Gastoscopy and Endoscpy update

Hi,   First of all, I’d like to say thanks for all who shared their experience and for all the advice

I kept to my original appointment 1st Oct at 2.45pm. .My daughter’s boss agreed she could leave work  early so she could pick me up after my procedure,

On the morning of the appointment, I got a phone call at 8.20am from a nurse who asked if I could come in that morning at 10.45 instead because there was a cancellation.  I explained that I was having the sedation and had arranged for my daughter to pick me up at 5.pm. The Nurse said I could have the throat spray/gas and air option and I told her about my Fibro.  She then said by the time I am checked in and gone through all the preparation,  the procedure wouldn’t start until around 12.00 noon and it would be okay for me to wait until my daughter was able to pick me up, so I agreed to go in that morning and rang my daughter let her know.

Just before I left home, I telephoned the hospital and spoke to the same nurse to double check, it would be alright for me to stay until my daughter was able to pick me up.

When I arrived at the hospital, I was escorted to the pre-admissions room and seen by three different members of staff. I told each of them about my decision to have the sedation due to my Fibromyalgia. My conversation earlier with the nurse and that I would be waiting for my daughter to pick me up in the afternoon. They went through all the checks and I signed the various consent forms, including the section about the sedation and the details of who would be picking me up after. The third nurse to come in said she would need to double check that it would in fact be okay for me to stay and wait for my daughter. She asked what time my daughter was due and I said around 5 – 5.30pm she said okay and left me in the room.  The  Endoscopist  then came in the pre-admissions room, and said there was a problem. He said it would be better for me to have the throat spray/gas and air option and I could go home sooner. I explained about the Fibro and the advice given by Fibro patients who had the procedure done previously.  He replied, - ‘oh,  but we can’t have you wait around for so long, we do it now, yes …. You can trust me …..  We’ll give it a try, I promise I’ll be really gentle and if we can, we can, if we can’t, we’ll stop, okay?......’

By that time it was after 12.00pm and I was totally drained from lack of sleep, all the form filling, the questions and the waiting around in the pre-admissions room. He was very persuasive – pushy!! - all  the advice that I was given from fellow Fibro sufferers, went out the window. I could feel panic set in and I began to shut down.  I feel really stupid now,  I trusted him and didn’t listen to the little voice inside that was shouting at me,  I did what I was told and  followed him into the procedure room like a brainless zombie.

The whole experience was terrible, I gagged all the way through the gastroscopy, he shouted, ‘no, no, don’t do that, just breath….’  I felt everything during the endoscopy and at one time he even leaned on me.  My eyes and nose were streaming  and the nurse kept wiping sweat from my forehead and holding my hand. On top of that, I had a weird reaction to the oxygen/nasal cannula. My nose felt itchy and irritated throughout the two procedures and I ended up having a constant sneezing fit and my nose was streaming, this only began to ease off a bit yesterday.

I have been in bed since Thursday, and feel worse than I’ve felt in years. I had  my ‘right to choose’ taken away from me and this endoscopist just wanted to rush me through, to make life easier for him. I now have come to the conclusion that the decision was made to ‘get me out early’ because they did not want to be responsible me for me longer than what was convenient for them.

I rang the department yesterday and spoke to the nurse (who initially called me to change my appointment). She has spoken to her manager and advised me to write to PALS to complain. I plan to write to the hospital chief executive also.  This experience has been a hard lesson  for me and I will always listen to my gut and to others with who have know from first hand experience. If I don’t take my condition seriously  then neither will  others.

Right now I feel isolated and depressed, my children are upset for me, but don’t really understand.

Sorry for the long post folks, just needed to vent.

1 like, 7 replies