Support for the Kitchen Bitch

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Latest update 9pm, Wed 23rd Dec - see end of post

Philosopher, poet, storyteller, writer, blogger extraordinaire (The Kitchen Bitch Ponders), and one of my favourite people to photograph, Eryl, has been taken to hospital and is not in a good way.

I received an email from her husband, Steve, this morning; we spoke on the phone; then I went into visit Eryl in Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary this afternoon.

Apparently she had not been well for several weeks. First thought was flu, followed by the sense it was probably an infection. She was given various antibiotics, which did seem to make a difference, until she collapsed last Friday.

They initially thought that it was a intestinal thing but on having a CT scan they have found a "complex" mass on one of her ovaries. Further tests are being done, but whatever the outcome, she will have major abdominal surgery before the end of the week.

If whatever it is is benign, they will probably deal with it in Dumfries. If it's malignant, she'll be taken up to Glasgow or Edinburgh for surgery.

For those of you on Facebook, a page has been set up - Hugs for Eryl, at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=215410812417 where you can leave messages of support. Steve will then print them off and take them in with him each time he goes in to visit.

If you're not on Facebook, or want to send a message more directly, she's currenly in ward 6, and Steve's email is srshields // at // yahoo // .com

As and when I hear anything else, I'll update this post.

And if you know others who know Eryl, please let them know - Steve wants to create a large a support network around her.

UPDATE

Test have come back and show the complex mass is NOT cancerous - it's what they call benign.

Eryl will be given drugs to try and reduce the size of it, then will still have surgery to remove it. She is still very poorly.

However, as Steve said when we were on talking on the phone, "As bad outcomes go, this was the least bad we could have hoped for."

Please continue to leave your comments on the Facebook page, or to email  Steve with your messages. Steve is quite clear Eryl is feeling comforted by all your messages of support

UPDATED UPDATE

Just got this in from Eryl's husband (9pm, Wed 23rd),

Just to let you know Eryl had surgery today and it has gone extremely well. She is in recovery at the moment and will be moved to ward 4 of the Dumfries & Galloway Royal Infirmary later this evening. I spoke to the surgeon and she said that it was a large abscess that was inflaming her ovary and leaking into her abdomen causing lots of infection and swelling but this has now been dealt with without the need to remove any bits of Eryl. This is a fantastic result and much better than we had hoped for even this afternoon.
She will still be very sore and on getting home she will still need 6 weeks to recover from her operation, but she is now on the road to recovery

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