The Royal College of Surgeons says poor access to facilities
like operating theatres and scans means some abdominal emergencies are not
spotted in time.
Emergency major gastrointestinal (abdominal) surgery has one
of the highest mortalities, which can reach 50% in the over 80s, the report
says.
I was
cycling to the House on October 4, 2001, to wind up a LibDem emergency debate
on Afghanistan. A few minutes before 10.00, when the debate was due to start, I
was knocked off by a motorist who did a u-turn on Millbank without looking. It
was a hell of a bang, and bystanders offered to take me to hospital, but as I
was due to wind up for the Liberal Democrats I staggered to my feet, waved them
all away, and walked the remaining 100 metres to the House, where I put the
mangled bicycle in the rack and went into the Chamber.
After a couple of hours
I began to feel very odd and I told Shirley Williams, who had opened for us,
and was sitting next to me on the bench. She urged me to get a medical check,
so I went along to the Commons nurse, who called a taxi and took me to St Thomas 's. We waited
there four hours, and they did an ultrasound scan which showed nothing. The
casualty doctor gave me some painkillers and told me to go home and rest.
The next
morning, Friday, I felt worse, and called my GP. He came out and examined me,
couldn't find anything, and prescribed stronger painkillers.
Saturday
I felt worse still. Our lodger, who was a doctor at Guys, examined me and
called a doctor friend for yet another opinion. They still couldn't find
anything.
That
night I couldn't sleep and felt really ghastly. At 04.30 my wife Lindsay called
an ambulance and I was taken to St
Thomas 's A & E for the second time. After a five
hour wait they did a CT scan, and found that I had a burst colon. The contents
had been spilling into my abdomen for the previous three days. After a further
wait to get the theatre ready and call in the anaesthetist, I was operated on
at 17.00 for a colostomy - removal of about 20 cm of colon, and the creation of
an exit from the upper section of the colon in the side of the abdomen. Not a
bundle of laughs.
I was
three weeks in hospital, and after that convalesced at home for four weeks,
gradually back to 95% normal, 5 kg lighter.
Posted April 11, 2002
On March 14 2002 (the 40th anniversary of the Orpington
by election!) I went back to St Thomas ’s
for a reversal of the colostomy, and was there until April 1. This time I lost
only 6 kg, and am still languishing at 63 kg.
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