Recovery 1.1

So on Dilham Ward I started my new life with my stoma! Initially I was told that I could eat effectively what I wanted but I decided to stick to things that seemed easy to eat. So I usually had weetabix for breakfast, the inside of a jacket potato for lunch and soup and a sandwich for dinner. All of these things seemed reasonable for me to be eating, not stressing the system all too much.

On the first day on Dilham I was encouraged to get out of bed and up and walking, I have to say this was not my most elegant of movements. Some sort of leverage between my legs and my arms, flailing elegantly got me to sitting up and then a slight push off the bed and I was standing! I felt incredibly bent over with my body naturally protecting the area that the surgery had happened in. Being the stubborn person that I was, I did a lap round the ward and was determined to make it with some speed. I did. So that was a positive!

Generally Dilham Ward was where I did the majority of my initial post-surgery recovery and it certainly had its ups and downs.

Within the first couple of days (maybe even the first 24 hours) we had become a COVID cohort. What this meant was that one or more of the people in the bay had COVID and was then moved to another ward. This was initially the woman that was opposite me and then the woman in the bay next to me. At this point, the doctors come in with all the PPE and you have to complete the self-isolation period should you be discharged. I would say that you have regular testing while you are in hospital but that would be incorrect, I was tested I think once, just after we were cohorted and not tested again on this visit. I’m not sure this entirely followed protocol I wont lie…

I requested to change bays in the middle of all of this as well. I was having panic attacks almost daily (probably due to the stress that my body was going through) and I have found that when I have panic attacks the best thing for me is to get myself cold. So I moved myself over to the window when it became available meaning that I was always just that little bit closer to the cold air that I needed!