Leah Brette
I was sitting in the waiting room in the IVF lounge of the local hospital waiting for my blood tests results. I was onto my second IVF cycle and I was feeling nervous and honestly, a little traumatised from the first cycle. The blood tests would determine whether I was able to go forward with the next stage.
I was by myself and it was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. I could hear two nurses in the staff office located next door to the waiting room coming back into their office and started having a ‘natter’ about patients past and present.
To my horror, they then proceeded to open a filing cabinet and started chucking files onto the floor in two piles whilst saying quite loudly, ‘Pregnant, not pregnant’. The manor of their actions and words just screamed a lack of care, consideration, compassion and just plain human thoughtfulness. They didn’t think, ‘I wonder if there are any patients next door?’ They just couldn’t have cared less. I was just in utter shock; how can they act like this? I know they see this every day, but come on, they can’t be that heartless, surely?
I was called in to see the nurse not long after and I told her what I had seen and heard. I started to cry; I felt so very alone in that moment. She said she would tell the girls to keep the office door closed but then quickly moved onto the reason why I was there. When I left the appointment room, I looked into the waiting room and there were quite a few people in there. As I walked down the stairs to the car park, all I thought was I really hope they didn’t hear what I did’.
The second cycle didn’t work and I was left empty and a shell of my former self, but I wanted to protect others from my experiences. I sent a feedback form to the department via email and written (just incase they didn’t get it!) and explained what I had witnesses and how it felt. I never got a response despite working in the hospital for a time!
Talking to others on CNBC forums and social media groups has really helped as they have too sadly experienced something similar. I just wish a little thought and compassion had been demonstrated, it wouldn’t have changed the outcome, I would still be CNBC, but I wouldn’t be as scarred by the process.
