The other part of the whole treatment is a rule that each patient after backbone surgery cannot go home other way than by an ambulance. This idea is not bad. However, not bad until you see the ambulance with which you have to go home. First of all, there is never just one patient there. To use the ambulance economically the ambulance must be always full. This means that they take all patient who go the same direction, but to different town. Practically in my case it meant that usually the way from the capital city to my town takes an hour drive, but using the ambulance it was more than four hours because the driver took first home the patients who were sitting. I had to lie down all the time – you have to think, what is the lady complaining about? It is great to go home and lie down the whole way… I would agree if they used a comfortable ambulance, but mostly they use those ones which are more than 15 years old. The bed is uncomfortable, old and narrow. Moreover, you are not tightened which means the whole drive you have to hold the pads because while driving you move up and down, side to side the whole way.
The same system is used if you need a check-up in another hospital. The only difference is that the driver of the ambulance usually brings you to a hospital and leaves you there because he has to go for other patients. Of course, he will come back again, but you have to wait for him. The last time I went for MRI to another hospital, it was an unforgettable experience. At 12.30 two men came to pick me up with a portable bed from the ambulance. First of all they had no idea how to put me on this bed as I could not move my left leg, had still a lot of tubes and it was forbidden to lift me up in a common way. After 20 minutes we found a way and went for a ride. An assistant from the hospital, where I was, had to go with me. During this ride, the assistant had to hold me all the time as there was a lot of danger that I will fall down from the bed. Finally when we came to the other hospital and the found the right department, the people from the department had a problem to find another portable bed for me as the drivers from the ambulance had to go away. I was not waiting long for the check-up, but I wondered about behaviour of these people. They took me the room with the MRI appliance and want me to move on the bed of the appliance. I had to explain them that I was not able to do this as I could not move my leg. So, when they finally understood this, they just took the bed from the MRI appliance away – which took 30 seconds and put mine on it with me. I do not understand why they force patients to move from one portable bed to another one, when it takes just 30 seconds to change one from the appliance to another one on which the patient is brought in. Afterwards, they just put me to a wall in a room apposite changing rooms and told me to wait. This practically meant that each patient coming out from the changing rooms could see me lying on the bed – I was wearing just a hospital nightgown and the urine bag was more than visible. After three hours, the drivers of the ambulance finally came and the assistant was allowed to come to me. They found out that my urine bag was full, so they asked the MRI personnel if they could change it for me as it could crack in the ambulance during the drive back to my hospital. This was a real problem to them as they did not have even a bucket where the urine bag could be drained. So the assistant had to take out the half of the tube and take the bag away to drain it in the toilet while another one was holding the rest of it to prevent leaking the urine on the bed. I guess everyone can imagine how ashamed I felt…