Scotland Chapter 3

We drove over to Aberdeen after I packed a few things I might need for my stay in the hospital. We arrived at the hospital area and it was not clearly marked as to where you get "dropped off" to be checked in. Richard has always told us that in Scotland they don't want you driving your cars and provide little parking for them which means any designated parking is usually a long walk to where you want to go...that is how they keep the "old world" charm of the country. Well, the line going into one area was backed up, which later we found out was the main door...


Richard parked us in the public parking area and I had to muster up all my courage to stand the pain to walk up to the hospital. It was not a really long walk by normal standards, but a hideous one when you are hurting and limping like I was. I was being brave and thinking of the song "Cowgirls don't Cry" but it was hard! We got to the front door and Ross quickly found a wheelchair, be it the weirdest wheelchair I ever saw, to put me in and we found the area of admittance. I was looking all around and could not believe my eyes...
It looked old and beat up and I was thinking, what have I gotten myself into now!
They sent us down to Rheumatology to see a doctor there. It was a staging area where there were two people waiting one to be admitted to the hospital and other was just to be assessed like I was. A young woman doctor came to see me and went over my symptoms and looked at my leg. She said they needed to do blood work and then she would be back to talk to me.


You know as you sit and wait in a place like that you get to looking everything over! I was getting more freaked out by the minute, but remember I don't do "medical" very well anyway so it doesn't take much to freak me out. About 90 minutes goes by and the doctor comes back and informs me that I have a high level of infection in my blood and my white count was way off the scale..... and that I have a septic knee ( nice for staph infection) and I am going to have to go to surgery! Well you can imagine that now I am about to hyperventilate!

The rheumatology area pictured above
Hubby thinks I am weird I take hospital photos :)

She then tells me I will be taken up to Orthopaedic and I go to surgery from there....and a doctor will come talk to me about my test results further.
A nurse wheels me up to Orthopedic and they take me into a ward FULL of all kinds of people!

My bed is in the back far left corner by the window so we wind through all the people standing around. It was evening visiting hours by then so that is where all the people came from. In Scotland people get lots of visitors I figured out, but it did not help my fear and feeling of lack of privacy at a time I was so scared! They pulled the curtain around my bed and left us.

I was in Women's Ward 43 and I was sharing it with the 5 other women. I had not been in a Ward my whole life and I had not saw one since I was a kid! I don't like things that are too much different than I am used to. Richard and Angela were also fretting the fact I might should have been in one of the country's private hospitals. I was here now, so debate over.

A doctor comes in and talks to us that I need to have emergency surgery to flush out my knee immediately. He said my knee was the least of my problems if this was not taken care of quickly. Hubby and I just looked at each other, I could not believe it, what was he really saying to me, I could die? Yes that is what he meant and we agreed to the surgery. Thankfully visiting hours were over and it was quiet when we talked to the doctor. Hubby looked at me and said "you are terrified"! I replied yes I was, and the sobbing started.

to be continued.........