The Healthwatch Cumberland team heard from a local woman who shared her experience of having distressing complications following surgery. The following story highlights the importance of appropriate aftercare, collective responsibility and cross-departmental communication.
"I woke up from my recent laparoscopy surgery, and my full body was in tremor.
I couldn’t breathe or talk.
The staff moved me to a day ward, and I felt quite scared. My brain was struggling to process words properly. When I went to the bathroom I felt like my leg was going to give way. It felt really weird. My speech was slurred.
The anaesthetist told me that tremors are a common side effect of general anaesthetic. But when I told him I couldn’t feel my leg, he just sniggered and said “she’ll be fine.”
I couldn’t feel my leg below my knee.
I continued to have tremors and was finding it difficult to breathe. I had to stay on the ward. The next morning, the doctor requested an urgent CT scan. I had another tremor.
My heart rate was very high, reaching 171 bpm.
I had been told to press the buzzer when I was concerned, but a nurse came and just turned the buzzer off. I was dipping in and out of consciousness. Some other patients stayed with me and when I regained my consciousness.
They told me the nurse had just ignored me and left.
A few days after my surgery, still in hospital, I had a bladder scan as I had been unable to pass urine. Afterwards I was sick and had another episode. My speech went slurred again and when I tried to speak to a nurse, she called for a doctor to arrange an emergency MRI.
This “emergency” MRI didn’t happen until a few days later. An emergency scan like this is supposed to check for strokes and other urgent conditions. It’s supposed to happen immediately.
In the evening after my bladder scan, my surgery scar was leaking and I had to ask a nurse to redress it as it had not been looked at since my operation.
At the start of the next week, I was given an injection to prevent blood clots.
The Gynaecologist came and I told them I had really bad bruising around my belly button, where they had operated. The Gynaecologist requested some more blood tests.
The next CT scan was clear, but I had another episode afterwards.
My heart rate rose to 250bpm.
Afterwards I had an ECG, but the nurse did not respect my privacy at all. She didn’t close the curtain around me whilst I had the entire top half of my body exposed to the ward.
There was no dignity and she kept leaning on my belly button where I had had the surgery. I was unable to speak to tell her I was in pain.
Later on, the nurse admitted she had not done an ECG before and had put all the pads in the wrong places.
I was told that a Neurology team would come and visit me to find out what might be going on. I waited for them on the day they were supposed to see me, but was told in the afternoon that they had left already, and that they wouldn’t be able to see me next week either.
The staff nurse escalated the issue for me, but each department just ended up blaming each other and I was left without a solution or a diagnosis, unable to speak properly or feel sensation in one of my legs below the knee. I was told I could go home and that I could see the neurology team as an outpatient.
They told me the Gynaecologist would visit me in the evening to hand over my notes for discharge. But they didn’t show up. This made me feel very upset.
In the end, the head nurse told me I could go home and that they would send me the notes later. It took until the afternoon of the following day for them to send my notes. I was glad I went home.
I am now waiting to find out more information from the Neurology team. I have not been given any follow up appointments yet.
After looking through my discharge notes, there are a some mistakes, including the photos they provided which are dated as the day before my surgery happened and have the wrong time written on them.
I’m not convinced that these are actually my pictures.
I feel like there has been some medical negligence and I am very unhappy with the care I received. It has been appalling.
Some of the staff were lovely, but I am very unhappy with the care I received from the Gynaecology team. They were very unhelpful."
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