This is a collaborative post
Unfortunately, not all operations go to plan. If you have read my previous posts or follow me on social media, you’ll know that I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease in 2012 when Big L was a year old.
It was a huge shock as I had been told I had IBS since I was a teenager now, at the age of 35, I was told I had Crohn’s Disease and, due to the amount of damage it had caused, it was likely I had had it for a long time. Initially my consultant wanted me to try a drug called Pentasa however, it had no affect as the disease had caused stricturing (narrowing of the intestines) which could only be treated by a bowel resection. This is where a surgeon removes the damaged area and stitches the two section back together. When this operation goes to plan, Happy Days! Sadly, in my case it didn’t.
Now, I am not someone to claim unnecessarily, and it certainly took a lot of consideration in attempting to claim against the NHS, but if you have been injured and especially if those injuries are life altering, then I truly believe you should be entitled to make a personal injury claim. Let me explain further.
As I said my operation didn’t go to plan. A bowel resection is pretty major surgery but usually fairly straightforward.
Obviously all surgery carries risks, especially where bowels are concerned. After the operation I felt unwell and was in a lot of pain. I think my surgeon thought I was making a bit of a meal out of the pain and said it would get better. He then went away on holiday, expecting me to make a recovery and be back at home in the next few days as planned.
Then my temperature started to spike. It would shoot up and I would be shivering to the point it physically hurt. The ward sister kept dismissing it. The Drs doing rounds did blood tests and I had a CT scan as they thought I may have an anastomotic leak which is where the fluid from your bowel would leak out which would not be good, not good at all. The CT scan seemed to rule this out and I was left, having spiking temperatures and excruciating pain for over 4 days. Honestly, I didn’t want to see my family and by the end I was in so much pain and felt so ill I actually wanted to die. I had a two year old son at home so I had a lot to live for!
Credit Marcelo Leal Unsplash
On the fourth day, Saturday night, I was moved to another ward
I think the original Sister must have told the nursing staff on the new ward that I was a complainer as when I complained about being in a lot of pain the nurse was really cross and suggested peppermint tea. They thought I had wind! I drank the peppermint tea hoping that maybe I was making a big deal out of nothing. Then I started vomiting. The vomit was green, and it wasn’t peppermint tea. The nurse was very apologetic.
We were now into Sunday and the Dr who saw me said “I don’t care what the CT scan says, this woman has a leak!”. They told me I required emergency surgery and called the relevant personnel. Obviously, being a Sunday operations weren’t routine. I called my family and my poor mum was beside herself.
Credit Adhy Savala Unspash
I woke up in intensive care
It was dark, I couldn’t see much and I was in a lot of pain. It turned out that I required two stomas, an ileostomy and mucous fistula. There had indeed been a leak, it wasn’t at the join but a little further up. The assumption was that the staple gun misfired. The CT Scan HAD shown a leak but the person who looked at the scan was not given the correct information so misinterpreted the results. I had had peritonitis, then sepsis, had been left for days being told I was making a fuss when my body was actually staring to shut down.
I ended up spending a month in hospital, with a week of that in intensive care. I became a C. diff carrier due to the amount of antibiotics I had had, which makes future operations interesting as I am supposed to be barrier nursed, there is never a spare room so I end up in a ward with a curtain around me.
I tried to make a claim
It took over six months for the wound to heal as it got infected. I have a scar down my middle, each side where to stomas were (they were eventually reversed) and scars from where I had drains. I have very large incisional hernias. And the worst part was I was away from my family, including my two year old son for a month. I couldn’t pick him up for another couple of months either. All because one operation went wrong.
Once I felt stronger I made enquiries about claiming. I found a solicitor who took it on a no win no fee basis, they got my notes and had experts look at them. Unfortunately, they decided that I would not win a case as the leak was an accident rather than negligence. As I would have had to have the stomas to rectify the accident the outcome would have been the same. They did agree that there had been negligence on the part of several of the staff, they dismissed my pain, they did not report the test results properly and so on. Although the number of days I was left could have been avoided, and I developed various other conditions like fluid on my lungs and heart, I could not claim for the injures I sustained. Although I could have if I had actually died, which is nice!
I have gone on to have several more operations all because the original one did not go to plan. My surgeon, who was very surprised to find me still in hospital following his holiday, uses my case as an example of not using surgery as a “quick fix” for Crohn’s.
