So depending on how I decide to count this is either day six in hospital or day 10 out of 14 with a little visit home for some trauma.

I talked about my pancreatitis adventure in my March month note but unfortunately soon after publishing that things started going down hill pretty fast.

A weekend of no appetite and nausea made way for a Monday of sickness and shortness of breath culminating in a panicked 999 call at just after midnight (I really thought this was much later – 3am or something – but the paramedics report says otherwise). I was incredibly dehydrated, couldn’t stomach even water, had been sick a LOT, couldn’t take a step without completely running out of puff and generally was very scared.

The 999 operator was lovely and the paramedics were very quick and reassuring…though they decided I needed to go into hospital very quickly which was good but also a bit 😬.

I live very close to Southmead Hospital so was there in a flash – where things got lively very fast. One doctor later told me I was a ‘five very’ category….as in very, very, very, very, VERY ill….when I landed.

It’s all a blur but there were a lot of doctors – mainly from A+E and ICU but also Endocrinology and elsewhere.

If this had been ER or The Pitt someone would have said I was ‘circling the drain’!

I ended up with two cannulas with two ports each. All with their own IV. A catheter (😱). Plus a lot of sensors and wires.

I have deep veins even when I’m not dehydrated so the hourly blood draws for 24 hours were a treat with multiple nurses trying. I’m a tad bruised now.

In the end I avoided ICU and ended up in a ward a level below as they identified the issue as a particularly nasty case of Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) – which is rare for Type 2 diabetics and even then it’s rare it’s this intense (I’m told).

After a traumatic and intense 24 hours things settled down somewhat – any immediate danger of me un-aliving passed but since then it’s been a bit of a puzzle as to how to get me stable enough to leave the hospital.

My pancreas does seem to have retired – flipping me from a reasonably medically controlled Type 2 diabetic to an off the rails case of Type 1 needing to find the dose of insulin that can control my blood sugar and the ketones out to do me in.

So the experiments continue.

I’ve lost an awful lot of weight – something like 7kg since this all started a couple of weeks ago. They had to give me meds to help me eat…but my appetite is mainly back now. I look a bit odd though.

I have a CT scan Monday as they try to work out the why as well as the what. Sounds like there will be a lot of that in my future.

Every member of staff have been lovely and reassuring. NHS Wi-Fi is a godsend. Hospital food is horrible. My mum has been brilliant ferrying clothes and supplies down and mainly masking her fears. People have been lovely online on all the platforms…though I really don’t remember posting on LinkedIn and including a pic where I looked BAD. Sorry.

I’m just starting to calm down enough to be able to do more than listen to music and stare out of the window (or scroll TikTok!) so will watch today’s footy at least.

Oh and who knows about travel insurance? I can’t imagine I’m going to be able to face Japan in a few weeks!

Anyway in the circumstances and given where I was Monday things are much improved. My life is going to change again but it’s all doable.

So onwards. Cautiously.