My Recovery
Your probably thinking how on earth did I end up having an emergency operation and what for exactly. Well on the 12th of March 2018 I was admitted to hospital by ambulance after vomiting constantly and having horrendous pain all in my stomach and right side of my lower abdomen. The pain was unbearable and I couldn't walk properly at all as it hurt so bad. So I went to A&E and had some tests done and they said I had a water infection. Now I know what a water infection is like and no way was this a water infection, so I explained to the A&E doctor that it wasn't a water infection and he referred me to some part of the hospital where my bloods where taken to find out what really was wrong.
Now anyone that knows me knows I am petrified of blood test needles and cannulas, I think it's the discomfort and pain my hands go through is to why I have a fear of them. So I was crying, shaking, it was just awful... I even had numbing cream to stop me from feeling it but it didn't work. Now I have really stubborn veins so I needed to have my blood taken out of my arm instead of my hand and it finally worked. Anyway so after a million times going back and forth between two different rooms, bare in mind I couldn't walk properly, the doctor came in to examine me and to see what my belly was like and how it felt and what he could hear through the stethoscope and he said that my stomach was swollen and that I had abnormal tracking sound in my abdomen, so he was thinking of sending me home ready for a CT scan in the morning. Well lucky enough the doctor came back to see me and he said that my bloods had came back and he needed to prepare me for surgery as I have severe appendicitis and that's how blunt he was (nice man though). So it was a massive shock as this was not expected at all. Don't worry I wasn't alone, my auntie came with me. Now your all probably thinking where was my mum or where was Ian, but at the time I was living with my auntie whilst at university and I wasn't living with my mum all the way in Wales and I wasn't living with Ian either, so the only person that was with me at the time was my auntie. So back to when I was diagnosed, the nurses kept me in a small side room till at least 1:00am bare in mind I was in hospital since 12:00pm the day before, there were no beds free and they needed to clear one so I could go down to the women's only day ward. At this time I asked my mum to come all the way from Wales because I was scared and I just needed my mum, so my mum travelled all of the way to down to finally get to the hospital to see what was going on. Too many people told her many different stories and made her very confused and tired and scared that she came through the doors going mad. So the nurse told her what was going on and she understood.
Anyway, once my mum got there, I was just having my canula placed into my right hand, at this point Ian was there too with a bunch of flowers for me, look how beautiful they looked once they blossomed!
ALERT NEEDLE IMAGE! SKIP F YOU DO NOT LIKE THE LOOK OF NEEDLES
Anyway, it took 5 nurses to place the canula in my hand because they just weren't piercing my vein, so I was in a lot of discomfort. Through out all of this time I was only on paracetamol but this wasn't really working. So once my canula was in, they put me on a fluid drip which actually felt really nice going through my hand as I was super hot from the infection. I had fever symptoms and the pains were like contractions as the doctor call them. So at this point I was in pain for 14 hours and it didn't end there.
So once I finally had gotten a bed, I was told to put surgery robes on and to get some rest for the surgery in the morning. My mum and Ian had sad goodbye to me and I was left on my own. So after gaining some sort of sleep which I hardly had, the nurses woke me up for me to take some paracetamol. They told me I couldn't have any food as this is bad when you are about to be put under general anaesthesia but then an hour later they told me that I wasn't having surgery till the afternoon so I had some toast. They also flushed my canula which really hurt and gave me morphine FINALLY! When I say afternoon, it was 9:00pm when I finally was called for surgery. That was a rush, I didn't have my stockings on, I wasn't prepared and that was because the nurses where waiting for confirmation to get me ready which apparently they didn't have but anyway I was placed into the trolley as I call it and was wheeled down to the anaesthetist who was ever so friendly but I cant remember his name but he was talking to me about my university course an where I want to be once I graduate and it was really nice, he made me feel relaxed. So after they flushed my canula and gave me anaesthesia I was sent off for surgery. The surgery I had for those that don't know the real name was a appendicectomy, the removal of the appendix but I did also have my bowels and ovaries checked to see if they were the problem. I was asked before surgery, that if my appendix were fine, would I still like it to be removed and I said yes, this is because I didn't want any risks of appendicitis in the future so I preferred to have them removed but it was appendicitis anyway so that didn't really matter.
