To be more precise this is the annual celebration of Annette not dying, due in no small part to Stephen driving her to the hospital in time (hooray for both of us). Obviously I decided she was worth more to me alive than the insurance would cover, erm, I mean she’s the most important person in my life and I will do anything for her – enough mush, on with the details.
If we go back in time far enough we find that Nettie sometimes had an issue with some foods and every now and again would get quite ill. Although this was so infrequent that nothing was done to address it, there was clearly something lurking deep inside like a malevolent super villain.
Fast forward to 2018 and after a recurrence of this dietary problem the decision was made to remove her Gallbladder as apparently it’s another one of those body parts we don’t need – let’s keep the creationism vs. evolution debate out of this!
The master plan was; laparoscopic cholecystectomy, discharge from hospital with some drugs, rest and recuperation. Job done, everything fixed and get back to normality was the order of the day – however – this is where we need to dig back into medical training and recall our old friend Hubert von Luschka.
Now as this is not a medical journal lets cut to the chase and simply say that ‘ducts of Luschka’ or ‘subvesical bile duct’ are biliary ducts measuring 1 – 2 mm in diameter that can cause complications for a small number of people undergoing this type of surgery, less than 2% apparently (I told you Nettie was special).
Now here’s the thing. Three days after discharge from hospital and leaking bile into her abdomen from an injured duct, Nettie wasn’t feeling her best shall we say. In severe pain and almost passing out we contacted the Hospital for advice. They told us to take the tablets provided and that they would phone back in an hour to see how she was – sounds like a plan right?
After 15 minutes observation and mild panic I decided the best course of action was to literally throw Nettie in the back of the car and race back to the Hospital. Fighting the usual plethora of incompetent UK drivers on the motorway I finally arrived at reception just as the Hospital check up call came through. “We’re just phoning to check on how your wife is doing?” was the question. “We’re at reception now and I think you need to come and help immediately” was my calm but very firm reply.
Nettie was admitted to Hospital for additional surgery to correct the problem and spent a week there in recovery. Her initial CRP test reading was in excess of 300 mg/L which is slightly elevated from the normal 10 mg/L, suggesting that there was a major issue and although we tend not to be over dramatic people we have been told by other medial professionals I work with that my wife could have died of Sepsis.
So to sum things up we know there was a problem that required secondary surgery and we suspect my fast thinking and equally fast driving may have saved Nettie’s life. Therefore that is why on this day each year we both get very emotional and Nettie celebrates her unofficial birthday!
Annette Howarth
Thank you Stephen my HERO. I know it was the excellent care and skill of the staff at Spire Hospital that ultimately fixed me with drugs and a second operation, but I know that had I waited for an ambulance that Sunday morning to get me to hospital I would not be here today. I’ll be forever grateful to you for being an excellent driver even while under the immense pressure of carrying valuable dying cargo and when people are trying to cut you up on the motorway.
You got me there quickly, safely and due to your skilled driving, managed not to throw me around while I was crying out in agony on the back seat. I don’t know of anyone else that would have stayed so calm in such a scary situation. Thank you, I love you tons. (P.S. the insurance money wouldn’t have got you very far anyway!)