Matthews Hospital Experiences

Second Admission

The following Morning Matthew woke with a very high temperature and was sore. I called the NHS24 and they advised me to get an ambulance out and take us back to hospital. Here we go again. 

This time Matthew was ok on the bed. Another Surgeon came down and could see that Matthew was very distressed and had a high temperature. He advised me that this could possibly be an Ileus which is the bowel not working after the first operation. He said the only treatment for that was to have a GI tube into the stomach for 24 hours to allow the bowel to start working again, and for fluids to bypass the bowel. However Matthew would not tolerate this. 

It was then advised that he may need to spend some time in Intensive care to allow the Ileus to heal, however the medication that they would need to give to allow this would prolong the healing of the ileus. We were transferred back to the ward, and throughout the day Matthew deteriorated. He was being sick and his heart started racing, which then prompted the surgeons to take him back to the theater for further examinations.  

This time he had keyhole surgery which allowed a camera to be inserted into the belly button and see what was going on. Matthew also had a CT Scan, and as a result of this found another hernia. At this point we do not know how this was. It could have been either missed from the first surgery, or caused when he had the first surgery. 

Again Matthew went to theater at midnight, and around 4am the Surgeons called up to tell me that everything was ok and that Matthew was being transferred to intensive care. I was allowed to stay on the ward. 

The following morning I was taken to Matthew in intensive care. I was shaking like a leaf. Seeing all these tubes coming out of Matthew, then as soon as I was settling down the nurse pressed the emergency button. Matthews' heart rate had dropped and his oxygen levels went low. I was removed from the room while they stabilized Matthew. 

When I went back in, every alarm that went off really scared me. I was put up in a hotel close by while Matthew was in intensive care, although I could have stayed with him but there were no bed facilities for me. I tried very hard to get some rest, but just could not sleep. This was Sunday. 

On Tuesday the surgeons came around and said that Matthew could be discharged. I then later on discovered that I was being sent home. The fear and panic set up, and I started rushing around calling all the professionals for support because I knew I could not cope on my own. But no, there was nothing. 

The CAMHS nurse involved eventually came out and helped us home. We got home around 3pm. Matthew was taken off the ventilator around 11:30am. As soon as the CAMHS left, Matthew had a very high temperature and was hitting out and in severe distress. I called an ambulance and they took around 3 hours. We got back into hospital around 10pm. The surgeon came down and said that the surgery was fine, and they could not explain the temperature. They wanted me to stay in a busy a and e department with Matthew hitting out and I had no support. I said that I would need to take him home. We got home around midnight.