A little bit crook

I have come down with a nasty head cold over the last few days. I was able to train yesterday and managed an excellent Ironman effort ride and easy 60 minute hill run, but this morning I woke up feeling like crap. I decided that it wasn't a good idea to head to the pool and that I should take it easy for the day. So the sofa became my friend for the day and I spent the day marking some assignments.

I must have been worse than I thought, as I almost fell asleep about 2:30pm. I was just completely exhausted. By 5pm I was feeling much better and this evening I feel like I ready for the weekend's training that's ahead of me.

On the evening of 30 August 2001 I was also feeling unwell, but this time it was much worse and I would not recover quite so easily.

30 August 2001 (9 days post accident)

Today was a bit of a milestone for me. I managed to clear the blockage and, with the help of that crane (see Help Needed), got the bowels in motion for the first time since the morning of 21 August. I'd like to say that it was a huge relief, but the fact is that it was extremely painful and I am not looking forward to having to go through it all again tomorrow.

At dinner time I wasn't feeling so flash and really didn't feel like eating. To be honest, eating hasn't been that easy anyway. The dietician came the other day as they are concerned that I haven't been eating enough protein. I need it to help maintain my wasting muscles. The only problem is that even the smell of cooked meat turns my stomach. So when I didn't feel up to eating dinner tonight, I didn't think much of it.

Carleen has just left for the evening and the change of shift has started. At the 9:30-10pm change-over the night nurse comes on for the half hour or so before the others leave. There is a new night nurse on tonight. She's a Russian-Australian and she's nice enough albeit a little bit of the sterotypical Russian. The afternoon shift have just have just left, the lights are turned down and the ward goes quite.

It's bloody cold in hear tonight. So much so that I am shivering uncontrollably. I am all hazy in the head too and I am not really sure what is going on around me. I can hear something going on out at reception, but can't make any sense of it. I press the nurse call button.

"Yes, dear?" she says in a soft soothing voice. "Can you please get me another blanket? It's really cold in here." She presses here hand on my forehead. "I think you have a fever," she says and she reaches for a thermometer and presses it under my arm. Then, whammo I get the most intense pain in my stomach and a massive pain down my right shoulder. This is different to the intense burning pain that I experienced from the accident. It's like wave after wave of unbelievable cramps. I want to bend double to help relieve the pain, but I am unable to becuase of my injuries and this seems to double the intensity of the pain.

The pain is all consuming, but I can just hear the nurse say "41" and she heads out of the room. She seems to be away for a very long time, but she returns and hands me some pills and a drink to wash them down. I take the pills and drink the water, but it just comes straight back up. She heads out again and returns with a small cup of a think white liquid. "Take this, it will stop you from vomitting", she says calmly. I get half of it down and then wretch it all back up. I can't stop wretching and, unbelievably the pain intensifies some more.

This isn't good. Something is seriously wrong. Why isn't she getting a doctor? I need help (again), but no one is getting it for me. Eventually someone comes to give me an injection and the vomitting stops, but I am still shivering like crazy and the cold cloths aren't making any difference. The pain begins to subside and I drift in and out of consciousness. Still cold and no very scared.

The pain returns over and over again all night and when Mary-Lou (the registrar) arrives in the morning my temperature is still hovering around 40. Mary-Lou examines my stomach and then heads out to call the surgeon in charge of my case. She seems very concerned and I can hear her having stern words with the night nurse.

When she returns she tells me that they are going have to urgently send me back to the Austin Hospital for treatment. "We don't know what is wrong, but they will be able to sort things out." Carleen has arrived and I am concerned that she does not get too upset, but the truth is I am shit scared myself. I thought that I had come through the worst of it, but this pain tells me that something is seriously wrong. An infection? Internal bleeding? Something much worse?

Within 30 minutes, after going through the agony of the transfer from the bed to the gurney on top of the on-going pain in my stomach, I am in the back of an ambulance and speeding my way back to the hospital I just came from a couple fo days ago. One step forward and two steps back...