Back to full fitness – how Nuffield Health Cambridge Hospital changed my quality of life

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An NHS nurse for 40 yrs, Margaret Berry has devoted her existence to caring for many others. From main nurse at Addenbrooke’s Hospital to becoming head of community health management at the Section of Overall health, she was awarded an OBE for providers to nursing and healthcare. Always lively and virtually never ever the affected person, Margaret arrived a standstill with excruciating back soreness. She shares her first practical experience of private health care at Nuffield Wellness Cambridge Hospital.

I began nursing at 18 decades aged and worked during an era when we would bodily carry clients to in which they required to be, so I’ve usually been in good shape and robust, and I have by no means had a again personal injury.

Having said that, lots of years of dress in and tear had taken their toll and I retired at 55 but was still equipped to reside a total life and ongoing to do beneficial work in semi-retirement. Each my total-time task and operating my confined corporation necessary a large amount of driving, and when I started out to get lessen back again agony I carried on, using a regular concoction of agony relief to numb the frequent everyday irritation.

Over the pursuing five years the agony turned progressively even worse and I was established on an unrelenting regimen of GP appointments, healthcare facility scans and physiotherapy referrals, in a bid to explore the difficulty and help deal with the discomfort. By the close of this time, I could only genuinely stroll 50 yards and it was affecting virtually anything I did. How had I gone from a person who relished activity, particularly golf, to not being ready to bend down or go to the outlets? All scans to this place experienced prompt arthritic degenerative alterations at the foundation of my backbone, so I thought that was it! There was almost nothing much more that could be carried out for me.

By the age of 60 I was experiencing a speedy deterioration of my daily life. I couldn’t conduct everyday functions and the soreness, which experienced now sophisticated to my still left leg, turned so agonising that it would choose me several hours to get completely ready for the working day. I couldn’t shower standing up and had to just take the stairs on my palms and knees, I felt wholly isolated.

When you’re used to living everyday living at a million miles an hour it is very debilitating and quite depressing to take a degenerative issue, it felt as nevertheless I had no alternative, but I could not experience the prospect of living like this, so I requested the view of a main neurosurgeon.

This is when I satisfied advisor neurosurgeon Mr Rod Laing. Although I had no expectation that he could do just about anything for me, I was continue to terrified of speaking to him as I did not know what he could possibly uncover and felt confident we’d have to explore daily life-restricting possibilities. In limited, Mr Laing was really amazing, he took a single search at my MRI scan and quickly said, I can make you better! I simply just couldn’t think what I was hearing, it’s just a single tiny sentence but this was a life-altering second for me.

Mr Laing identified spinal stenosis, a narrowing of spaces in between my spine which puts stress on the nerves functioning by means of the spinal canal. When he showed me the scan I was stunned how experienced this been missed so many periods ahead of? Even so, I was also elated to be worried with past analysis, now it was time to get the remedy I desired and take into consideration exactly where I would have surgery. My extensive NHS record manufactured Addenbrooke’s Clinic the initial decision, but the pandemic and broad ready lists meant it wasn’t the appropriate solution. I begun to seem at personal healthcare and if I could afford to pay for to have the operation accomplished privately.

The Nuffield Medical center in Cambridge is Mr Laing’s medical center of choice, so I took his dependable assistance and located the charge was substantially lessen than I’d anticipated, and that self-pay out is such an quick process. Mr Laing’s wonderful secretary helped make arrangements and a date was established for the stop of March 2021 with just an right away keep, it could have been a working day case, but I selected this selection as I reside on my have. Mr Laing always stored up to date on how I was and what to anticipate, and the amazing Dr Silvia Karcheva rang me to speak by way of health questions – all of which genuinely set my mind at relaxation. By this time, I had misplaced 10kg in readiness for my op and was sensation positively determined about lifetime once again.

I had my procedure on a Friday early morning, and following a few several hours of operation was carefully reassured by the most caring staff that an individual would be on hand to observe me all over the night. They have been all there when I woke up, and in just an hour of remaining back on the ward I was standing up and touching my toes – unbelievable! Following a wonderful write-up-op chat with Mr Laing I was fortunately back again at property by Saturday afternoon.

My expertise at the Nuffield Well being Cambridge Hospital was my 1st ever publicity to non-public health care and I have been overwhelmed by the exemplary level of treatment, kindness and capability from each individual one member off employees. I know what good treatment and lousy care seems like, and I’ve just received the most amazing health care!

They are a great healthcare facility team and I watched their medical duties with an eagle eye, almost everything I noticed was excellence at every single degree. As a really personal man or woman, I feel what also astounded me was the absolute thought of care just about every step of the way, they talked to me about every thing, safeguarded my dignity, calmed my fears and done surgical procedures that has improved my good quality of life.

I am again to whole health and fitness, sense as in good shape as a flea, and taking part in the greatest golf of my lifetime! I wander a mile each individual day and
do the job with a personal physio to fortify my leg muscle groups. Now a entire-time potter and artist, I can also sit and easily generate without the need of soreness and I’m loving my existence once again, rather than dreading the long term. The nursing staff members at Nuffield Wellness Cambridge Clinic are extraordinary and I have practically nothing but praise to provide in return for the exceptional treatment I gained.

I am sharing my story to reassure others in the exact circumstance, for the reason that this has altered my excellent of existence, I will fortunately chat individual to client with anybody who would like to know more.

For far more details, go to nuffieldhealth.com/hospitals/cambridge, get in touch with 01223 370922 or e mail [email protected].