Preparations

The date was set; on 24th October 2017 I would be taken back into hospital to have corrective surgery. The surgery was explained to me as a compilation of 4 separate procedures that would be carried out in the one surgery. There were no guarantees that they would be successful, in fact no guarantees that I would make it through alive, but they would try.

The plan was to open my stomach up completely; locate and repair the fistula leak, locate and repair the multitude of hernias, reverse the colostomy providing enough healthy bowel remained and to pull my stomach muscles back into place by slicing through the retaining muscles to each side. They would be using pig mesh over my organs to replace my peritoneum and another over my muscles to hold them in place.

I listened to their explanation but didn’t really feel anything. There was no excitement, no fear, no worry just an unreal sense of calm that it just didn’t matter anymore. I was still in that space between life and death and felt that if I was meant to die I would and that would be okay. I still had two months before the surgery and set about a timeline of fitting in my visits back to my home town and travelling to Ireland.

Going back to my home town I made my way around to all the people who had meant something special in my life. I explained about the upcoming surgery and the risks involved and that I had come back to say goodbye should anything go wrong. I was told that I was strong, that I had purpose and that I still had much to accomplish in the world so there was no way I wouldn’t make it. I just smiled, knowing that none of it was in my hands anymore and fate would decide my future.

Then on the 13th October 2017, 1 day before my birthday, I travelled with a friend over to Ireland on the week that Hurricane Ophelia had the same idea. My main interest in Ireland was to visit the hill of Tara on my birthday and touch the stone of destiny which I researched had links to my ancestry. Luckily Ophelia didn’t make her presence known until the 16th so she didn’t scupper our plans too badly. We took our time and visited many ancient ruins and natural formation while we were there, but the visit to Tara was amazingly special.

We returned back home on the 20th October, 3 days before my operation. I knew then that I was prepared; I had said goodbye and was ready for anything the fates had in store.

The story continues with Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more…

To start this story from the beginning please click HERE