Healthy New Year (part 2) 💋

[Blackwitch]

Well, where do I start?!

I left you in 2015. I'd been sent home from hospital. I managed one night at home then had to go back via A&E. My stomach pains were worse still. I was admitted, whisked off, by an angel of a junior doctor who knew he'd be in trouble but couldn't get hold of a porter, for a CT scan. The result showed a definite inflamed blockage so first thing next morning I was being prepped for surgery. I was seen by a stoma nurse who explained all about colostomy bags etc and drew lovely pictures on my abdomen.

When I came round from the surgery, I was told that an 8cm piece of my colon had been removed but they were able to join the ends together. No stoma.

New Year was spent in hospital recovering from all this but worrying what the inflamed lump might be and worrying about getting constipated all over again.

Added to my other scars is one very long vertical wound from rib cage to pubic bone.

I was told yesterday morning that I could go home but after waiting until 4.45pm with no sign of the discharge letter, we absconded! My husband pushed me in a wheelchair, the length of a busy ward and we did not see one member of staff! We sped through the damp, full car parks to our car, abandoned the wheelchair at the side of some random building and sped off into the night........

actually we just joined one endless queue of traffic to get out of that hellhole!

Of course, I still have the results of the tests lurking in the background.

It was so good to get back home and sleep in my own bed. I've really missed my dogs and they were happy to see me. (Ralphie, the Labradoodle had gone off his food). The cat looked at me, put his ears back and meowed as if to say, 'where the hell have you been'?

Happy & Healthy 2016 to everyone!

ToD xx

[Matilda7]

So pleased you avoided having a stoma. Hope 2016 will bring you much better health!

[allanah]

Well now take the time to recover propetly and don't rush! Glad the operation went well and it will be good to get your results ASAP to give you some peace of mind. Hope this is the start of z healthy happy new year for you and yours X

[Smiler53]

Hi T.O.D.

Thank goodness for that junior doctor eh! You little tinker absconding, but I don't blame you, I think I would have done the same.

I hope your lovely dog has regained his appetite now you are back home and your cat

has forgiven you.

Fingers crossed for the results and hope you will feel a lot better soon.

Smiler xx

[hatshepsut]

Hope this is the start of something good!!! Keep well. M x

[swisslass]

What a way to spend New Year ..sends shivers down my spine ! Hope feeling a bit better - take care.

[helixhelix]

Nothing beats getting home to your own bed if you're feeling bad - so hope you had a good night and feeling better today. And isn't it lucky we have yards & yards of colon... Hope also that that's the end of your troubles and 2016 has nothing but good news from now on.

[Blackwitch in reply to helixhelix]

Thank you helix. I am definitely sleeping better now I'm in my own bed. The hospital beds are all well & good, all singing & dancing but for short people a nightmare. I couldn't touch the floor so had to slide off the bed with cold metal on the back of my legs and almost always taking the bottom sheet with me. Yes, being home is good!

Thank you for your kind wishes. Let's hope 2016 is a better year for all of us.

ToD xx

[Hidden]

Gosh what a new year you've had ToD? A few things to try and reassure you with. My mum was rushed into hospital about 23 years ago with terrible stomach pain from some kind of blockage.

She was scanned and a huge lump was spotted between stomach and bowel. They were more or less sure she had an advanced tumour and she, being one to face things full square, told us all it was probably curtains. I was still up in my island home with a 2 month old baby so this was terrible.

But when she came to she was told there had been no cancer. Instead a knot had formed above her bowel and they had removed a large proportion of her intestine. Unfortunately she contracted MRSA and had to be rushed back in so spent a further month in hospital but lived for another 15 years - until unrelated atherosclerosis and vascular dementia got her.

My hubby and I walked out in exactly the same way at the end of my fourth hospital stay last year. The ward was in chaos and I'd been told the district nurse would take over dressing my wound and no one was around to discharge me. It felt bizarre but such a relief to get home! I really hope you get news that the cause of the rectal blockage was just a twist as I know this happens. Best of luck for news and good recovery. Txx

[Blackwitch]

I've just had the all clear from the surgeon. No cancer, just an inflamed lump which had totally blocked my bowel and luckily he managed to remove it. Phew!

Thank you everyone for all your support.

ToD xx

[farm123 in reply to Blackwitch]

What a relief for you. Hope recovery goes well. Farm

[Mandalou]

Happy New Year to you! X