To start with I would like to highly commend the Broome nursing staff, without them I would not have got thru this.
I was flown RFDS from Kununurra to Broome for a bowel obstruction.
I was in pain on arrival and left waiting for what I felt was way too long while they apparently chatted and discussed about things on their phones. It seemed I had to get upset before anyone made the move to get me to a room.
Upon arrival in my room they told me to have a shower and prepare for surgery. My recollection is that the shower was filthy and the toilet had poo spread all over it, including the hand rail and walls. My partner had to clean it before I could go in, I was there all day and no one came to clean it.
In my opinion, the surgeon was abrupt and had absolutely no bedside manner. I felt degraded. They gave me nothing but negative outcome, saying you will be cut from top to bottom, you will have a bowel bag! Which frightened the living **** out of me. They said remove that belly button ring and you won’t be putting it back! Without any explanation as to why.
After getting out of surgery I noticed I’d been cut from pubis to sternum.
Then when the nurse came in to change my dressing I was horrified, I had no belly button and half the staples weren’t even attached.
I am in the medical profession myself and pride myself in the neatness of placing staples.
I have had multiple surgeries over my life and think the previous surgeon was amazing, they were positive and cared about the finishing touches (which is what the patient sees ). They had an awesome bedside manner and I truly wished they could have done this surgery.
As I was discharged, I asked the nursing team to please find out how many staples were placed so that the right amount could be taken out. They went to find out only to note that the surgeon apparently hadn’t even recorded how many staples had been put in? To me that is not on, it is part of surgical recording as far as I’m aware. I will be contacting FOI for surgical records as I will be making an official complaint.
Bless all the nurses who comforted me thru my stress.
Upon arriving back to Kununurra, my right ear was sore. I took a cotton bud out to give it a clean, and when I placed it in my ear I felt pain, then all of a sudden, blood started runny out. I totally freaked out. My partner took me to the hospital and I had a cut in my ear, apparently from the thermometer which I believe must have been during surgery as the awesome nurse on ward only used my left ear and the right ear was where the damage was done.
"Exploratory laparotomy"
About: Broome Health Campus Broome Health Campus Broome 6725
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