In her blog, Abiona thanks the staff at Royal Brompton Hospital for the care they gave her.

I was fit and healthy until the 24 May 2018. On this day, everything changed and that week I became part of the Brompton Family. I was rushed into our local hospital and it took four days to find out that I had pneumonia and pleurisy.

I was then taken to the Royal Brompton Hospital where I underwent my first ever operation to drain the fluid that had built up around my right lung and had a drain put in. During this time, I received the best care and soon realized I was in the best place for my recovery.

On the 6 June 2018 I had my lung drain taken out after draining most of the fluid leaving a tiny amount left which should off been evaporated by my body and killed off with all the medicines I was on.

I was allowed to go back to my local hospital to be kept a close eye on and all being well I would of been allowed home. This didn’t happen because on the 6th day in my local hospital a test came back that the fluid had relapsed itself and was back meaning I was going to need another operation back in Brompton.

I was rushed back up to Brompton on the 14 June and had tests done that night. The staff made sure to reassure me that everything was going to be ok!

The next day I had my second ever operation. Before it began, I was able to meet the team who were leading my operation, Mr. Jordan was lovely and supported us from the minute I met him. He even came in the room with us where I had my anaesthetic given.

However the operation didn’t go to plan. I crashed in theatre, they couldn’t stabilise me. I lost a good amount of blood and instead of having keyhole surgery I had a full-blown operation.

After having a double drain in and all my wounds covered, I was put into intensive care where I spent three or four days. As I got stronger daily, I was sent to the high dependency unit to recover for a few more days. All my tests were coming back that everything was going in the right way. 

Before I knew it, I was back on Rose Ward and was allowed home on the 23 June. With check-ups all proving to be going in the right direction I was on the up. This May marks two years since my stay in hospital. I can’t thank the Royal Brompton Hospital enough. From the Respiratory team who are just amazing - to the Surgery Team, play team, everyone who looked after me in PICU + HDU and Rose Ward. I can’t thank them enough. They mean so much so me. More than they'll ever know.