Fractured in Sweden

For six days Miss T had the top of her right arm like this. She didn't cry or complain and only took pain relief during the first two days. The emergency unit sent us home the first day saying that they thought the break would start to mend on it's own and to come back in five days for more x-rays. We weren't shown the first x-rays, had we seen them we would no doubt have questioned their analysis. On our return visit the x-ray department hadn't been informed of our appointment, the emergency unit had forgotten to send on our referral (?) and we spent several hours in waiting rooms. This time an orthopedic doctor looked at the x-rays and came to the conclusion that this break wasn't going to mend on it's own.
The next day Miss T was booked in for an operation. The anesthetist mixed Miss T up with another patient, fortunately I was there to correct him , but he took some convincing. He also put in a needle that was too small so the poor nurse who was administering the anesthetic had to struggle. The operating table was the wrong one and had to be changed after Miss T had already lain on it for about 10 minutes, and in the room next to the operating theater where I was gowned up there was a 4 inch hole in the wall that had been filled in with scrunched up paper.

By now the broken ends of bone had penetrated muscle so the surgeon, who had calculated on a 30 - 60 minute operation, spent two hours repairing the damage and pinning her together. During these two hours I was left in a small waiting room and given no information. I spent my time observing a mosquito flying around and reading posters on the importance of hygien.



In spite of everything the surgeon was brilliant. He talked to Miss T before the operation and explained very carefully what he was going to do, and he came to the recovery room directly after the operation and apologised for taking so long, but he had wanted to keep the cuts as small as possible and taken his time, for which we are very grateful. Most of the nurses were fantastic too, considering the conditions they have to work under, and yes, we are in Sweden.