"My disappointing Gallbladder Removal experience"

From the start, the staff were busy and everything happened quickly, leaving me feeling like a hindrance to the nurses on the ward. Eventually, I was taken to theatre after noon. My accompanying senior staff member from my ward didn’t speak to me, making the situation awkward. They stared off into the distance, biting nails, and when I tried to start a conversation, it was shut down with one-word answers. We waited for 20 minutes until the surgical staff arrived and finally showed me some compassion, smiling and treating me well.

After being transferred from recovery back to the main ward, the nurses were still too busy to help. They saw me crying and rolling in pain but no one came to my aid. I tried waving over a nurse who waved back and then proceeded to talk to another nurse instead of trying to help. I asked for something to eat to combat the droopiness from the anaesthetic, but they told me to eat when I got home and only gave me paracetamol even when I expressed my pain level was an 8 or 9 out of 10. Finally, a doctor called and prescribed stronger drugs. Before leaving, the nurse asked me to leave a good review.

I ended up having to stay the night because I was in so much discomfort and very sick. I was told I had to vacate the bed by 7:30 am as someone else needed it, but in fact, that wasn’t the case. I asked the nurse for details about my surgery, but they wouldn’t give me any information or find out from a doctor. I recalled crying to my parents on the phone, and my father tried to call the ward to get more information about why I was in so much pain compared to others who had the same procedure. The nurse told him to call me and I would update him, but they gave him no details at all.

I asked a nurse to escort me to the toilet as I was unsteady. They walked me over but when I returned they had left and continued on about their day. I had to call a carer to help me back to bed.

Thankfully the night nurse, was much more compassionate. She quickly made me toast which instantly alleviated my sickness and ensured I had plenty of pain relief. She also checked in on me regularly.

I was so happy to get home the next morning.

I’ve stayed in many hospitals and this is the only ward where I felt alienated and ignored. I was really disappointed.