"They didn't seem to believe me"

I can’t walk as can’t put weight on left leg. Intense hip/back pain when stand up. Side effects from naproxen / lansoprazole, intense retching and burping for 2 hours at a time for 3 days and it got worse and worse, weaker and weaker

It was a dark and snowy evening, we couldn't see where we were going. We came to where the A & E ambulances were - we knew we couldn’t park there but we wanted directions. There was someone by the door, they said I could go in there.

I said I needed a wheelchair and a staff member came out and snarled at me, asking what I wanted a wheelchair for. I told them that I couldn't walk as I have a bad hip/back and I needed an MRI scan. They didn't seem to believe me, but got me a wheelchair anyway. I was then plonked sideways on at the reception desk. (my friend went to park the car)

I had no energy to talk. They said they couldn't find me on the system - Funny that as I’ve never been there before. They were getting me to repeat everything twice which was draining me.

I said the 999 people had sent details and so I should already be in the queue - they said I wouldn't be.

Then the staff member from before took me to reception. I said I needed to lie down on a bed - was told they didn't have any. They told me to stay there where she placed me in reception and just left me.

A minute or so later the back pain was too much. It hurt so much to sit down the pain was unbearable The staff member snarled at me to get up immediately. Well I can’t put weight on my left leg without experiencing intense hip/back pain and after a few paces actually my body has to drop down into a stoop as the pain is too much to bear.

So I was exhausted after 3 days of intense retching and heaving and not being able to eat and now this person was shouting at me

And I quote. They said as someone in my 60's I should know better, and accused me of acting up in an attempt to jump the queue.

I said I have a back back and need an MRI scan - they said, I won't get one here. They again shouted at me to get up, accused me of ignoring them and acting deaf, they threatened to have me removed by security and that they would ban me from attending the hospital again.

My friend came back and asked what was going on. The nurse said that they were trying to get me up, they took me by one arm each and helped me up. My friend did say he was with me, which shocked the nurse. My friend asked where they were attempting to move me to and were told "over there", on a chair and commented that I needed a wheelchair but again the nurse said that I can't have one, that I have to sit in a chair.

The nurse then left.

I tried to sit on that hard chair and couldn’t. I tried to lie on the chairs but I needed to curl into a ball to alleviate any pain in a foetal position on my right side, as I would fall off.

Then my friend saw the wheelchair and helped me into it. The pain was so excruciating I tried for hours to sit in a comfortable position. At least the wheelchair had arms. I had to keep wiggling for hours as I had to put my legs over the arm which allowed my back not to touch and hard surface. And then attempt to sit normally with my back on the seat. I twisted and turned for hours.

Then I had had enough and I had to lie on the floor again. And suddenly a scream came out of my mouth it was so intense.

That was when another lovely member of staff stepped in. She was so nice. They explained that I couldn't lie there, that as it's a hospital floor it’s dirty. They gently offered to help me up. Is she an angel? They then asked if I'd been given any pain medication yet and I suddenly realised the first staff member could have helped me with pain medication, but they hadn't done that.

Then everything started to go well.

The staff member I had problems with finished work apparently in the early afternoon. I didn’t notice much because of the pain. And being so tired.

It then went very slowly and we were there around 12 hours. The doctor I saw eventually was lovely and all the day staff. The nurses were like a modern Florence Nightingale as you could tell they care a lot about people. One member of staff on reception was also a “little light”. Uplifting

I got 2 lots of oral morphine, an MRI scan, the results of the scan which was 3 slipped discs which have each trapped a nerve and I got some more medication.

All in all a well oiled machine that works well - after the initial long wait to see a doctor.