“Normally, taking these antibiotics is six weeks in the hospitalMichel tells us, but as they can be administered through the Port-à-cath, they were kind enough to let me out earlier“.
It must be said that two weeks ago, he was not doing well. Entering the emergency room for the umpteenth time because of this new infection, the former trucker would have stayed there, so to speak. “Oh yeshe tells usI was really fed up. I had a bout of the blues. When I enter the clinic, I know everything I will undergo. Tubes in the mouth, positioning the new box under the skin, injections everywhere, scanners, isolation in a sterile room… Last time, I caught Covid in the hospital. I can tolerate all of this less and less well. I told my daughter, it’s fine like that. We stop, no more parenteral nutrition. I’m going to live what I have left to live and it will last as long as it lasts. Maybe two months? But Lorrie spoke to me. The medical team is great. There are my children and now, my granddaughter. So I decided not to let myself go“. To say that Popy is touched is an understatement. Each babbling, each gesture, each smile of the little star melts the happy grandfather who would forget all his health worries.
“All my intestines were necrotic”
In this case, they started suddenly, on November 4, 2008, while he was celebrating his brother-in-law’s birthday with the family. “I had severe stomach pains, so bad that I went to the emergency room. At the hospital, the doctors thought I was acting. They didn’t do any tests and sent me home with some medicine, telling me it would go away.“But the pain only gets worse.”For two days, I vomited blood with red threads and was in excruciating pain. We then called an emergency doctor who gave me morphine to calm the pain. She didn’t pass. When he came back two hours later, I was gray, on the verge of death. My legs were no longer irrigated, due to blood clots that had blocked the blood vessels. I had emergency surgery. We unblocked everything“.
Plunged into a coma – during which he suffered three cardiac arrests – Michel woke up with no intestines, or almost no intestines. “Everything was necrotic, he continues. I was between life and death. Most of my intestines had to be removed. Today, I only have 44cm of small intestine left. If we had done a CT scan during my first visit to the emergency room, perhaps we should have only cut a meter… But now, following the infarction, the intestine was torn over 7 cm and it was is completely necrotic“. This is how, in his words, Michel relates the story. In reality, because of an arrhythmia problem, he was the victim of multiple infarction syndrome, explains his doctor, who lists “in the heart, kidneys, spleen, legs, intestines…“As a result, blood clots spread throughout his body, requiring several surgeries including resection of a large portion of the intestines.
“My machine is my friend. It allows me to avoid a fatal outcome”
Food was eliminated instantly
Weighing 95 kg when he entered the hospital, Michel woke up with 53 kg after 19 days of coma, followed by three months of hospitalization for abdominal surgery. But the awakening is very harsh. The patient is told that, given the short bowel syndrome from which he now suffers, due to the extensive resection of the digestive tract, he will no longer be able to eat as before. “I was shockedhe remembers with a trembling voice before adding, but I was alive“. Alive because it is parenterally fed. In other words: the food does not pass through the digestive tract, but is directly administered into a blood vessel by means of a catheter in order to provide the body with all the necessary nutrients.
©Jean Luc Flemal“In fact, I could eat whatever I wanted, but it was no use because the food was eliminated instantly given the size (44 cm) of my intestine.explains the fifty-year-old. I went to the bathroom 20 to 25 times a day. As soon as I drank, as soon as I ate, it came out just as quickly. From above or from below. It was immediate. I remember the first meal I was able to have in the hospital, in intensive care: spaghetti. I have always retained the taste and the desire to eat. Steak, fries, creamed mushrooms, apple sauce, I like it all, but it’s no use to me. I only retain a few percent of the nutrients ingested. In fact, I might very well stop eating. On the other hand, I have to drink“.
What does the “food” to be administered parenterally look like? ©Jean Luc FlemalSubject of a clinical study
If he speaks in the past tense, it is because Michel has entered a clinical study which he must still follow for two years. “Every Thursday, for more than two and a half years, I have received an injection of a product that comes from Canada and which makes my gut expand – well, what’s left of it – so food can stay there longer and I retain more nutrients. Thanks to this, I only go to the toilet on average five times a day, which allows me a lot more freedom. Additionally, the idea is to go from 4 or 5 bags of parenteral nutrition per night to maybe 2”.
“I remember seeing my parents crying in the hospital. I didn’t understand, I didn’t know what I had”
Today, Michel believes that his condition has significantly improved. “During the day, I live completely normally. What bothers me the most is my Port-à-Cath for parenteral nutrition. Every evening, at 8 p.m., a nurse comes to connect a large leaking Baxter in my veins to nourish me during the night. Over time, I’ve gotten used to it, but the problem is the infections. There, it’s a disaster, it starts with a high fever (40-41) and that’s it. is direct hospitalization. It drops about once a year It’s a breeding ground for germs and I’ve already had to be hospitalized many times because it got infected. I think I’m at my. thirteenth device. Other than that, I feel very good. Unfortunately, I smoke. This is the only point on which I am in conflict with my doctors.“.
©Jean Luc FlemalNo warning signs, no history,”it’s just bad luck“, thinks Michel today, who never asked himself why he or for what reasons he was the victim of this multiple heart attack. “The doctors say I have strong morale. Well, I know I won’t live to be 80, because among other things I still have a slight bleeding in my heart. But if I already reach 70, that will be good. I would have had my life. When I left the hospital in 2009, doctors only gave me three months to live. And I’m still here. At first, I wanted my children to all be adults; that was my motivation. Today, it’s my granddaughter’s majority that I’m aiming for, in 17 years. She’s a golden girl, isn’t she, Lyly? And then, she gives me so much love. She is my reason for living“.
The logo of our series “Words for evils” ©Raphaël BatistaThrough “Words for Evil”, La Libre has chosen to give voice to people affected by various illnesses, both physical and mental, common or rare. Meetings which aim to understand their daily lives, their difficulties and hopes, to share their outlook on existence. It is also a way of reminding us that no one is safe from these accidents of life. This series can be found every other Monday on our site.
