Goerwitz

The Diagnosis

At the last examination with my trusted specialist obstetrician/gynaecologist, he recommended I have a hysterectomy to sort out some menstrual complaints, being excessive haemorrhaging and pain for two weeks at a time each month and to remove ovarian cysts, which had developed on my ovaries. This news alone was devastating to me as I am only 28 years old with two young children. He had tried other alternatives a few months prior to this decision (taking the pill for a few months to lighten periods and sort out the pain, etc.), which had all failed to work.

The Hysterectomy Surgery

On the morning of the 13th May 2002 I went into hospital and checked in for my operation. They did my hysterectomy vaginally. I stayed in hospital for two nights and was then released. After being at home I suffered from high blood pressure continuously and spent most my time in bed getting the rest I was instructed to get.

On the 23rd May I developed some other symptoms and upon returning to my gynae's consulting rooms for a check up he advised me that I had developed an abscess on the cut inside me. I was to go back into hospital that same afternoon to have the abscess lanced and drained.

The Abcess Surgery

I arrived back at the hospital and checked in again, this time to have the abscess lanced and drained. Much later that afternoon I finally went in to theatre. Once I came around I felt fine, just a bit sore and was later discharged fit enough to return home to my bed.

Recovery at Home

I was taken back home by my husband and put straight to bed to rest. I had wonderful support from family and friends during this time and worked on some hobbies in bed when I felt well enough.

Emergency Exploratory Laparotomy Surgery

Late afternoon, Saturday May 25th I was rushed back to hospital by my husband with severe abdominal cramps and battling to breathe. I was seen by a local general practitioner at the Casualty Department and referred for x-rays and a sonar to try and see what was causing the problem. Once back at Casualty the GP summoned the assistance of a specialist surgeon as the x-rays and sonar showed that something was horribly wrong but they didn't quite know what.

The surgeon arrived and booked me into the surgical ward pending surgery whilst he studied the x-rays and sonar to see for himself what was happening. I in the meantime had been placed on an IV line and had been given pain injections and sedatives.

At 21:00 that same evening I was taken into theatre for what they called an "exploratory laparotomy" as they were still not quite sure what they were going to find or what was wrong. I came out of theatre and into recovery just after 00:15 that evening and was wheeled straight to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). I had pipes down my throat, a nasal feeder, drips for Africa on me, loads of antibiotics being pumped into me, two drains inserted into my abdomen to drain me continuously, a colostomy bag, a catheter as well as an oxygen mask on me. I felt awful!

When my husband enquired as to what had gone wrong, he was advised by the surgeon that the gynaecologist had accidentally stitched into my rectum when he had lanced and drained the abscess and that this stitch in the rectum had also formed an abscess which had burst sending all the contents up into my abdomen. When he had cut me open, he had to first clean me out thoroughly inside before he could actually see for himself what was wrong. I now sat in ICU with not only a very long cut (from just under my breasts right down to the pubic area) but also have to contend with a colostomy bag as well.

The surgeon went on to tell my husband that had I been an hour later that I would have had to be ventilated and had I been a day later that I would have been dead!

Once I had surfaced enough to understand what had happened to me and what was going on I became extremely depressed and cried most the time. I even remember praying that same night to God to please say goodbye to my family and children for me and to please let me die. That is how bad I felt, but luckily he gave me a second chance in life and pushed me to live.

I spent four long days in ICU before I was wheeled back to the surgical ward for a further week's stay before being released. I still had my drips on me, nasal tube, catheter and two drains inserted into my abdomen to drain me continually as well as the colostomy bag and the sore cut. A physiotherapist came to see me twice a day in ICU and in the surgical ward to work on my chest as I started to develop pneumonia in ICU. She helped me a lot and helped me to do some simple exercises in the bed to keep me from getting bed sores too, but it was always very painful and I cried each time she worked on me.

Recovery Time at Home Again

Once released I went straight back home again to get some real good rest. I had been battling to sleep since having been in hospital, so I was bodily and mentally tired. I had to now contend with working with a colostomy bag on my body for the next three months before I would need further surgery to reverse the process and make me normal again.

