"Thank you"

Earlier this month my husband had a medical emergency, and we received exceptional care firstly from RPH and then FSH.

It started with my husband not feeling well after hitting a few golf balls into a net at our home. Long story short because we suspected cardiac, we persuaded him to go to RPH. We arrived in the emergency department 40 minutes later.

The place was packed and there were 8 ambulances ramped outside. After taking a number I realised the wait would be too long so told the triage nurse my husband had chest pain. The triage nurse made room for us within a minute.

I had a nervous moment when I thought the urgency of the situation wouldn’t be recognised as my husband was downplaying the concerns, believing he had strained his shoulder hitting a golf ball. The triage nurse had him on a stretcher in the Emergency department within a few minutes despite no trolleys being readily available. We waited with no word for about 90 minutes. My husband finally answered his phone, and he told us he had a blood test, and they were waiting for results. Also, we couldn’t see him as he was being cared for in the corridor. Long story short the blood test was negative for heart attack. This is when we met a very professional and very kind Dr Stephan. CT scan results showed an aortic dissection, and care was transferred via priority One to FSH cardiothoracic team.

On arriving at FSH a very kind clerk listened to me and quickly let me and my two adult children into the emergency department to see my husband. We meet a very professional kind cardio thoracic registrar and then we met Dr Agnetta and for some reason I felt reassured my husband would be ok. In this brief meeting nothing was sugar coated and we all realised the seriousness of the situation. Thank you to all the team theatre nurses, bypass anaesthetist, vascular surgeons and the cardiothoracic team that were called in to start the 10 hours of surgery at midnight (5 hours after my husband’s first symptom). Thank you to Dr Agnetta for calling me at the 8-hour mark to let me know how they were progressing.

My husband was ventilated for 24 hours then transferred to 4c later that day. He then bounced back to ICU after three Medical Emergency calls. During his five night stay in ICU my husband was cared for by extraordinary professional kind ICU nurses including Kaylene, Jithin, Hannah, Hope, Wen, Alli (AJ), Maya, Mark, Bea(trice), Rebecca , Sam, Doven, Claudia. There was also a lovely nurse (I can’t remember her name) that gave my husband his first shave. The nursing, PCA and physio staff on 4c were just as kind and professional but I didn’t get all their names.

My husband is home, 10 kg lighter but recovering well and now has time to reflect on how lucky he is to have had such a professional response to this medical emergency.