What would we do without King's Lynn's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, asks reporter after having wisdom teeth taken out

Many people will get their wisdom teeth taken out at some point in their lives, others are lucky and can go on for the rest of their lives without having any fuss.

Last week, it was finally time for me to say goodbye to my top two wisdom teeth at our Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Lynn.

Me and my wisdom teeth have had what is best to say a turbulent relationship.

The top ones grew outwards into my cheeks and the bottom ones caused a lot of pain and it was later discovered that they couldn’t be removed due to being very close to nerves in my jaw.

My dentist recommended me to have my teeth out at the hospital due to my tricky teeth and me being a bit nervous in the dentist chair.

I arrived at the QEH on Wednesday morning feeling nervous and unsure what to expect. I’ve been very fortunate and had good health and not much reason to go to hospital apart from a few trips to A&E.

But I was put at ease by the kind doctor and nurses as soon as I got into the room.

They talked me through what was happening every step of the way and were very reassuring after I explained why I felt particularly nervous after a previous bad experience at a dentist.

I was sedated for the procedure, so was awake, but calm and a bit sleepy.

From what I remember and what stuck with me, was while the doctor was pulling out my teeth, a nurse, who I’ve seen at a couple of previous appointments, held onto my hand and told me how well I was doing (even though all I had to do was lay there). It really meant a lot to me.

I don’t know how nurses do it, they work so hard but deserve better.

After the procedure, I was wheeled into another room to be ‘kept an eye on’ before I could go home. Another lovely nurse chatted to me and my mum about almost everything under the sun.

I’m currently writing this with a bit of a sore mouth but feeling so relieved something I’ve been waiting to get done for so long is finally over.

Times like this makes me feel incredibly grateful to have our QEH, just the week before I marched with the Save The QEH campaign group and spoke to them about why we need a new hospital so badly.

I really, really hope that we get some good news about our hospital sooner, rather than later.