"Infections that may have be picked up at the hospital"

Late last year, I had a carpal tunnel repair operation in the Day Surgery Unit. A few days after that I had a productive cough, sore throat, blocked sinuses and lose of voice some days. I thought that it was just a bad attack of hay-fever! My GP checked my lungs - that were clear - and over the next 3 months or so I had 3 different antibiotics, with no improvement. Finally I had a sputum test, and received a phone call from the Practice Nurse informing me that I had Serratia marcesens, which had attacked my upper respiratory tract. I was prescribed 2 weeks of Ciprol which worked, but took a while as I have only been feeling really clear for about 3 weeks.

Then recently, I attended the Day Surgery unit to have cosmetic surgery, to remove a Basil cell carcinoma on my nose and apply a skin graft.

About three days later I felt a bit off colour, and by the following day I was getting spasmodic pains in my stomach which increased through the day! In the middle of that night I woke up with severe vomiting, followed by diarrhoea.

This may just be a coincidence, but I thought that it is worth reporting as I know hospitals are rife with infections.

I will definitely be giving it serious consideration if the need arises, for me to attend day surgery at the Canberra Hospital!