"Haematemesis"

I wrote this book after completing chemotherapy, twice, losing all of my bone marrow along the way and suffering a major decline in haemoglobin, collapsing in the street once, undergoing numerous CT scans and bone marrow biopsies, being hospitalised a dozen times, and receiving endless blood transfusions.

Haematemesis relates the journey of a medical innocent through the wilds of the hospital system. It is a comic account of life on the business side of the medical looking glass, written to encourage others as they face the uncertainties of life in the hands of modern-day medical practitioners.

Or, expressed another way, I wasn't ready for hospital and hospital wasn't ready for me. The frictions that ensued made for some entertaining moments.




Haematemesis
noun:  the vomiting of blood
pronounced:  hē-mə-ˈtem-ə-səs

Origin early 19th century:
from haemato- ‘of blood’ + Greek emesis ‘vomiting’.

More broadly:  barf, chuck, chunder, disgorge, heave, puke, regurgitate, retch, spew, vomit

the reflex act of ejecting the contents of the stomach through the mouth

Not to be confused with haemoptysis
noun:  spitting or coughing up of blood or blood-streaked mucus, as in tuberculosis




This novel may be thought of as the writer suddenly disgorging some of the fear, hope, pain, confusion and amusement accumulated during his sudden loss of independence and unexpected reliance on men and women in white coats.

The kindness of these wonderful people can never be repaid.

Then, again, there were a few of the other sort
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