Here we go again…Round 3!

Yes you’ve guessed right. I have been away from this blog for a while because I have been back in hospital since March 11th. Initially it was an elective scheduled surgery that I was going to have my PTC tube removed and undergo wound closure and biliary reconstruction if need be. The surgeons being reluctant to do the surgery due to worries that they may cause other complications during the surgery as it is a very delicate surgery because of my ‘abnormal’ anatomy delayed my surgery by about 3 weeks. When my PTC tube was removed it was clear that I would not be able to go long with it causing another infection and eventually sepsis so they decided to go ahead with the surgery.

On the afternoon of April 5th 2008 I went into theatre, the operation lasted 4 hours and I was brought straight to LITU to come round. Luckily I was not intubated when I woke up as that was what I was dreading the most. Everything seemed to be going well, I was moved to the ward the next morning and everyday I kept getting stronger and feeling great and I was please at how my stomach looked. I was recovering so well that I was due to be discharged the next week.

However, bad luck decided to strike again unexpectedly that weekend. I was in immense pain that the pain relief was not helping so they put me back on the PCA which eventually helped slightly, however I then started leaking from my wound so I had numerous emergency scans which showed that I had a perforation within my stomach and that it needed to be fixed by surgery. I was immediatly put on the emergency surgery list for the following morning. After a restless night of immense pain I went into theatre early the next morning. After the surgery I was brought back to LITU for another day before transferred back to the ward again. Unfortunately that was not the end of my bad luck as it just kept getting worst over the next few months. 3 days later my stomach perforated yet again, which meant back into surgery for a third time but unfortunately for me it didn’t work again so they gave up on doing anymore surgery and tried another technique which involved me having to go on long term TPN and be nil by mouth for a few months until my stomach heals naturally.

Weeks and months were passing by and I was becoming so frustrated and depressed and the pain was often unbearable. They tried several times to let me eat again but it just kept coming back out of the hole in my stomach and at one point due to my dressings being done incorrectly resulted in a collection in my wound so it had to be re-opened and drained again which prolonged my healing time.

The final plan in July was to leave me nil by mouth again until September and to remain in hospital on TPN until that time as it was not practical to send me home on TPN or to put an NJ. However, they gradually decreased the feeding time which allowed me to be free to go out during the afternoons and to go home for a few hours every weekend. Midway through August my PICC line started to become very sore and it looked like it was becoming infected so they decided to take it out and scheduled me for another PICC line insertion but because the waiting lists were so long they estimated I would be waiting for a couple of weeks so they eventually decided to give me another shot at eating and thankfully nothing was coming out anywhere and I was keeping it down although I did feel nauseas at first but never threw it up and as they days passed and I managed a whole weekend at home my appetite was slowly getting better and so when I came back from my weekend leave they decided that they were happy to discharge me given that I promised that I would try to eat more as I could only tolerate spoonfuls at that point and my stomach has been used to not being fed for months.

I have been home 3 weeks today and all is going great, my appetite is almost completely back to normal. I have a lot more energy and my pain levels have subsided immensely, my main problem at the moment is the pain in my legs due to the arthritis and osteoporosis. Due to my stomach problems now my doctors have discontinued my medication for the osteoporosis as it causes stomach ulcers therefore my legs are getting worst, but I am trying to go back to physio and doing daily exercises to strengthen my bones. Also another thing that sometimes gets me down is my enlarged stomach as I look heavily pregnant and it’s just so uncomfortable and not attractive at all. Anyway, I try to look at it from a positive point of view and the main thing is that I’m alive!

I am now feeling more positive about life and I’m eager to get my life back on track and hopefully start to build a future and career for myself. Although for the rest of this year I just want to finish it taking it easy to fully recover but at the same time enjoy life and so am in the process of booking my holiday to the US for Christmas before I get stuck back into work and studies again next year as I am completely done with hospitals. I think I’ve had my fair share of struggles that it’s time for me to be happy as that’s the reason why I fought to survive...