As some of you know, about a month I was hurried into hospital for emergency surgery. I was a bit surprised. Although I felt pretty crappy, I didn't think I was that bad, but the docs seemed to think that if something wasn't done very quickly I could potentially die. Anyway, I had 24 hours to prepare myself for the fact that I was going to go in for a major operation, and that my life would never be the same again. It made for a fun night of lying there alone in a hospital bed thinking!!
So the next day came around eventually and after a further 4 hours wait, the docs came round to wheel me away into theater. They wheeled me into a glorified cupboard full of apparatus, and after signing consent I went under at about 1pm.
A strange thing happened, I have no idea where I was or what time it was, but I had an allergic reaction to one of the drugs they were knocking me out with, and I gained consciousness for what seemed like 5 mins (was probably only a few seconds. My eyes were taped shut, and I couldn't talk, but boy did I experience a lot of pain! All I could hear around me was panic and people running around me. they knew something was wrong, and quickly sorted it... thank god!
So 7 and a half hours later I regained consciousness and was wheeled in a dreary state to a high dependency unit ward. I vaguely remember seeing my parents and girlfriend, but the morphine made everything more than a little hazy. I think that is when this photo was taken, not sure tho. basically it was taken when I was feeling relatively good before things went wrong.
2 days after the op I was moved to a post op ward, where I got my own room by chance. That was nice, but this is also when things started to go downhill, and the sickness started. Throwing up constantly for best part of a week while you have a hole in your torso with your small intestine pulled out of it, and a big 8" scar held together by 33 staples hurts... a lot! I was throwing up hard enough that it actually started to rip my wound open, and it had to be reinforced.
So for that first week I had a temp of 104 and was constantly sick due to a post op infection in my small bowel. the nausea faded a bit, and I tentatively ate a banana over the course of 8 hours. that kick started everything off again, 3 more days of vomiting, and a tube was shoved down my nose to remove pressure from my stomach. Basically it was a vacuum to suck out the bile and feaces that were being forced back into my stomach by the blockage, so that I didn't have to throw them up any more... It half worked.
Anyway, I had another week and a half of this before eventually being discharged and allowed home. over the course of that time I lost 23lbs in weight. Which is a lot considering that I was very underweight before surgery due to being ill.
So I got home, and felt very weak and sore, but not too bad for the first few days. unfortunately the nausea and vomiting started again a few days ago, so I may be getting admitted back into hospital tomorrow for yet more tests, and possibility of follow up surgery to correct the issues.
well that has been the story of my last month... worst month of my life! And hopefully some of you will understand and excuse the slow response to e-mails from me as a result.
I want to shout out a massive thanks to Jay for working his ass off in an attempt to cover for me, but I'm also afraid to say that this will unfortunately result in some delays in production (Legend)... sorry, bad timing!
I also want to thank my girlfriend Steph for being my rock and helping me through this. She has been amazing.
I'll be back on the case as soon as I feel capable, please bear with me.
