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Picked up the bass today for the fist time in weeks...


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......but to be fair, I have a good excuse.

I almost died!

 

I doubt anyone noticed, but I haven't been around much the past few weeks. About 5 weeks ago I went to the doctors in agony after being up all night with chest and stomach pains, he sent me to the the local hospital just around the corner, where after an examination and explaining my symptoms as best I could (I live in Bulgaria and I'm not exactly fluent with the language) the head doctor said I had to stay in for three days for observation and intravenous antibiotics. Not the worst thing in the world I thought, and sent my wife off for a few supplies. 

The next couple of days are a bit hazey as there was a fair bit of pain and a lot of drugs involved, but on the second night I was in agony. The Doctor came in late in the evening, gave me a quick examination and immediately bundled me into an ambulance to the main regional hospital about 45 minutes away. I remember I arrived there some time just after midnight, and within an hour or so, I'd had blood and urine tests, x-rays, an ultrasound, and an MRI. Then another Doctor came and examined me yet again and looking extremely concerned uttered the word "peritonitsia". Now, as I said, I'm not exactly fluent, but it didn't take much working out that I had peritonitis, which I'd heard of, but I didn't exactly know what it was. So I whipped out my phone and Googled it, and saw that it has a mortality rate of up to 40%. At which point I thought, oh poo, this is serious!

They moved to to a ward and I got to bed about 4 a.m. Then a doctor came around at about 8 who luckily spoke a little English and happened to be the head surgeon. He explained that my gallbladder had burst, which had in turn given me peritonitis and appendicitis, and I would have to have my gallbladder and appendix removed. So at 2 o'clock that afternoon, one day before my 45th birthday, I was in the operating theatre and opened up like a duffle bag. 

I could go into a lot more detail, but suffice to say the following few days were rather uncomfortable, I couldn't move and had several tubes coming out of various places. Then, after 10 days, just when I thought I was finally going to get to go home, I had to stay in another week in quarantine and have a Covid test. So I eventually got home about 3 weeks after my initial doctors visit with a nice zipper from breasticles to testicles, and strict instructions not to lift anything heavy for six to twelve weeks. As my sixer weighs over 10lbs.....as far as excuses for not practicing go, I think it's a reasonable one. But I'm alive!

I can't praise the Bulgarian healthcare system enough. They don't have much funding, the hospitals are run down and resemble Victorian asylums. The bedside manner could be better. But the actual healthcare was superb. I'm thankful that everyone was in the ball at every step of the way. From my GP, to the local hospital, the A and E department and my surgeon. I reckon another 24 hours and I'd have been a gonner. 

Not exactly how i'd planned to spend my 45th birthday. But at least I was surrounded by beautiful women in nurses outfits being given copious amounts of free drugs. 

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5 hours ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

Not exactly how i'd planned to spend my 45th birthday. But at least I was surrounded by beautiful women in nurses outfits being given copious amounts of free drugs. 

Honestly, some people are never satisfied.

 

But seriously, that was a close call. I’m glad you pulled through. All the best for your further recovery.

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1 hour ago, Chezz55 said:

 

Best wishes to Mrs NFF too, must have been an ordeal for her.

Yeah it must have been pretty scary when I started to send here bank details and passwords at 4 o'clock in the morning "just in case". It wasn't helped by the Covid situation which meant she couldn't even visit. 

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Not the best way to spend a birthday but happy birthday all the same. 

You have my total sympathy as I know the level of pain involved in peritonitis, did they do 'the rebound test'? 

I went from slight flu-ish symptoms in the morning to hallucinating and losing consciousness by late afternoon. I have never gone downhill from something so quickly. Blue lights to hospital but not operated on until the following afternoon as they weren't totally sure what was wrong. After lots of similar tests to yours they opened me up for an exploratory precedure. They didn't think it was appendicitis as the scans showed an organ that spread the entire stomach cavity from left to right, it turned out that organ was my appendix but had bloated to that size and eaten a hole into my bladder and leached all of its contents into it. Infected bladder, kidneys and related pipework, ruptured appendix, peritonitis and septicemia. 

Although I had no idea what was going on at the time, due to generally being off my face on either morphine or my own poison, I had a pretty close call, but I've got a cool scar. 😁

Take it easy and here's to a speedy recovery. 🙂 🍻

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12 minutes ago, Maude said:

Not the best way to spend a birthday but happy birthday all the same. 

You have my total sympathy as I know the level of pain involved in peritonitis, did they do 'the rebound test'? 

I went from slight flu-ish symptoms in the morning to hallucinating and losing consciousness by late afternoon. I have never gone downhill from something so quickly. Blue lights to hospital but not operated on until the following afternoon as they weren't totally sure what was wrong. After lots of similar tests to yours they opened me up for an exploratory precedure. They didn't think it was appendicitis as the scans showed an organ that spread the entire stomach cavity from left to right, it turned out that organ was my appendix but had bloated to that size and eaten a hole into my bladder and leached all of its contents into it. Infected bladder, kidneys and related pipework, ruptured appendix, peritonitis and septicemia. 

Although I had no idea what was going on at the time, due to generally being off my face on either morphine or my own poison, I had a pretty close call, but I've got a cool scar. 😁

Take it easy and here's to a speedy recovery. 🙂 🍻

Ooh that sounds nasty. 

Yeah they did the rebound test, and a lot of pressing and prodding which was really painful at the time. The worst thing for me though through the whole ordeal, even worse than the pain before and after the surgery, was having a tube up the nose and down my throat. I felt like I was choking for four whole days and nights after the surgery. Definitely something I don't want to experience again in a hurry. 

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I didn't have a tube down my throat, was that for feeding? 

As they laid all of my insides on the table for cleaning (surgeons words not mine 🙂) I wasn't allowed to leave until I'd eaten and it had completed the journey so to speak, to make sure nothing was twisted or blocked. The only thing on the menu I could even contemplate eating was soup. I was on a naval ward that did all the intestine issues, in the bed next to me was a fella who must've had problems with the final stages of the foods journey as his final contents were being slowly drained into a bag on frame beside his bed (I'm trying my best not to be disgusting here). Anyway with his clear bag on full view they brought me oxtail soup. 🤢

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22 minutes ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

No. It was to stop the build up of gas. Because you can't pass wind for a few days after surgery they put I tube down into the stomach to stop you exploding. 😂

My god, your first natural fart must have been a thing of splendour 

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