BA 10: Supply Shortages

After thinking I was going into hospital for a minor procedure, only to find out that I was being prepared for open heart surgery, the only logical thing to do was drive a couple of hundred miles to Southport beach and hide out for a week…

BA 8: A Key Moment

After over two months in hospital being pumped full of powerful antibiotics and seeing very little reduction in the severity of my infection, it was becoming depressingly clear that the previously suggested “six weeks” of treatment was going to need to be extended…

PA 8: In The Neck Of Time (Part 1)

You may think the most unpleasant thing I experienced during my hospital recovery was the pain of a cracked open chest, or perhaps the discomfort of the phantom menace.
Maybe it wasn’t something physical, the trauma of waking to find yourself short a limb can be fairly unpleasant.

However…

British Heart Foundation: The Ticker Tapes Podcast

A couple of months ago I was asked by the British Heart Foundation to have a chat about some of my story in an episode of their podcast series “The Ticker Tapes”.

BA 7: With a Little Help from my Friends.

A couple of weeks into my daily routine of waking up, antibiotics, watching Frasier, more antibiotics, going to the hospital café for a dream ring (best part of the day), antibiotics, playing Minecraft, antibiotics for supper and then sleeping, my mum got a phone call from my head teacher…

BA 6: A Reason To Wake

I was a sixteen year old, only half a year out of his latest major open heart surgery and looking forward to getting rid of this infection in order take full advantage of the repairs and tweaks done to my heart. So six weeks in hospital was not just a slap in the face, it was a gut punch which totally winded me…

PA 6: The Phantom Menace

I had been asked while in the ICU if I was experiencing any pain where my leg had been. To my shame I had never heard of this side effect of amputation and so, though it was a very strange thing to ask. I shrugged off the suggestion and said that I couldn’t feel a thing but then again, with all the drugs that were being pumped into me I couldn’t feel much of anything…