Exemplary care puts patients at ease through emotional crisis
Thoughtful patient care relieves stress on patients and families. The Nixon family shares their experience of a sudden illness whilst travelling in Hong Kong.
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Sue Nixon travelled to Hong Kong from the UK with her husband Malcolm in April to enjoy time with their sons. The day before her flight home Sue experienced severe abdominal pain and a high fever. The next morning, she sought help at Matilda International Hospital and after some blood tests and a CT scan, a mass was found in her abdomen. The doctor’s advice was to have surgery as soon as possible.
Naturally, Sue wanted to get a second opinion before the surgery, “I wanted to see if I could get well enough to get on a plane and deal with this back at home in the UK. The doctors were extremely patient when they explained everything to me. It was clear though that I was very ill and I knew the chips were down, leaving no options.” Surgery took place the next day.
Sue had been through two similar episodes before, 6 and 13 years ago. The first time required hospital treatment but with second episode she improved with help from her GP so didn’t follow up further. This time, an abscess formed from a ruptured diverticulitis in her bowel.
Sue was diagnosed with diverticulitis, where one or more of the diverticula (small, bulging pouches that can form in the lining of the digestive system, usually in the colon), had become inflamed then ruptured forming an abscess. This explained the severe abdominal pain, fever, nausea and changes in bowel movements. Diverticula are quite common among people over 40, though seldom cause problems. Simple diverticulitis can be treated with antibiotics, however with severe or recurrent complications, surgery is usually recommended.
Sue underwent a laparoscopic right hemicolectomy performed by Dr Edward Lai, and Dr Benny Fok at Matilda International Hospital to have the inflamed part of the colon removed through small incisions in the abdomen. It meant a weeklong hospital stay before she was well enough to be discharged but she could not have been happier with the experience under the circumstances.
