I was having quite a lot of problem after the operation, and they were having to, I, obviously my digestive system wasn’t working. My bladder started working quite well, that started working okay quite soon, and yes the catheter came out and I had no problem on the bladder side. But... so bowel movements. That was a real problem with me, well I’ve always actually had bowel problems.
So how many days was it before you could start sipping water for example?
You were allowed to sip a little bit of water, but you were limited, because of course if, if the stomach’s not working properly they don’t want to sort of fill you up. But then you’ve got to have a certain amount.
How long did it take for you?
So three and a half, my operation was on November 13th and it was sort of coming up to you know mid-December and I was still [in hospital].
Goodness
I was still, well they weren’t getting anywhere.
So you weren’t eating anything all this time?
So I wasn’t eating anything. I was being fed intravenously.
And I think after about four weeks, my consultant, I think, began to get slightly worried that, that something hadn’t, you know, was wrong and scanned me, but there was absolutely nothing on the scan to show. And apparently I think they’d quoted two or three percent of people have problems. And I was obviously one of them, and they call it, delayed gastro, delayed, oh, not again, delayed gastro something. And it can happen to about 2 percent of people who have, who have the Whipple operation.
And so they said, they’d try; they got me to chew chewing gum which sometimes can help. Exercise, so I used to walk, you know, walk round, round and round the corridors endlessly, sipping water, and then the doctor, the doctors you know, they just had to come along and say, “Be patient,” and I, you know it was incredibly frustrating and of course I was getting completely desperate because you know I wanted to get out of hospital, and you know I was wondering was it ever going to, you know was it actually ever going to get right.
And we were creeping up to Christmas. And my consultant said, “Well look,” you know I was mobile by then, and by then my bowels had started working, but I was,, and he said, “Right, I’m just going to send you home with all the kit.” And my husband became an expert on intravenous pumps.
All that, were, you still couldn’t eat, even though your bowel had started?
I still couldn’t eat, I couldn’t, couldn’t still, no because you see I, this sort of, the food you’re given is a sort of thick porridge like stuff, so you weren’t having many bowel movements, but I mean they, they did work, you know occasionally. And I was sent home.
Were you eating by mouth then?
They occasionally, I had a little bit of soup or a little bit of jelly, but nothing, no. You’ve reminded me. I would have the pump, the food pump on, I can’t remember the actual timing, for part of the 24 hours, and then it would be switched off, and then I would try and eat sort of small soft things.
Where do you pump into your body?
Here, yes there, sort of in my stomach.
Straight, so it was, there was a line straight into your stomach.
It was a line straight into my stomach, with a JPEG, a JPEG, what do they call it? A JPEG tube, JPEG, it was a JPEG tube.
Alright, so shall we go back to you got home now, and your husband’s helping you with the JPEG tube.
I’m still being, I’m still being sort of fed with this thing. But we were, I think it was gradually, we were gradually reducing the amount of time I was on the tube. Things were obviously beginning to work. I was eating small amounts, but I wasn’t eating enough, why I had to stay on the, on the tube feeding was that I wasn’t eating enough, you know to keep, sort of body and soul together.
Did the district nurse come and see you?
The district nurse came, but she said she could only really come once a week, she said she could manage. And so she sort of checked the dressings and my GP was very good and came probably a couple of times a week.
I managed at one point to, that’s right, it was some time sort of mid January, a Saturday night and I must’ve rolled over in bed and I’d managed to pull my JPEG tube out, which was incredibly painful. And my GP actually came out and sewed it back in again for me. Which was absolutely fantastic, but it was,
Did she manage to sew it in herself?
Well I hadn’t pulled it totally out, but I’d obviously dislodged it. It was very painful, and it was then decided that, we had conversations. My consultant was actually keeping in touch with me, it was very good, and he then obviously thought that probably it was time that it should come out anyway.
