Severe Gastritis & Possible Ulcer

More for my own records than anything else.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it but when I first arrived in NZ back in February I ended up with a very nasty influenza type virus which they suspect might have been swine flu as there was a bit of it going round at the time.  Since then on a cyclic basis - originally every 10 - 14 days I have been suffering from terrible pain in my ribs, back and I guess upper stomach (right between the ribs)  these episodes only last 2 - 3 days mainly.  The pain being constant and not seeming to be related to any particular food I ate, not made worse by eating or not eating.  The last bout I got was at the end of May and it lasted two weeks.  I did go to the doctor for it and they arrange a scan and blood tests, but of course by the time you can actually get the blood tests and scan done I was feeling okay and they showed nothing.   Well this time I went a whole month with no problems, and then last Sunday during the night (almost exactly one month since the end of the last attack) it came back with a vengeance.  I went to the doctor on Wednesday and he wasn't sure what was going on but after examining and bringing me to tears when he touched the spot at the base of my ribs/stomach, and commenting he had never seen anyone react like that before, he suggested I might have H Pylori and possibly a stomach ulcer.  He gave me a new PPI as the Omaprazole given in May didn't agree with me and asked for a stool sample so they could send it to be tested.  Why do they give you such tiny containers for such things?!  

Well by Thursday morning the pain was so bad I could hardly walk or breath so my husband took me to A & E.  Initially I don't think the doctor took me especially seriously and at first just told me to take the PPI and Gaviscon.  That is until he saw my blood test results!  My CRP was VERY high, my white blood cells, monocytes and neutrophil counts were high as well, showing I had severe inflammation and infection.  I also had an ECG which was abnormal, possibly because I was in so much pain, but will have to be rechecked at a later day.  A xray was also done.  I have to have an endoscopy done at the beginning of August to check for an ulcer, but he said I had a severe case of gastritis probably caused by H Pylori, so has given me a course of two antibiotics, plus the PPI and Gaviscon to take.  Today is the first day I have felt slightly better.  I have been getting bad headaches, not sure if that is relation to the medications or not, and everything tastes odd since starting the antibiotics.  I feel quite weak, but I am hoping that will improve as well.  To not have the levels of pain that I was in though is a vast improvement.  Of course my husband said I should have gone to the hospital much sooner than I did, and that because I must have a high pain threshold (from being in constant pain from the TOS etc) that I left it too long.  I have to say I am glad the bloods showed up something this time - perhaps because they were done whilst I was in the middle of a full blown attack!  I was starting to think my brain must be really good at making up pain that wasn't really there when all the previous results came back normal.  

I'm hoping that the antibiotics solve the problem and I won't have any more flare ups!

Isle of Wight Holiday 2019 - The Cottage.

We stayed in the same cottage as we did last year.  Partly because there wasn't a lot left available by the time we came to book in early May and partly because we were familiar with it and knew it was suitable for the dogs, and that Percy would be familiar with it.  Always important with a blind dog, even though he copes amazingly well with his disability.

There are lovely views from the cottage its surroundings.

From the cottage itself:

Beautiful gardens and a lovely thatched cottage next door, that this time was empty.  It sold last year so not sure if the new owners have bought it as a holiday home, or were just away on holiday for the week.  As such it was lovely and quiet.  Although we had three VERY windy nights.  With a view you are more exposed to the extremes of weather.

Lovely fenced garden for the dogs to play in.

I sat in the conservatory every morning while waiting for DH to get ready, quietly stitching my little rag dolls.  I managed to get four little bodies made up during the week.  

Stanley looked ever so handsome in the sunshine.

He enjoyed sitting out on the patio area.

Percy enjoyed wandering round the garden at every opportunity.

The location was great, a lovely walk to the local shop which is very well stocked.  Fresh strawberries each evening after dinner and several with my breakfast cereal in the morning.  

It is a shame that some people haven't looked after the cottage as well as they should.  We were surprised to see quite a lot of extra damage done to the place in various places, that weren't there only a year ago.  

Isle of Wight Holiday 2019 - Final Day

We had to be out of the cottage on the final day by 10 am and we were leaving early evening so we had a whole day left essentially.  We decided we would head back over to the lovely Cafe at Castlehaven so we could watch some of the Round the Island Yacht Race.   We had a lovely lunch,

Followed by a delicious cream tea.

We sat and watched the first of the yachts come round the bay.  I'd meant to take my good camera down with me but forgot and left it in the car, so only had my pocket Panasonic with me unfortunately.

This one was leading a group of three, but then got caught on a bouy.

People enjoying the sunshine and yacht race.

After a few hours we decided we should move on and walked along the coastline 

watching the yachts as we walked.

across the fields

towards the lighthouse

up the hill

then up the road towards our car, where I just had to take a photo of this lovely house and garden, although the photo doesn't really do it justice.

We were going to go for another walk with the dogs over Appuldurcombe Estate, but it was too warm for the dogs and little Percy was exhausted.  So we instead went to the Old Smithy in Godshill and enjoyed a cuppa in the shade while waiting before we had to drive to the Ferry.  It was very quiet as hardly anyone was there, so a nice way to finish off the day.

On the way home we saw this cruise ship.

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A very lovely week away indeed.