The time came where they called me down for surgery, I was nervous but I kept telling myself to be calm, what could go wrong, right? They wheeled me down to the Theatre Room in the hospital bed where they put a cannula in my hand (to ease the access of medication), gave me oxygen and the last thing I remember is the doctor giving me the anesthetic and telling me he would see me in a few hours.
A few hours later I woke up and I was completely out of it because of the anesthetic, which I knew was normal. I was brought to a public ward where I was told to rest because apparently I was 'recovering'. I was feeling unwell and began to suspect that what I was experiencing was certainly not recovery. I took out my phone to look at my face and I was horrified with how I looked.
The colour of my skin was turning grey, I had a swollen lip, my whole face just looked sideways. The nurses continued to give me painkillers throughout the day and night to help with my 'recovery'. I recall asking for something and being advised that "I need to start moving about myself", but I couldn't, I physically had no energy.
Friday and Saturday passed, I remained in pain and continued to take pain killers as advised. Sunday morning came and I was due to be discharged. About an hour before I was due to leave, My boyfriend arrived and I asked a nurse if she would wheel me down to the door in my pyjamas, as I had no energy to walk or get dressed.
I arrived home and went straight to bed, I felt so weak and was suffering from severe dehydration. I went for a nap for an hour or so thinking that when I woke up I would feel ok but that was not the case. I was now experiencing severe pain along with sweats and dehydration. I took prescribed pain killers and brought a fan into my room hoping it would cool me down. When my dinner was ready I couldn't manage to go downstairs for it, I just had no appetite and wanted to stay in bed and not move.
I eventually fell asleep but woke several times during the night with dehydration and pain. I had taken a basin to bed with me incase I got sick during the night and at 4pm I vomited, I noticed when I got sick that it was a very dark green colour which I thought was unusual.
The following morning when my mother came to check on me she saw the vomit and knew the colour wasn't right. She rang her friend who is a nurse and she advised that I go straight to A&E. She told me to get changed into clothes before she brought me but I explained to her that I physically couldn't move. She helped me into the bathroom and tried to help me get changed. I remember looking at myself in the mirror and thinking I did not look well at all. I told her I felt like I was going to vomit so she handed me a basin, next thing I remember is waking up in her arms and she told me that I was after collapsing. I remember trying to explain to her how I felt and the only way I could describe the feeling was "I felt like I was dying". I told her to ring the ambulance as there was no way I would be able to make it down to the car. I looked at myself in the mirror thinking "you need to stay awake", but I looked awful, my lips were turning purple and my skin was at white as a ghost.
My mam rang the ambulance and explained what was happening and that I was only out of hospital since Sunday so I wasn't even home 24 hours. They arrived very quickly and came up to me in the bathroom where I was lying in my mams arms, they put me in a chair and carried me downstairs and out into the ambulance where they tried to draw some blood. They spoke to me calmly and told me everything was going to be ok. One of them told my mam it looked like an infection but we all thought he meant an infection in my scars after surgery, we had no idea as to what was in store for us.
I arrived at the hospital and I was rushed into a room where I lay down on a bed, the pain was getting significantly worse and I was struggling to breathe. I was told I had to go for a CT scan to see what was going on, so I had to drink a contrast liquid beforehand. I remember I was in so much pain during the CT, I was told to lift my arms up over my head but I couldn't, I couldn't move.
After the scan results came back, I was informed that there was a perforation in my small bowel. This perforation had caused an internal infection known as Sepsis in my abdomen, and I had to go back in for emergency surgery to try and stop it spreading. I was informed that the worst case scenario was that I could wake up with an 'ileostomy bag'. Of course, at the time I did not realise how serious this was, I was too sick to make any sense of what was happening. The only thing that did make sense was that the surgery had to happen now, or there could be severe long-term damage or even death. Sepsis is very serious and time was critical.
The time came where I had to go for the surgery so they brought me into a room in A&E. At this stage, I was really struggling to breathe so my mam was holding my hand breathing with me. The nurse came in and handed me my gown and my mam helped me get changed into it. Then the nurse appeared with this thin yellow tube and explained that she had to put it down my throat. Obviously, I was freaking out but I allowed her to try. She put it up my nose and it went down my throat and I had to swallow it but I couldn't, I just kept gagging so she stopped trying.
Eventually they came to wheel me in for surgery, I kissed and hugged my mam saying goodbye and that I would see her soon. I remember they wheeled me into a room with loads of surgeons around me and a nurse tried to put the tube down my throat again, but I couldn't do it. They eventually stopped trying and the surgeon explained they had to give me an injection into my spine before the surgery to help with the pain I will have afterwards. They wanted me to get into the fetal position but I couldn't. At this stage I was screaming with pain, there was no way they could get this injection into me like this. It was so bad that a surgeon actually had to lift me like a baby and bring me over to another bed cause I couldn't move so they could inject me. I screamed and screamed as they put the injection into my spine. They then gave me the anesthetic and I fell asleep.