Hi Cathy - yes, there are some situations I have had, in retrospect, that bring a smile to my face. Not sure if I want to share them with Crohn’s patients though.
One in particular stands out…we were in Tampa. Florida staying with friends we had met when we had all retired to Spain, but had repatriated to our home countries for health problems. It was New Year’s Eve…my host, who was a hypochondriac (unfortunately later was dx with stage IV lung cancer, had one lung out and then a kidney out - doing well 7 yrs later - our miracle man) and he had flu. I thought I had flu also, high fever,excessive diarrhea, aches all over my body, but then had a rectal haemorrhage and filled the toilet pan with blood, Not wishing to be a problem to my hosts, I went back to bed, put my feet up on pillows and slept for some 6 hours. Woke up, went to the loo again, and filled the pan again with blood. My friend had made me take some 350mg of aspirin 3 times and the ulcers and crypt abscesses in my intestines burst.
She was brilliant - called the local hospital, told her to get me there immediately and she put some old towels on the back seat of her new Cadillac and drove me and my husband there.
When I got to the ER I had to go into triage - never heard of it. I had to sit on their toilet for some 3 hours, dripping blood. Eventually, at 3 am Trish went up to the triage nurse and said: " What is your name? If my friend dies here tonight I am going to hold you personally responsible and I will sue you!". Wow, what a wonderful proactive friend she is. I was seen within minutues, put onto an IV steroid drip and all I can remember is the doctor saying: “We are losing her…”. My bp was 70 over 40, but thanks to her, I made it. I spent 3 days in intensive care, then 2 days on a high dependancy room. My travel insurance refused to pay the £15,000 it cost, but I fought it for 9 months (Barclays Gold Card by the way) and I eventually got them to pay the hospital. I ended up spending 2 more months in Florida than anticipated,before I was well enough to fly home,but it was not a problem to our friends.
Another time, years before, when I had my first rectal haemorrhage when living in Spain, Christmas Day (what is it about these festive holiday seasons with me? - I hate that time of the year)…we were staying with friends along the coast in Spain. |I woke up in the middle of the night, went to the loo, and had a rectal haemorrhage. My husband got me to our GP in Fuengirola, who luckily spoke English, on Boxing Day and he said I should go immediately to a private clinic in Malaga. Well, we set off, me still bleeding, but couldn’t find this clinic in the back streets of Malage so we stopped a taxi and asked him to find us the way, and my husband followed him. It was a nightmare - not only did anyone not speak English, but the gastro came into my room with a cigarette in his mouth and proceeded to explain my problem with a diagram on the back of an envelope. The treatment was first class, although I didn’t understand what they were doing. I was not allowed to leave the clinic until we had paid the £5,000 in cash. Had to get an American friend to come and get me out as our money was in Gibraltar. As you can imagine, I am so pleased to be back in England where I understand the language and have the NHS, with all its’ problems, but I am very proactive now.
There have been many more problems along the way, but having had bc, that is duck soup compared to coping with Crohn’s.
I still have my sense of humour and zest for life, and will never go the alternative route to health care, as Caron Keating did, although I have had aromatherapy and reflexology when going through FEC chemo - they were just indulgences - time for me, that helped me relax and cope.
Liz.