Now once I come round from my operation I was in agony. My stomach was super bloated and I felt like I was hit by a bus. The gas that was pumped into my stomach so that the surgeon could see inside hurt more than the actually operation, it had spread all up into my chest and arms and it was super painful! By the way I had key hole surgery so I had three 1-2 cm long scars on top of my belly button, at the side of my stomach, by my belly button and just above my pubic bone. They are so tiny, my worse wound was my belly button that was deep so I had to be careful with that one more but my other two healed quicker than the big one. Once I came around it was in the middle of the night and I needed to pee haha but I needed to eat something before hand so I had a nibble of some sandwiches from the hospital kitchen and the nurse helped me to the toilet, I have never struggled to pee so much in my life, I have to laugh now but at the time I just wanted to cry. So once I got back into bed which was a struggle I went back to sleep.
When I woke up the next day, I was in so much pain that when the doctor came to see me he was concerned and told me to stay in another night, this turned out to be the whole week until the Friday. Ian and his sister came to see me to give Ian a chance to see me as he wouldn't be able to see me for a while afterwards, as my aunties fella did not let him come over to see me, so he came to keep me company for 2 hours in hospital. I really didn't want him to leave but he had to as it was visiting hours only. So once he left I went to sleep but during that last night I had a massive trapped nerve in my back and was crying in pain that the night nurses had to turn me on my side so I was off my back. then they woke me up in the middle of the night to give me my blood clotting injection in my legs, this stopped my blood from clotting in the areas of where they had operated. These type of needles don't bother me so I didn't mind as such, at this point though I couldn't wait to get out I was tired uncomfortable and frustrated.
So the last morning of me being in hospital came around and the morning nurses woke me up and told me to get onto the chair as they needed to clean my bed and I needed to start getting back to normal activities. So I struggled quiet a bit to get up off the bed and onto the chair but I did it and then I had my breakfast which was toast again. Now once a few hours went by, the doctor came around to see how I was and to see if I was ready to be discharged and I was, so I waited for a nurse to come and take the canula out of my hand and I was ready to leave. As you can see in this picture, my stomach was super swollen, it was horrible. I was drinking peppermint water to help the bloating which actually works. Once I was ready to leave, my doctor prescribed me with codeine which I actually did not use because it caused bloating and I was bloated enough as it was so I kept to paracetamol and then my grandad came to pick me up with my nanar and my mum and took me back to my aunties where I was staying. The whole week was an emotional and tiring week and I was ready to get into my own bed. Once I was back I had a quick shower as I wasn't allowed a long one because of my wounds becoming infected so I had to be quick.
Recovering from surgery was quite challenging, like getting up out of bed and stuff like that but eventually I was back on my feet ready to go back to university and to attend my exams. Over the Easter holidays I revised whilst lying in bed which I was proud of myself for, even that didn't stop me from doing work. Walking was still a struggle for a good 4-6 weeks but I managed carefully and I took my time no matter what. I cleaned my wounds 4 times a day to stop infection and I used warm water and cotton pads, that's it. I didn't use soap because I didn't want soap to be trapped inside my wounds.
2 weeks after my operation, I had tickets booked to see Wicked in Liverpool and there was no way I was missing that for anyone, so I managed to walk around the docks and then back up towards the theatre which completely drained me and actually really hurt my side, that the next day I was stuck in bed the whole entire day because I was exhausted but Liverpool was so worth it!
So after 8 months of recovery, I'll be honest my body is still internally recovering. It will never be fully better until another year or two goes by because internal takes longer to heal than the outside wounds. I am doing great though, I did not gain an infection during my healing progress which I am super grateful for and I have managed to do just fine with out my appendix, actually I'm better off without it. Now that the cold weather is coming though, my back and right side hurts from where my appendix was but I just make sure I keep warm so that it doesn't hurt, so if you ever have an operation and it hurts where it was in the cold, just keep the area warm. It works a treat!
So that was my recovery story which I am glad to share with you all, there may not be much advice but there isn't much advice to give when these things happen other than don't panic like I did, take a breath and ride it out. Everything will be okay in time. Anyway I hope you enjoyed my story and I will see you on Mondays blog!
Thank you for all of your support!
Love Chelsey x
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