"An Anxiety Filled Night In Emergency"

Earlier this year i took a routine optometry appointment and was immediately told to go to the sydney eye hospital emergency department. i am a deeply anxious person by nature (not helped by an anxiety disorder) so the entire situation was incredibly stressful for me.

i came into the emergency department in tears, and everyone was so kind. we had to wait a bit for triage, but it wasn’t too bad. when i was taken in to do some eye tests, the nurse i spoke to was a wonderful lady who could tell that my heart rate was spiking because i was anxious. she sat with me and held my hand and explained to me that what i was feeling was totally natural, but that i was a young woman who’s just experiencing a scary medical moment for the first time. she managed to calm me down so that my results ended up being normal.

i was then taken in to get my eyes looked. it was late at night by then and i do have mixed feelings about this - the doctors and nurses were all so kind still, although i feel as if they didn’t really explain themselves and what they were thinking as well as they could of and mostly just spoke to each other. maybe i just wasn’t meant to be privy to this information and maybe it’s because i was preoccupied with my own anxiety (because, at this point, i was told that a tumour could have caused the increased intracranial pressure and of course i was freaking out about that), so i cannot fault them too heavily for that.

i was taken for more tests on my eyes and also given a ct scan. the ct scan was incredible: i was offered blankets, the whole scan was explained to me in depth as it was my first time having this scan. the medical staff who did this test were wonderful.

while i was in the hospital, i believe there were two separate patients who were there with police escorts. neither of the patients were causing a ruckus, but i was really happy with the treatment me and my father were given; we were moved around away from them for our own safety.

we ended up staying there from 6pm to 2am, and i was very pleased with how we were treated. of course it was a long boring stay waiting for my ct results to come back, but we were offered blankets and water. they were very detailed about my discharge and explained to me what their findings were and my care plan going forward.

the only thing that did happen that probably wasn’t perfect was my cannula. they were busy i believe, so a nurse was asked to put my cannula in. they said that they could try, but that they didn’t usually do these. it didn’t go in on the first try and it turns out they used the wrong sized gauge or needle or something. so they had to try a second time. part of this was my fault as i was dehydrated and i have difficult veins at the best of times, but the second cannula also didn’t hold. the third time did end up being the charm though. however on my discharge the cannula was removed. it was, obviously, covered with gauze, but on my way out and while waiting for my dad to use to bathroom, i ended up bleeding through the gauze. everyone was very kind about this though (i think everyone thought i was worried that it was bleeding so much - which isn’t true! i was just worried about having tracked blood everywhere!) but i had a nurse personally sit next to me and hold a new gauze against the bleed while another wiped all the blood from my arm, and everyone was so attentive and apologetic that it had bled so much.

overall it was a 10/10 experience. i’ve since seen an opthamologist and gotten mri scans, and the diagnosis is iih. so hopefully with this diagnosis, i will never have to come again haha! thank you all again for the wonderful hospital experience