Torn Oesophagus 

My partner and I had a pretty normal long weekend (June 2021) and headed into the city to grab some brunch. I felt a small sensation of my small intestine starting to block. We headed home because of this for an afternoon of resting and fasting.

I went to bed early but woke at 11 pm in incredible pain and vomiting. My small intestine had blocked and the body needed to get rid of the blockage. After a few faecal vomits we called an ambulance. It took 4.5 hours for the ambulance to arrive and from midnight to 4:30 am I vomited multiple times and really had to focus hard on surviving.

After a lot of anti-nausea drugs in emergency, I kept vomiting and in a routine CT scan where my oesophagus tore. My torso suddenly felt on fire (which was the vomit spreading throughout my torso), I was incredibly dizzy and I could not stand up. When I tried to speak blood came gushing out of my mouth. My last memory was falling off the CT table and seeing a pool of blood next to my mouth and multiple feet running into the room. My partner was told I was unlikely to survive and I needed surgery. If I survived until surgery, I was unlikely to survive the recovery.

I woke up about a week later on a ventilator and trying to work out why I was so weak. After a few days, my health deteriorated further and I was placed back into an induced coma.

I was successfully taken off the ventilator for a second time and moved out of ICU towards the start of July. Surgeons advised I would be in hospital until around October with the damage to the body and I was told this on July 2. I managed to get discharged on 12 July 2021 and have spent 18 months focusing on the physical recovery. 2023 is focused on the mental recovery from the coma and the hard work it has taken to recover.