"My care during a busy night"

I came back from a trip to Thailand. It was a 9-hour flight, and I hurt my back at the beginning of the year. I had a block in the back and compression on three nerves. What happened is I didn’t wear compression socks—I’ve never had that problem before. My legs swelled right up. The next day I went shopping, and I could hardly walk in my right leg.

I went to my doctor, and she said I was fine. By the second night, I could not even get into my car. I got a massage, and the person said there’s something really wrong. I could hardly walk. I had to go to the hospital. I went by ambulance and had to sit in the waiting room.

At Maroubra ED, they couldn’t make up their mind if it was clotting or not. At quarter past 5, they suggested I go to POW ED. When I arrived, I could see it was a nightmare for the nurses and everyone that night. I’ve never seen it like that before it was so busy. I think it was the concierge or someone who kept coming out to see if everyone was okay. I’ve been to ED a few times, but that time was a bad night up there— I waited 8 hours and there was a couple next to me from Colombia. The man had been in a motorbike accident, blood all over him, no shirt, and they were sitting next to me. There were also two ladies who had buckets to vomit in—that’s how busy they were.

I want to thank two staff by name. The first is the doctor that came on. Even though it was a full house, he kept coming back in, and every time he did come back, he would say, “I haven’t forgotten about you.” His name was Dr. Nick. I looked at his badge. He was on duty and came on around 10 pm.

The other one was Cindy—she was so lovely. She’s in the right job; she was the community nurses who rang me up afterwards and asked how I went.

The thing I think was done wrong was the triage. The room looks beautiful, and the waiting rooms are good, but the triage room is all open. I heard this man say, “I haven’t weed in days.” I think that should be more private. The TV sound wasn’t on, and the triage room being open is a big issue. Before, there were two rooms, and they’d shut the door. Now it’s an open room. So that’s the complaint part—it was just that the triage rooms should be changed. I also found getting to the hospital it is a fair way to walk. It’s alright for people driving, but it used to be nearer. It’s sort of near the university, but it’s still a long walk if you’re coming from the light rail or bus.

I mainly just wanted to give those two compliments to Cindy and Dr Nick who were just wonderful during such a busy time.