An arresting experience! It involved kidney stones, cafetieres and Cornish pasties

Following my recent “city break” to the Heartlands Hotel/Hospital, boy was it an arresting experience! It involved kidney stones, cafetieres and Cornish pasties – not your typical holiday, let me tell you.

Late on Tuesday afternoon I knew what was coming as I had experienced kidney stones before. A sharp pain like someone holding their shoe heal on your kidney and occasionally changing it for a stiletto heal. So Wednesday 7am I packed my bag knowing I would be kept in, arrived at A&E to get seen within 45 minutes, someone said if you are to go to A&E go at 8am as that’s the new shift. A great doctor and nurses examined, scanned, took an arm full of blood and told me I had a 9.5mm kidney stone stopping various natural processes shall I say! I originally thought she said Cm and wondered how a grapefruit sized kidney stone could have gone unnoticed. So, within two hours I was shipped off to another hospital, but I couldn’t help but observe some of my fellow A&E attendees, many elderly and one who was rather large, about 28 and an oxymoron in that he appeared overweight, but was wearing an adidas tracksuit, with brown shoes (quite the fashion statement)!

On arriving at Heartlands hospital, the meet, greet and being admitted was efficient and friendly. My bed comfortable and most of the ward of six were elderly, hard of hearing and with complicated conditions, the private rooms were occupied by those with dementia and not the middle classes! One of whom left her room as she said she was off to “walk back to Bangladesh” she was guided back into her room saying this was the room to register for going abroad.

No food for me as operation in the morning, but the exception to the rule of patient age was a male, early twenties and seemed active, walking around speaking in his London accent to each patient, later when we all settled down he started an argument with the ward nurse about needing more pain killers for his two broken rips and bruised lungs, the nurse dealt with him brilliantly and referred to the on call doctor. When the male doctor turned up his demeaner changed and he appeared happy although got on the phone to call someone to “get him out” in the morning.?As I was awake, I was talking to the nurses about Ramadan and their choice to work at night, which they said enabled them to drink and eat at work as they found daytime challenging.

Operation came and went and relief from pain was near life changing. Came round to the nurse telling me I had “an athletes’ heartbeat” not sure what that meant but I’ll take it.

Returned to my bed for lunch – three-star Cornish pastie, Sautee potatoes and vegetables. A feast. However, it was interrupted by two police officers. Not for me but for my next cubical neighbour. “How did you find me?” he asked, classic reply from police officer “I came down that corridor and there you were!?He was charged, based on information from the Met police, on the spot for “attempted strangulation, Assault, and coercive behaviour! My dilemma was do I get my phone out and film it? chickened out on that one.

He was handcuffed and taken off. I then had to explain what happened to the rest of the ward as they put their hearing aids in and the nurses who knew nothing about what was to happen.

I got released (from hospital not Police station) the next day, but I think my stay said so much about British society.

Our nurses and doctors are brilliant at dealing with medical and social issues in a calm and professional way. How we value them as a society by paying them less than train drivers is astonishing! Indirect sexism and racism are still alive and well sadly, and the way the nurses dealt with it was highly professional and skilled. Abuse of women is clearly a real issue and convictions for coercive behaviour and violence towards women is still not at a level where women feel confident to report. As working in the sport sector, we may be mostly work with fit, relatively healthy people, but we forget the challenge with society in both obesity and dementia. It has left me very uplifted about the health service and that I hope we now address the issues concerning the abuse of women. And now back to reality and the @Sport Structures world.?