By the evening I was breaking out in shivers (rigours) followed by hot sweats!
Sunday, I'd had enough. I went to the out of hours doctor who, to be fair, wanted to admit me but allowed me home with some strong antibiotics and if I got worse, was to return to A&E. He had suggested it was either a UTI or to do with my bile duct. Oh and book and appt for Thursday with your GP. Ok, no problem.
I expected to feel somewhat better by Wednesday- which I didn't- so on Thursday at the GPs he sent me to A&E for a blood test. After a 6 hour wait, I was admitted to MEAU and transferred to Dixon Ward with what turned out to be Cholangitis. Fuck.
This basically means I have an infection in my bile duct. The blood test showed markers for this plus damage to my liver. This apparently is serious and can be fatal if not treated! A big bag of IV fluid is put into me followed by 2 IV antibiotics and another large bag of saline to get me stable.
More IV antibiotics over night and the following day and by the evening of day 2 my cannula is removed and I'm now on oral antibiotics.
I also go for an ultrasound scan to see if there's anything unusual. The scan results were clear. Yayyy can I go please! 😂
Dr Spencer is in charge of me. Decent bloke. Looks like Harold Bishop out of Neighbors. Seems to know his stuff and has a good bedside manner. He's checked the ultrasound and now-to be safe- wants me to go for an MRCP scan. This is an MRI scan on my bile duct. The idea is to check for 'grit' in there. Because of my previous ops in this area, it is likely that my bile duct is scarred. He needs to check because if there is 'grit' in there, it will have to be removed because infection will return quickly if it isn't remove. How to remove it? ERCP. Oh shit!!!
So, what to do? Prey there's no 'grit' and it's a simple cure. If it's not, I think I shall have to ask to be transferred to the QMC's hepto biliary unit. I'm a bit of a special case with this, so it needs doing by the right people.
As for now, I'm stuck in hospital over the bank holiday simply waiting for the scan. Could be Monday, expect it to be Tuesday. We'll see. Hospital over a weekend is not a good place to be. Boring doesn't come close!
I can wonder about (accompanied) but it's just wondering through corridors. Talk about fed up with nowt going on!
Well I'm now a week on and out of hospital. I had my MRCP on bank holiday Monday and [eventually] got the results on the Tuesday. Bloods were also done on Tuesday to check if my liver was ok. What a palaver - no results from the MRCP in the morning and no bloods done over the weekend, so I had to wait and wait to see if I was going to get discharged or be in for another day. Eventually, Dr Spencer's Jr Doc turns up to tell me I'm ok to go... no proper results of the scan and blood test, just I'm ok to go...this is great but it hardly settles your mind! Scan was clear, ok but how's my liver function and anything else from the blood test! It's just cheerio and we'll get you back in 6 weeks at out patients.
A quick thank you to John from Metheringham and Patrick from Skegness- 2 guys also on the ward and we had a bit of a laugh which always made the time go just a little bit faster. Hope you are both on the mend.
Pleased to get home, but still feel quite tired- must be the antibiotics (I'm on 2 different ones: Metronidazole and Ciprofloxacin) which I need for another 3 days... side effects seem to be metallic taste in the mouth and light headedness.
Another bullet dodged by the look of it PLUS another condition that can be fatal if not treated and also another condition that isn't covered by Critical Illness Insurance. *sigh*
Here's a final glimpse at Lincoln's NHS food... from vaguely edible to crazy... just look at that jacket spud and how much cheese they gave me. CRAZY! 😂😂😂
