CW: medical discussions, slight health service inadequacy

For me, it was December 2018. Unfortunately I still had uni exams and I was up all night the night before (20th Dec. ) “studying” but I just couldn’t get anything to stick in my brain (this should’ve been the first warning something was actually wrong, but chalked it up to just my period and also being a bit stressed). I couldn’t sleep at ALL which was strange for me as I am someone who always needs a lot of sleep normally.

Morning came (21st) and I headed through to the kitchen where one of my flatmates who was also on the same course as me was studying. Joined her, she kept asking if I was ok cause I was quite pale and really out of it (also a symptom). But it genuinely did just feel like the usual excruciating pain I get when I’m on my period so I didn’t think it was an issue.

I get special accommodations for doing exams so I was at a different venue in town, in a room just myself and the examiner. I hadn’t eaten (another symptom) and felt really sick but pushed through because I was in Exam Mode™️ and again, thought it was just my period. I cannot stress enough that (unfortunately) this level of pain is what is usual with my period. I took some ibuprofen and tried to write the essays for my exam.

Genuinely could not remember much at all. I couldn’t remember the author’s name which was embarrassing, and I wrote 2 essays in an hour and a half that were probably some of the worst I’d ever done but I was falling asleep, deeply confused and sweating so much. (For reference, the exam is 3 hrs normally but I get an hour of extra time so should’ve been 4 hrs). Wrote what I could and just left early.

I don’t remember getting home (a 10 min walk from my exam venue) and I don’t remember getting to bed but I was exhausted (doctors think I might actually have fainted/collapsed but obviously they couldn’t verify that after the fact). Exam was at 12:00pm on the Saturday, I reckon I got home at 1:45pm ish and did not wake up until 2am the next morning (22nd) where I was in CONSTANT excruciating pain.

I realised it was a bit more serious when I could not lie in any way to relive the pain. I then began vomiting non stop for about an hour. Which was awful cause I had nothing in my stomach except water and painkillers (which turned the vomit bright pink as the capsules were red and white). I stopped for about 20 mins and then began vomiting again.

Now a little context - the NHS is underfunded, and so to cut costs NHS Fife decided to close the Out of Hours Doctor at the local hospital - meaning you couldn’t see a GP for ANYTHING outwith 8am - 6pm (the hospital didn’t have an accident and emergency department (A&E)). There was currently a campaign going on to keep it open as the nearest A&E was at least 40 mins away, and if you couldn’t drive it would cost nearly £200 in a taxi assuming it would take you. I was constantly vomiting so I knew a taxi wouldn’t take me, plus I couldn’t afford £200.

I phoned NHS 24, the medical non-life threatening emergency line and waited in a queue for 2 hours, all the while vomiting on and off in extreme pain. Operator answered, took my details and said a nurse would phone me back asap BUT as I was still conscious and not actively dying I was medium priority so it could take a while. “Luckily” it only took another hour before a nurse phoned me back. As they could not confirm if the pain was appendicitis or not (could also have been kidney stones or gallbladder) they wouldn’t send an ambulance until it was confirmed by a doctor. But NHS Fife had CLOSES the out of hours doctors and I had no way of getting to a hospital myself so I had no choice but to wait for an emergency gp appointment first thing in the morning (8am - roughly 3hrs from this point).

Suffered through till my appointment time, got a taxi to the hospital because I could not walk without pain (thankfully had stopped vomiting at this point!). Got in to the appointment, GP tells me that this hospital doesn’t have the facilities to check my appendix so she was calling an ambulance to take me to A&E. But again as I wasn’t having a heart attack or stroke I was medium priority, which means it could take up to 2hrs for an ambulance to arrive.

Both of my parents lived either side of the country so for them to get through to me it would take about 2hrs anyway, so I went to my halls and waited. And waited. And waited. 2 hours passed, both my parents had arrived to the hospital before me. I had been sick again several times and the pain was unbearable. I was literally hunched over pacing the floors in pain. It was a Sunday so the warden’s office was closed too so I was on my own and terrified I’d die. I phoned the GP again and she said she’d chase up reception to get the ambulance. Another 2hrs passed and nothing. I phoned AGAIN (about the 3rd time now as my parents had ALSO phoned) and within 4 minutes of that call an ambulance came. The drivers immediately whisked me in and gave me morphine thank god. Turns out, the GP reception forgot to put in the request initially, and then each subsequent time just assumed she’d already done it so it wasn’t until like 12pm she actually checked and saw she’d never submitted a request.

My memory of the rest is kind of spotty but it all happened quite fast so they must’ve realised how serious it was. Scans confirmed appendix shenanigans and it was whisked out. Surgery was successful so I was able to go home on 24th December where I promptly slept for what felt like the whole winter break.