08/03/2019
It was a Friday morning and the consultants did their 'ward round' on Ward 6 at Hull Royal Infirmary. I woke up that morning feeling full of energy and ready for another strong day of recovery. Once my consultant arrived at my bedside, he asked how I was doing? I replied "Best day yet!", and proceeded to look at my overnight observations. These were all showing great signs of recovery and all of a sudden looked up and said "Right then Jacob, we'll have you home by the end of today!". What a sense of relief that was and a burst of happiness! So with that being said, the nurses prepped me for discharge. I was administered my final dose of intravenous antibiotics and fluids. Once that had been administered I had my intravenous cannulas removed (that felt great and being able to move my hand about without it being attached to any drips and restricting me) and a final blood test taken. The stoma nurse visited my bedside to introduce me to the bag change and how to properly clean it. This was the first time I had seen my stoma without being on morphine so I could really pay close attention to all of this. The bag is removed with adhesive removal spray, which has no nasty chemicals mixed in, to make sure that there is no discomfort when pulling this off. The stoma was in good health, bright pink, and we continued to clean it and the surrounding area. The stoma is cleaned with warm water, no soap or gel or this could upset it, and dried with medical dry wipes. The stoma bag has its own skin friendly adhesive that can help with skin repair when the skin becomes sore. Once the bag has been pressed up firmly against the skin and the stoma is nice and neatly showing inside of the bag, I continued to hold it on to help with the adhesion and warm the glue for best results.
When the bag had been changed, I was introduced to my stoma bag and kit. This includes the stoma bag/pouches, adhesive removal spray, waste bags (like dog bags), seals (incase the stoma retracts a little), wipes and a pair of rounded scissors to cut inside of the bag to size with my stoma, this is because over the next few weeks the stoma will change shape and size. The bags will eventually come pre-cut to size once my stoma had settled (more on that in another blog).
I laid there on my bed in Ward 6 waiting for the most happiest moment of my Hospital stay, going home! On a more serious note, the nurses, consultants and all members of Hull Royal Infirmary and the Stoma Care Team of Castle Hill Hospital who visited were absolutely amazing and deserve a huge amount of credit! They made my stay at the Hospital as comforting and reassuring as it could.
Once the discharge team had received my handover and medical notes from Ward 6, I was ported down to the discharge lounge to wait for my medication to be released. This was a very nice room that had just been built a week before and had a lovely selection of snacks and drinks, with a modern look with mood lighting and wooden design (5 stars on TripAdvisor 😉). Once the medication had arrived, around a 30 minute wait, I was told what was what. This included 2 types of Antibiotics to complete my course and Tramadol to manage my pain. My Grandad then wheeled me to the car where my Nana and Mum were waiting for me in the pickup area to take me home. The journey home was fairly uncomfortable over bumps (mainly potholes). Once I arrived home my dog, Lucy, almost put the window through her tail was banging on the window that hard! I got in and sat down on the sofa to get comfy and turned on the TV to catch up on all my shows. The relief of being in the comfort of my own home! The road to recovery continues.