Wife in hospital, no visitors
Evening all
What a terrible week. Wife is in hospital and because of covid no visitors allowed.
Quick background. Wife is 43 years old and 20 years ago just after we met, she had bad stomach pain and ending up in hospital. They ended up opening her up and found nothing other than signs of IBS, whipped her appendix out while they were in there and sent her on her way with IBS meds. 20 years on and she is mostly trouble free, avoids caffeine and too much dairy and she's fine. The occasional flare up is soon sorted with a few tablets.
Fast forward to last Saturday and she had pain, took meds and laid up for the day. No change Mon or Tues. Wed it's getting worse, so enough is enough and go to 111 online, who say a nurse callback within an hour. 30 mins later, call from a Dr, who arranged an appointment that evening at our hospitals combined A&E/urgent care unit. First Dr says doesn't look like IBS, could be an ulcer or gall bladder, i'll get a surgeon. Surgeon says probably not ulcer or gall bladder, most likely IBS, but we'll get you in tomorrow for a CT scan.
Dropped her off on Wed morning for her CT scan and that's the last i've seen of her. CT scan showed obstructions in the lower bowel, so they kept her in. Dropped an overnight bag off, but wasn't allowed on the ward to see her, so just handed it to a nurse. That evening she had a tube up the nose to empty her stomach and relieve pressure from the blockage
Next morning, wife text me to say they were going to operate to take a look. Soon after a call from a Dr to say they were going to take a look, hopefully keyhole, but could be a full job. Most likely scar tissue growth adhesions on the bowel from her previous op, but nastier more sinister things were not fully ruled out. Dropped another bag off at about midday with more pj's and stuff to be told she'd already gone to theater, so went home to await an update.
5pm comes and i've heard nothing, that was a horrible wait with no news, i was thinking all sorts and was even pondering how i would cope with 2 young kids on my own. So i rang the ward at 5 to be told she wasn't back but had gone to ITU, more horrible thoughts. Was transferred to ITU who said she'd only just arrived 5 mins earlier, so they knew nothing and would update me later. Another horrible wait until 8pm when i rang them up. Keyhole went out the window, they removed a couple of scar tissue adhesions that were causing the trouble, nothing sinister found, but here was a bowel perforation just above the adhesions, so the had to cut a bit out and rejoin.
Rang them again this morning, she's doing OK, but in pain and miserable, tubes in her tummy draining anything nasty. Got to talk to her, but with the pain, the morphine etc, didn't get much. Spoke to the nurse after and she was being transferred to a ward and could have her phone, but best guess is shes gonna be in for a week at least. Had a few texts today, but with a combination of dyslexia, pain and morphine, it's mostly illegible, lol
So all in all, a horrible week. But not being able to see her is the hardest, especially with 2 kids at home that haven't spent more than a night or 2 away from their mum. Thankyou to the NHS for everything you do and fixing her, i understand visitors aren't allowed, but even though you're busy, a bit more communication with loved ones would be appreciated, no one should have to sit at home wondering if their wife is alive or not