Leeds St James Hospital/Leeds general hospital-anyone being treated there?

[rincotato]

Hi i'm Clare, I'm 17 nearly 18 and i think i'm going on the waiting list for surgery at st.james hospital in leeds(which has moved to the general hospital now i do believe) i just wondered if anyone else had had surgery there, and what their experience was like etc?
it would be useful to hear other peoples stories who've already had the surgery there.
thanks everyone
-x-

[Jen-jen]

Hi Clare, my name's Jenny and i'm 17 too.... I also had the op done at Leeds General this September so I'm back at college now. Who is your professor - is it Dickson or Milner?? Anyway this is my story:

I had the anterior version done for a thoracic/lumbar 30 degree curve so they went in through my side (the scars brilliant - it goes all the way from my right hip up to my right shoulder blade!). They admit you a day early so that you can fill in forms and they start you on this horrible tasting prep solution (I can't describe how disgusting it was but you have to drink 2 JUGS of the stuff). The morning of the op involves a quick shower of disinfectant and they stick these funny electrodes on your head and the glue is a killer - it took me ages to get the damn stuff out, I swear it was No-More-Nails. lol. But the op itself went without a hitch, I went in at 9.30am and only remember coming round at about 6pm (it doesn't take that long, it's only because of all the prep work and the fact that I was rather out of it on morphine!) The 1st week you spend is in High Dependency and you have nothing to worry about there because the staff were fantastic to me - they washed me and helped me eat and are fun people to talk to. As for the pain aspect, it actually isn't too bad because they give you a self-controlled morphine drip which will become your best friend!! haha. The chest drain and catheter were a little.. lets say uncomfy lol ... but bearable. They might have you up and take your first steps about 5-6 days afterwards and it'll take some work but you'll start coming on in leaps and bounds after that.

As for the 2nd week spent on the ward, that was a little different. I'll warn you now that if you do end up in Leeds General, the staff in Ward 22 aren't that nice. They are quite moody, they mixed up my drugs and to this day i still don't know how and they LOST ME TWICE when they took me for X-rays. They also don't spend much time with the patients - they don't help you wash or talk to you and they also weren't willing to help me go for a walk if I wanted. They said that was the physios' job but they only turn up once a day for 15minutes; they do the obs and disappear. I pressed my panic button one time because I was in a lot of pain as I had a minor problem with my breathing (that was just me though, that doesn't normally happen) and it took them 20 MINUTES to come see me!!!! Some handy things to take in with you are some wipes so that you can clean yourself, lipsalve because you'll dry out a lot, juice for your water and LOTS of magazines, I-pod etc because the TV costs a bomb unless you're lucky enough to get a sideroom. I wouldn't take a laptop if I were you because it needs to be locked up when it's not being used and if you wanna charge it up in the hospital you need to have it checked out by Maintenance. During that second week, they'll have you up and walking about more and sitting for a little bit - thats the best bit cos you'll be so glad to see something other than ceiling tiles!!! And when I was finally discharged after 11-14 days, I live in Scarborough so we basically just drove home along with some drugs and a lovely litter-picker stick to help you pick things up and some instructions to do no bending or sit up for longer than 10 minutes. I went back to college after 6 weeks (because thats just after your first checkup) and so far everythings going fine!

Well, that was the main bits of it but if you want anymore specifics or just a general chat then I've got MSN if you wanna e-mail me personally - mcjjjen@hotmail.co.uk. I hope I was of some use!! lol

Jenny xxx