I got into A&E and have to say I was left for quite a while without any sort of pain relief or anything. After a little bit of me drifting in and out of sleep (I was so exhausted by this point), I was seen by the doctors who took the history from me. I had been having bloody diarrhoea for 11 days by this point and I was exhausted. A&E at this point were brilliant. I was hooked up to a drip because my potassium levels were dangerously low, and it became clear that I needed to be admitted. I was massively dehydrated because of all the symptoms, I dropped 12lbs in 3 days (I joke that this is the best diet I have ever been on) and I was exhausted. I had to have morphine and even then the pain didn’t really get under control. I was admitted to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, Guist Ward on Wednesday 6th 2020, 11 days after first suffering symptoms.
I was frankly relieved to be in hospital with people actually listening to me that I was really not very well. I was extremely dehydrated and trying to find a vein for cannulas and blood tests was proving to be tricky. I was wheeled up to the ward and lucky enough to have my own side room. It was all very overwhelming.
Due to COVID I have had to do all of this on my own. I know that I am an adult at the age of 26 but having been really quite ill for a number of days, I have not always been thinking quite so straight and regardless of your age, everyone needs the support of their family when they are having a tough time of it.
I spent the night much more comfortable being dosed up on paracetamol and morphine to try and keep the pain under control.
It is at this point that I started my stint in hospital. Now I have written the pre-amble to my diagnosis I will separate things a bit differently, probably into sections of things that I can think to talk about right now. I will likely go back to story mode at some point, but I think more benefit will come from breaking things up!