself isnt bad,it's the waiting. Like October 2 years ago I broke my collar bone,and basically messed up my shoulder completely (still hurt's ) and it took like 5 and half hours to wait to see a doctor...! Took 20mins to get the bloody thing X-ray'd and into a sling and out the door again! So that sucked....

true. This morning I was waiting 3 hours to get a 10 min job done. I had an appointment But I'd never mention it to the people treating me, cos usually as far as I can see, they're only doing the best they can.

JC 2K3

The waiting is something a lot of people complain about but doesn't really bother me. I mean I had to wait 5 hours for an xray and a bandage when I tore a ligament in my ankle, but it's not exactly something that happens very often to most people. Waiting 5 hours for a service you're probably only going to have to avail of a handful of times in your life surely isn't that big a deal?

Crumble Froo

well, my earliest memories are of being in hospital. dislocated my hips twice when i was a babby, so that's four sets of surgeries in my first coupla years of life, followed by regular checkups til i was about 10... in the meantime, i've broken my arm twice, fingers and thumbs have been broken/dislocated 7 or 8 times, i sliced off the top of my finger when i was about 15, heaps of scans and stuff after i injured my knee at 14, another heap of scans and stuff when i found a cyst in my throat, constant monitoring of that, then when i was 18ish, it turned cancerous or something, so had to get a biopsy done, and then get most of the damned thing removed.

just about everyone i've come across during that time, has been a positive experience, if you overlook the jabbing massive needles into my neck bit. my only regret is not asking to bring my gland home in a jar.

thusspakeblixa

JC 2K3 wrote: »

Waiting 5 hours for a service you're probably only going to have to avail of a handful of times in your life surely isn't that big a deal?

Waiting 3 months for brain scans and live-saving surgery is however!
THAT'S why people get pissed orff

An File

An File wrote: »

That's a nasty list! Hope you're enjoying a better run of luck now.
What were the hospital experiences like for some of those injuries?

Amazingly enough pretty good. They were all pretty serious things (bar the being hit with a rock/slicing open palm of hand), so was brought in more or less straight away.

Most annoying was the suspected lung collapse. Turned out I had a severe inflammation that extended from my ribs to my chest. It still gets sore the odd time.

Oh and I guess my heart condition has an honourable mention. Nobody knew what was causing it. Basically I would get raising heart beats for no reason whatsoever. Even standing totally still. At rest the normal heart beat is around 20beats in 15 seconds. I would be getting close to 50. But the hospital never were able to record it on their instruments. I had to wear a heart monitor for a week 3 seperate times and each time it never happened! Until eventually I was in the hospital with a friend of mine and we were paying for her and it started! I went straight in, they were hooking up the ECG and .. it stopped. Luckily I had captured it on a heart monitor. They were able to diagnose it - arrythmia.

Acacia

Only had extremely minor surgery once and it was grand. The nurses were absolutely lovely, I have to say. It wasn't too bad at all.

Hopefully, I won't have to go in for anymore because I hate hospitals. I'm dreading turning into one of those auld wans who spends their days talking to people about their ailments! I was waiting for the train the other day and one lady was telling her friend (extremely loudly) about how she was wetting herself all the time. T.M.I., loike! :pac:

Bobalicious93

Slightly embarassing but I was in a few weeks ago with errmm....... a needle in my finger.

I was sewing in Home Ec. (manly or what;)) and i looked away for a split second and the needle went straight through my left index finger. Right through the nail and out the other side

I pulled the needle out myself on the spot but had to go the hospital to make sure there wasn't any of the needle left inside. Luckily there wasn't but still had to wait three hours just to get a poxy bit of thread taken out.