Crash Diets

Highwayman wrote:

In the last couple of months I have gone from just under 16 to 12 stone whilst doing no more than laying in bed. All it took was a few weeks in Derriford,a few days in  icu on life support lol. Total removal of a diseased large intestine and the wieght just fell off. Been home a few days now and feel crap and weak but on the plus side haven't smoked for nearly five weeks so after 20/30 a day for 40 odd years I see no point in starting again now iv'e gone this far even if it was forced on me.

Feck, wasn't planning on going to those kind of lengths, glad you are still around.

Welcome back Highwayman, sounds like you've had a really rough trot. All the best for your recovery, at least Derriford didn't manage to finish you off.

my mums gotta go there for a heart by-pass in september!!!

Highwayman wrote:

In the last couple of months I have gone from just under 16 to 12 stone whilst doing no more than laying in bed. All it took was a few weeks in Derriford,a few days in  icu on life support lol. Total removal of a diseased large intestine and the wieght just fell off. Been home a few days now and feel crap and weak but on the plus side haven't smoked for nearly five weeks so after 20/30 a day for 40 odd years I see no point in starting again now iv'e gone this far even if it was forced on me.

Bloody Hell mate sorry to hear that. I hope you're much better now. Sounds horrific.

Highwayman wrote:

In the last couple of months I have gone from just under 16 to 12 stone whilst doing no more than laying in bed. All it took was a few weeks in Derriford,a few days in  icu on life support lol. Total removal of a diseased large intestine and the wieght just fell off. Been home a few days now and feel crap and weak but on the plus side haven't smoked for nearly five weeks so after 20/30 a day for 40 odd years I see no point in starting again now iv'e gone this far even if it was forced on me.

Wowsers. Glad to hear you've come thru all that and come out the other side. Great news with the smoking too.

So, these large intestines. Do we actually really need them?

Highwayman wrote:

In the last couple of months I have gone from just under 16 to 12 stone whilst doing no more than laying in bed. All it took was a few weeks in Derriford,a few days in  icu on life support lol. Total removal of a diseased large intestine and the wieght just fell off. Been home a few days now and feel crap and weak but on the plus side haven't smoked for nearly five weeks so after 20/30 a day for 40 odd years I see no point in starting again now iv'e gone this far even if it was forced on me.

Good to see you back mate, lets see if shezza's boys can cheer you up! ps the weathers been shit lately!

Highwayman wrote:

In the last couple of months I have gone from just under 16 to 12 stone whilst doing no more than laying in bed. All it took was a few weeks in Derriford,a few days in  icu on life support lol. Total removal of a diseased large intestine and the wieght just fell off. Been home a few days now and feel crap and weak but on the plus side haven't smoked for nearly five weeks so after 20/30 a day for 40 odd years I see no point in starting again now iv'e gone this far even if it was forced on me.

So that's your excuse for not posting recently. Bloody wimp!

Good to see you back.  

Highwayman wrote:

In the last couple of months I have gone from just under 16 to 12 stone whilst doing no more than laying in bed. All it took was a few weeks in Derriford,a few days in  icu on life support lol. Total removal of a diseased large intestine and the wieght just fell off. Been home a few days now and feel crap and weak but on the plus side haven't smoked for nearly five weeks so after 20/30 a day for 40 odd years I see no point in starting again now iv'e gone this far even if it was forced on me.

That sounds very scary, Highway. Glad to see you back - take care and keep on getting better  

theres two ways of giving up smoking, my way or highways! glad to hear youre in recovery fella

Czarcasm wrote:

Highwayman wrote:

In the last couple of months I have gone from just under 16 to 12 stone whilst doing no more than laying in bed. All it took was a few weeks in Derriford,a few days in  icu on life support lol. Total removal of a diseased large intestine and the wieght just fell off. Been home a few days now and feel crap and weak but on the plus side haven't smoked for nearly five weeks so after 20/30 a day for 40 odd years I see no point in starting again now iv'e gone this far even if it was forced on me.

