4. (Needless) Surgery

Period: November 2010 - December 2010

Having made it through a seemingly endless, sleepless night we set off as soon as possible to the nearest A&E in Thames. I have no idea how long the journey took. It could have been 1-hour, it could have been 5-hours, I was barely aware of what was going on around me I was so exhausted. Thankfully, I slept during the journey and by the time we reached the hospital I was more together.

I spent a fitful few hours hooked up to a drip in the A&E department before waking up in a lovely private room. I was quickly transferred to a 4-bed ward but even that was lovely. By coincidence, there was a women on my ward in her early 90's, called Jean, who was born just a few miles away from me. She had emigrated to NZ as a young woman - by boat! To give you an idea of the environment, the hospital serves a large area (easily 10-times as large as my UK home town) but has just 54 inpatient beds, compared to over 500 inpatient beds at the hospital in my home town. Despite being so far from home, at no point was I homesick. It helped that I had two good friends with me, but all I can remember thinking about is getting better and carrying on with my travels.

The following day the doctor came to see me to inform me that, following the results of my blood tests, I had suspected pancreatitis. He informed me that as a precaution, they would like to remove my gall bladder, given that it was the most likely cause. As I was travelling, should the pancreatits return they were concerned that I could find myself a considerable distance from a hospital, and it could be fatal next time. If there was a chance it could work and I could just put this whole ordeal behind me, so I advised the doctor that I would have to check with my travel insurance provider to see if they were willing to cover the cost. Before I had an opportunity to check, an administrator from the hospital came to see me to take a copy of my visa and passport. It turns out I had been fortunate enough to arrive at one of the few public hospitals in New Zealand and, owing to a reciprocal health care agreement between the UK and NZ, I didn't need to bother with the insurance company at all - result!

Although a subsequent ultrasound showed no evidence of gallstones - and was also unable to view my pancreas clearly - I consented to the surgery. In the back of my mind I was sceptical that it would work, however, instead of voicing my concerns with the doctors, I accepted that they knew best. Furthermore, it had now been a full year since the first "episode" and I just wanted to get back to normal - I was willing to try surgery to be rid of the constant pain and worry. I tried to look on the positive side - my Mum and Auntie had both developed gallstones in the previous twelve months and Our local NHS trust had recently decided not to cover gallbladder surgery unless it was an emergency, so at least I wouldn't have to worry about that 30-years down the line! 

I have since read an article that looked at the high rate of pancreatitis diagnosis prior to a diagnosis IBD, so it may have been caused by my Crohn's or more like it was simply a misdiagnosis. Personally, given my subsequent experiences I think it is more likely I was suffering from a partial bowel obstruction. In the UK I would probably have undergone an X-ray in A&E, which would have helped identify this. Unfortunately, the only scan I underwent was an ultrasound of the upper abdomen, and that was after four days of being nil-by-mouth. I do not blame the hospital or the doctors - in a country that is slightly larger than the UK with a population less than London, Crohn's is probably not something they come across very often, except perhaps in the main cities.