The Hospital Diaries Days 10 to 13 – Wednesday to Saturday

Happy weekend everyone – I really hope you are all enjoying yours more than I am stuck in here.

Update

Unfortunately my potassium and now also magnesium levels are still crashing into my boots so I am constantly having to be hooked up to drips as well as take supplements to keep my body functioning. The last couple of days have been a struggle with my feeling very shaky and that my muscles in my hands etc just won’t cooperate quite properly with what I want from them. The doctors think this is due to the low levels of stuff in my blood and are keeping a close eye.

It looks like I will be having surgery on my stomach this week but the surgeons will be asked to comm Monday and get me on the list as long as they agree with gastro’s plan. Once I know what is going on I will share, but please excuse me for not doing so much – a lot of things are still little mysteries to me too and I need to get my head around the fact I will be having more abdominal surgery again.

Cannula Count – Hellish!

Still getting stuck left, right and centre for cannula access, including having another in my feet. My veins just are not happy! I plan on speaking to them about putting a mid line in after the weekend. Although its a higher infection risk, it should be able to stay in place for the rest of my hospital stay and I am currently having daily blood tests as well as the cannula attempts so think this will be a better option. As I am looking at going to surgery, they may be able to put one in wile I am under, and then it is one last thing to worry about following the operation too.

Food Diary

I am trying to eat little and often as any thing too much just makes the pain ten times worse in my stomach. I have a lot of bile green output from my stoma which is also being very sluggish. I am stuck on low residue too and the menu is very limited. It is definitely something I plan on leaving feedback on once I leave.

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My Speech

As some of you know I have been invited to speak at the Ileostomy Association event in Birmingham on March 30th. I am over the moon at being asked to do this and am so very looking forward to it, so hoping i can get out of here in time! I have been posting questions on my Instagram, Twitter and Facebook pages and it would be great for any of you ileostomates out there to reply if you have something to say abut the topics I am asking.

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For more information on the event check out iasupport.org/infoday

Musical Beds

I have now (up to 11pm Saturday night) been moved 5 times! I am currently back in a side room which is much better as it is quiet and I have my own bathroom. They are monitoring my stoma and urine output so it is really inconvenient and embarrassing whine having to share a bathroom. Also being on almost continuous fluids makes you go…a lot! Hopefully they give me a rest now – I think I deserve one.

Visits from Mum, Dad and Ste are helping keep me going and I am keeping busy with reading, cross stitch and colouring. I have now read three books in here since arriving and am ploughing through four and five (one paperback, one Kindle). I was contacted by the lovely author of Brace Yourself on Twitter abut a review of her book and was so pleased she did – I loved it. I will be posting a full review this week about it so keep your eye out.

Again, I have been overwhelmed by the support and messages and can’t thank you enough. It really helps put a smile on my face when I feel so damn awful all the time!