Eventually my eyes opened and I was in a room that I didn't recognise. There was a metal wire holding my mouth open and my head straight. I could not close my mouth or talk, and feeling around with my hands, I discovered a wide tube running into my mouth and down my throat. As I was trying to figure out what was happening, I was relieved to see both my parents walk into the room. They looked worried.
My parents told me that I was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). They spoke about the surgery with a nurse and they kept using the word 'yesterday'. This confused me a lot as I didn't understand how the surgery was yesterday. I gestured to my mam to get me a pen and paper so I could ask questions. I asked (via a piece of paper) "what day is it?", she told me it was Saturday. How was this? I went in for surgery on a Friday. I then wrote "you keep talking about my surgery like it was yesterday" and she then told me that it was yesterday and that I had been sedated for 18 hours. I started to cry... my head was all over the place.
Just to underpin how confused I was, my next question was "Did I miss Love Island?" My parents explained what had happened, how much time had passed, and the status of my condition. They explained that as surgery was beginning the previous day, I received a general anesthetic, and as I went to sleep, I involuntarily aspirated the contents of my stomach up onto my lungs. This is known as Anesthesia Aspiration...
One of the potential surgery complications is anesthesia aspiration. This occurs when a patient cannot swallow or vomits up food from his or her stomach until his or her lungs. This can lead to aspiration pneumonia and it can make it difficult to get enough oxygen.
I found this was a lot to take in, and emotions were running high for everyone as we tried to make sense of things.
A doctor came in to take the ventilator out of my throat and asked my parents to leave while he did this. I will never forget the feeling as they pulled the ventilator tube from my throat. It was almost the same width and was so sore I could barely talk afterward. I began to cry and tried to tell them to call my parents back in. When they came back into the room, they had to explain everything to me again, I was after forgetting already! I was still out of it from the sedation.
The doctor who performed the surgery came in to see me, and he just gave me this sympathetic look, the same look that everyone was giving me. He explained that in surgery, the fluid from my stomach began filling my lungs as soon as I was given the anesthetic and they had to take action straight away. He also said it was very uncommon, but of course, it would happen to me! I was still very confused, I looked at him and said "no more surgeries" and he agreed.
In ICU, I was almost always hooked up to machines. The central line was back in my neck(with four lines dangling from it), which essentially meant I couldn't move when connected. I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible, so whenever I wasn't hooked up, I got out of the bed, sat on the chair or paced the room as much as I could. I wanted the nurses to see that I was too well to be in ICU!
Monday came, and I was being moved out of ICU, and back to my original ward. I was thrilled to be moving back to the familiarities of my 'own' room. Certain aspects of the stay began to take on a different perspective. Things that were a problem prior to ICU, seemed trivial now. For example, the NG tube was a major problem at first, but after experiencing the ventilator and being unable to speak, this tube was child's play now. Had ICU given me a new perspective? I had only spent three days in there, but it was long enough to appreciate the little things I had previously been taking for granted.
Once I was back in my original ward, they decided to start giving me soft foods such as ice cream, jelly, and yoghurts. I was so happy to be eating again even if it was just soft foods, as I wasn't after eating in over five weeks and all I could think about was food. The food was staying down and my stoma was working, which was what the doctors were hoping for. Finally, things were looking up. They removed the NG tube for the last time and this time it did not go back down.
As the days went on, I started eating more solid food, and it was staying down. No more vomiting. I was also drinking properly, which was a huge relief. The doctors reduced some of the antibiotics and replaced the remaining IV antibiotics with oral tablets.
Recovery from ICU had been swift. The actual complaint was completely unrelated to my infection and cleared up very fast. In parallel to this, the infection was appearing to come down and things began to take a very positive turn. On the following Friday, seven days after going into ICU, and four days after coming out, I was told by the doctor that I could go home the following Wednesday. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. As soon as he said it I just started crying with happiness. After six long weeks, I was being told I can finally go home. I rang my mam straight away and told her the good news and she cried, it was very emotional.
The following week went the same as the previous, things continued to improve. The doctors were happy with the daily blood checks and rate of improvement. And so Wednesday came, the day I got to go home. My parents came over to help me pack my bags and I was told that I leave whenever I was ready. I said goodbye and thank you to all the nurses for everything and I left the hospital.
My family and friends were there to welcome me home, it was very emotional. There were presents, balloons and even a cake. I was so overwhelmed but I loved it. I sat down with my friends and we just spoke for hours. As I was sitting there with everyone I love, I just thought to myself how lucky I was. I got through it, I was finally home where I belong. However, this was to be a short-lived break from the hospital, as the sepsis was not finished with me yet.