Phoenix from the Ashes

I went to see a good friend of mine today. She has been allowed to leave hospital for a few hours and go home as she is on the mend from quite a harrowing ordeal.

I’ve known her for almost 10 years and met her as she used to child-mind my children when they were younger and I used to live with them and their mother. My ex and I introduced her to her partner as he is one of my oldest friends from school and was actually one of my best men at my wedding.

They have lived together for a few years now, along with her 2 children from an earlier marriage who are the same ages as my own.

My friend had to go to a local hospital the week before last for a simple ‘procedure’. This would involve her going in and coming out the same day with just a little discomfort.

However, during this ‘simple procedure’, the doctor accidentily burned my friends colon in a few places. To correct this, her simple procedure turned into major surgery as they had to find the burned pieces of colon, cut them out and re-attach the colon together.

As she recovered from this operation she became very ill. A portion of the burned colon had been missed. This had ruptured and the bile etc from her digestive system had leaked inside of her and begun to poison her.

Her body had begun to ‘shut down’ and she was put on machines to keep her heart beating, lungs breathing and liver working corrctly. Her partner, my good friend, was even asked if she was religious and whether she would need a priest!!!!

That was the lowest moment and I am glad to say that, little by little, she was able to fight back against the poisons and slowly regain her strength. She is now up and about, although slowly and tentatively, and as mentioned earlier has been allowed to go home for a few hours.

I, along with all of her friends and everyone else who knows her, am so glad that she was able to pull through and start to get healthy again. She is only a small woman but has such a very large heart. I have never seen her really angry, mean spirited or spiteful. I have always been greeted with a warm smile and can talk about and laugh about almost anything with her. Everyone who I know who knows her agrees with me that she is a wonderful person and it would have been a much sadder world without her.