Life in Wellington Hospital, St Johns Wood, London

So now I have access to facebook but not to my blog… these things are sent to try us. (Kris has posted this for me....)

I arrived in London last Tuesday, the trip went well. I loved flying business class on the seats the lie flat and the good food, service and entertainment… I was taken by ambulance to Wellington Hospital in St Johns Wood where I have been ever since.

Wednesday I had more x-rays which showed that I had broken my transverse process, a little sticky out piece of vertebrae (L2) in my back. This wasn’t completely surprising as I have had a lot of pain there.

I didn’t sleep well and woke in the night feeling sick – nausea. I had taken some laxative the night before which the nurses thought may have caused this. To cut a long story short I started vomiting and didn’t stop until I had a stomach tube inserted through my nose and down my throat to remove the contents of my stomach manually. It isn’t nice vomiting with broken ribs.

X ray showed an obstruction in my small bowel so I was started on IV fluids and not allowed to eat or drink anything at all. I spent a couple of days like this with just a little ice to relieve the pain in my throat where the tube was rubbing. On Saturday afternoon I was allowed a glass of water and some clear soup. I have started to have a low residue diet and will slowly work up to normal meals as my tummy allows.

Problems with bowels are common after spinal injuries and this is just a little strange that it took so long to develop. …

So, it has been a bit longer in hospital than I thought I would be… I am just relieved that the hospital identified the problem quickly and did the right thing as the nausea was horrendous. Now I am slowly coming right and starting to think about getting out of here- before the end of the week!