02/03/2019
On Saturday morning I woke up with excruciating pain in my lower right abdomen, this pain was like nothing I had experienced before, nor would I have wished it upon my worst enemy. I called for my mum to help and with great difficulty asked her to assist me out of bed. Once up and dressed I struggled downstairs to try and get comfortable sitting upright on the sofa. The pain wasn't easing and I asked my mum to call 999. The ambulance arrived swiftly within 15 minutes and the crew cracked on with my observations. I was very pale in colour and my obs were showing signs of a very high fever.
The crew then immediately positioned me promptly onto the ambulance.
We arrived at Hull Royal Infirmary within 10 minutes where I was taken straight to majors where the doctors and nurses were ready to asses my condition. They administrated very high medication to help assist with my pain then quickly carried out the appropriate procedures to investigate the problem. They pressed firmly around my abdominal area and explained to me it could be a number of things causing the pain such as my Crohn's Disease, Gallbladder failure, Kidney failure or a blockage of the bowel. With that been said I had immediate X-rays and CT scans. The X-ray was to be expected as I have had several of them before but the CT scan was very different. Prior to the CT scan I had to drink 2 litres of fluorescent fluid which helped to show up my internal organs on the scan. Whilst having the CT scan I was injected with dye through an intravenous cannula which also helped to show things more clearly, this gives you a very strange sensation that you are peeing! Once the scans were complete I was ported back to Majors.
After some time I was transferred to the AMU for further investigation. When I arrived I was greeted by 3 more doctors who had reviewed my CT and X-rays and revealed it related to my bowel. A specialist consultant delivered the devastating news that my bowel had perforated and had caused Sepsis, the blood tests confirmed this also. The consultant also advised that I was hours away from dying and had to undergo emergency life saving surgery. This was very scary for me because it was at that moment I realised the seriousness of it all. My body was attacking itself. The consultant wanted to operate immediately (baring in mind this is when I was told I would have to have a stoma because if they were to remove the perforated bowel and reattach, it would not hold. The stoma allows for my large bowel to rest). however I needed to be stabilised for this to happen so it was temporarily put on hold for a matter of hours. I was administered 4 types of strong antibiotics and 8 bags of fluid. During this process I was transferred to ward 6 in preparation for emergency surgery.
I was advised to get some rest which obviously proved very difficult as my brain was working overtime trying to digest the information I had just been told.
I dreaded what the next few hours were going to bring as I laid there thinking and worrying , and feeling very alone.