Wowsers. Glad to hear you've come thru all that and come out the other side. Great news with the smoking too.

So, these large intestines. Do we actually really need them?

Yes mate we do and dictates what I can and cannot eat, it's not all bad a it's low fibre as a rule with as much stodge type food as you like. If diet goes wrong it's coke, plain salty crisp and ripe bananas to put it right again.  Charlie joking aside they came a hares breath away from finishing me off and is how I ended up in icu.
After the op the internal stitches or staples came undone and my body filled up with body waste so had to  be rushed down for a wash out and some heavy duty anti biotics.Been given lots of bullshit as to why itt happened but no apolagies. The trouble with Derriford lies with the doctors and not the nursing staff who considering being so under staffed are just brilliant, most are beautiful inside aswell as out. Thank you all for you kind words.

Tons of experience with Derriford in the last three or four years - for myself, family and friends. I said yet again to a close friend this afternoon that almost all (not all....) the staff who dealt with me were very good - but the system is crap! She agreed as that is her experience also.

I ended up making a formal, written complaint. I don't think it had any real impact but they had to respond to a formal complaint. I got a letter from the Hospital Chief and from the Head of the department dealing with me.

I hope you feel better & stronger soon.

I was in Derriford in the early 2000's, had no problems with the staff but was rather disgruntled by other patients ringing the emergency bell for a cup of tea or changing the telly channel. Here, being in hospital feels like you're really lucky, the other patients appeared to be glad to be getting treatment and had no issue with lack of privacy or understanding in what situation the emergency bell can be used. Has the change at Derriford happened recently?

I had two fairly major operations in neuro surgery in the last five years, same ward, same surgeon, the first time it was like I was in a private hospital, the second time they were short of nurses and it was hell, I was left with no pain relief for ages and a nurse left a stitch in my back which went septic and fecked up all they had done irreversibly, what's more it could have paralised me or worse still killed me. It was not really the fault of the nurse but the budget makers thinking that they can do two jobs at once. It's a lottery in there but as Hiipo said its much better than anywhere else that I know.
Glad to see you back Highwayman.

Having spent time in a hospital in the desert I can assure you that there are worse - infinitely worse - places to be ill than Derriford. The nadir of my experience in the desert was being asked to provide a sample and being given an empty cigarette package to do it in.  

I wonder if Helen Richards would have any comment. After all s/he is a nurse at Derriford.

I've also had a fair bit of experience of Derriford over the last few years - as well as being in and out with family members, I've had two operations in there (the second was to sort out something which went wrong the first time, but apparently it's not uncommon for this to happen).

The place is far too big and impersonal and to my mind that it itself makes it difficult for the people working there to do their jobs properly. Second time I was in, I got put in a non-surgical (and mixed sex) ward: the staff there did their best, but they shouldn't have been put in the position of having to care for a post-op patient.

But as Hippo says, the attitude of some of the other patients leaves a lot to be desired. Are we really - grown adults, I mean - as unable to do basic things for ourselves as some of my fellow patients? And how many serious things get delayed because somebody who's able to get up and walk wants an extra cup of tea brought to their bedside?

My comment to Highwayman wasn't exactly flippant as my sister in law spent many weeks in ICU then in recovery in Saltash earlier this year, a very good facility by all accounts, after complications unrelated to her heart valve op set in. The thing is if really proper attention was given from the off (i.e. properly funded) how much would be saved in the consequent follow up treatment, which even from these few anecdotes seems to be a not uncommon scenario.

A fag packet, Ian, pah. Next time we have a pint I'll tell you about my "sample" in a Mauritian clinic in 1974!!

With regards to other patients, here, we all mucked in together n kept eyes on each other. Perhaps, even though where I was is a very big university hospital, the fact that the rooms off the ward only held 3 or 6 of us helped. The cleaners and nursing staff were all attached to the one ward so I'd assume some sort of staff continuity may have helped the smooth running of the place. When I was let out, my hubby asked which hospital I prefered, it was the one here. I didn't see many accountants and pen pushers there either.

Highwayman, hope you recover quickly.