I don't want it to happen to anyone else

After a long struggle with alcohol problems, Paul has to have emergency surgery for a perforated bowel. The perforated bowel doesn't kill him - in fact he feels the episode helps him address his alcohol issues - but it leaves him with a stoma. A year later, when he wants to move on, get fit again, get back to work, he chooses to have the stoma reversed. The surgery and aftercare don't go well for Paul, leaving him contorted in pain and wanting more pain relief than was provided. Unfortunately it also leaves him with a parastomal hernia that will need further surgery to repair, and a series of questions about the standard of his care. After failing to get the sort of answers or reassurance he wants through the complaints system, he opts to go to a different hospital to have the hernia fixed.