A nursing sister from ICU came to my home on a few occasions to help me change the colostomy bags and clean the stoma until I felt confident enough to work with and handle it on my own. It was very scary for me and something that I hated and despised!

My depression continued for about two to three weeks more once I was home but slowly I pulled myself together and told myself to be grateful that I was at least still alive with my family and children and not dead. This thought seemed to help me a lot.

I had to have regular visits to the surgeon for check ups to ensure that everything was going according to plan. In August 2002 I saw him again and he sent me for more X-rays to determine whether things have mended and grown back enough for him to reverse the colostomy and make me normal again. He said that I was mended well enough to perform the next operation, which was scheduled for Tuesday 27th August 2002.

Reversal of Colostomy

On the 26th August 2002 I had to begin a bowel cleansing in preparation for the following morning's operation. I had four litres of Clean Prep to drink within 4-6 consecutive hours and I am not fond of drinking water, so this solution was most dreadful for me, but I knew that I had to drink it so that my operation could be a success, as they need your bowels to be clean when they do this kind of operation.

I had a family emergency earlier the same day as my daughter who is six years old had fallen off the jungle gym at school and badly broken her left arm near the wrist. So I ended up rushing between 2 town's hospitals for my little girl and trying to drink this Clean Prep and rushing backwards and forwards to the toilet to empty the colostomy bag. My daughter ended up having to stay in hospital overnight, which was difficult for me, as I had to book myself into the same hospital the following morning at 06:00. What a day it was, luckily my husband was on hand to assist in taking my daughter home to her Granny once she was discharged and returning to the hospital to be with me when I came out from theatre.

27th August 2002 -- The Day of the Operation

At 06:00 I was back at the hospital to check-in and went via the Pediatric Ward to visit my little girl and ensure that she was alright. At 09:00 I was wheeled to the theatre for the closure of my colostomy. I had mixed feelings. On the one side I was elated and relieved that I would finally be rid of the dreaded colostomy and bags and on the other side I was dreadfully scared that something would go wrong and I would be saddled with this colostomy and horrid bags for the rest of my life.

An hour and a half later I was wheeled back into the Surgical Wards, bypassing the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) as they were full. I again had drips on me for Africa, with antibiotics and painkillers going intravenously into me and I had two drains inserted deep into my abdomen again, draining excess blood out from me. I was in severe pain and agony but was relieved when my surgeon came to visit me and told me that the operation was a success. Now all I had to do was take it easy and allow my body to mend!

The day before I was discharged the nurses came to remove the drains from out my abdomen. They had to close off the suction on the bottles of the drains and wait for an hour for the muscles to relax and then return to remove the drains. This was most painful as the bigger drain was stuck inside me. It had suctioned onto something inside me and as they pulled on the outside, so the drainpipe was pulling on something on the inside of me too.

The nurse left to get an injection for pain and administered it. She then left me for a few minutes to enable the injection to take effect. When she came to try to remove the drain again it went much easier, though still painful. The smaller drain had come out relatively easier.

I was in hospital till the 1st September 2002 when I was finally discharged. Ready to go home and face the world again. I was to get as much rest as I could and my surgeon advised me to take things easy for the next six weeks at least, to enable the affected area to heal. I suffered from terrible winds and gripes in my stomach, which I was told is part of the deal, as they blow up your abdomen in order to see better when they perform the operation and battled along in pain for most of the time. Where I could, I slept.

Removal of the Surgical Clips

On the 9th September I had an appointment to see my surgeon to have the clips removed from my stomach. He advised me that I should see him in a month's time again, just to ensure that things remain the same or better, but that there are no more setbacks. He also informed me that there will always stand the possibility that I could become bloated and nauseous with cramping, should I become blocked and/or obstructed and that should this happen, that I immediately go to him to be hospitalised again for 72 hours to sort out the obstruction. This could happen at any time in the near future or even 18 years from now, he said! Otherwise, I can now safely look forward to the life I used to live and try to get on with being "normal" again.

Eve
evheerd@pan.uzulu.ac.za

KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa

Amy and Richard Goerwitz
Amy@Goerwitz.com
Richard@Goerwitz.com