Councillor Collins is a prominent councillor of the London Borough of Hounslow. Here, Councillor Collins, who is registered blind, describes his experience of radio-frequency ablation of the long saphenous vein with multiple phlebectomies under local anaesthesia. Councillor Collin's venous insufficiency previously caused bilateral lower limb venous ulcerations. He had previously undergone a similar procedure on the other leg which was complicated by a calf Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT).
Transcript (auto-generated)
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My experience in the theatre as a severely impaired person was very good. Every question that I asked about what was around me in the theatre, what the noises were, where certain things were, what people were doing and why they were there, everybody wanted to help me and ask questions. During the procedure I had to ask the surgeon to stop because I was uncomfortable, I was able to move and I just thanked the surgeon, he said no problem at all, they carried on. The one strange thing was when the bed was tilted backwards so that I was sort of going backwards. Now as a blind person balance is not great at the best of times so I found that a bit bit disorientating, however everybody in the theatre talked me through what they were doing, told me who they were, why they were there and when I had one or two slight difficulties there was always someone there to help, so my experience in the theatre as a blind person, as a registered blind person, taking all things into consideration of the type of surgery I had met my expectations and in many respects exceeded them. It was a strange situation to be awake for a procedure but it was a very interesting procedure. What would you advise prospective patients? Do you have an advice from your side? My advice is to always ask before you go in what to expect and never be frightened to ask the people in the theatre, you know, why are they doing it, who they are, how are they supporting you and to be relaxed with the staff that's around you and if you have a If you have a problem, for goodness sake, ask. Don't endure any sufferance unnecessarily.
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