The story of Laura
In January 2018 I was rushed into theatre in a critical state for what I was initially lead to believe was to perform an appendectomy. I woke up a couple of days later following on from being on a life support machine to find out that I had in fact had a volvulus of the small bowel caused by adhesions. The only way for the surgeons to save my life was to resect the bowel that was necrotic (over 17ft!) and perform a high up jejunostomy stoma.
At the time I was 7 months pregnant with our daughter Isabella and tragically because of the extent of the septic shock I had been in, she was born sleeping. I was told that I was in intestinal failure (or IF for short) and I would never eat or drink again and I would be entirely dependant on Total Parental Nutrition to sustain my life nutritionally and hydration wise. My life turned literally upside down overnight. I was completely numb with shock for all that had happened to me physically and beyond devastated at the loss of our beautiful baby girl.
4 years on and I have had stoma reversal surgery, followed careful guidance of my amazing consultants and become INDEPENDENT of any form of TPN! It has literally been a miracle.
Living with Short Bowel Syndrome is certainly not easy and it is never easy to explain to others who really just don’t understand the daily struggles and pain. Some days I can feel good and others I can be exhausted and not myself at all. No two days are the same and I am reliant on a lot of daily medication to keep me as healthy as possible. It is a small price to pay to still be here. Life can be so incredibly hard at times but we have to hold onto the hope that things can get better… it’s still a life and it is still beautiful.