It was an ordinary Wednesday afternoon coffee break at the SCR. I unusually had an espresso and a quick sandwich when, all of a sudden, I had this intense pain bang on in the middle of my abdomen. I could barely walk back to the office and I immediately blamed the espresso: perhaps it was burnt or I should stick to my usual Americano version of coffee?
The pain got worse and my wife and co-supervisor promptly called the emergency and "ordered" an ambulance. I feared it would be the appendix revisiting me after almost 2 decades of silence. The ambulance did not turn up half an hour after calling so we decided to get a cab down to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Less than 10 minutes later, we were there.
By now, the pain was ironically subsiding, though I was still not uncomfortable. After a quick registration or whatever you would call the initial process, I was called by a nurse some 30 minutes later who did a basic examination and thought the pain was too high up to be appendix, which was a brief relief, but had to await being seen by a proper doctor.
The doctor only called me almost 2 hours later, during which time the A+E waiting room seemed to be more like a social club rather than a place of emergency: people eating, drinking, watching TV, flirting, browsing YouTube on their laptop (yes, that's right) and the odd cry of pain from 1 or 2.
Anyway, I was my turn after a long wait and the doctor said it was probably some bug or stomach acid. Back home, I slept rather well, though the next morning I still did not feel too well and stayed at home. By lunch time, I thought I was 100% recovered and was almost going to the office but by 5.30 the pain had returned and by evening it was almost unbearable. There we go again.
I slept uncomfortably and got up well on the Saturday. I ate like a toddler all day but by today I think all is fine. I guess I will never know what exactly was wrong with me but what I do know is that the A+E in the U.K. is not very different from the A+E at home!
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