Louise Thompson has reassured her fans after undergoing a proctoscopy in hospital on Christmas Eve.
The former Made in Chelsea star issued a health update, sharing a photo of herself in a gown and wearing a nasal cannula, writing on Instagram: "Looks dramatic but it wasn't."
Thompson, who had a stoma bag fitted after years of suffering from ulcerative colitis, explained that a proctoscopy is like a colonoscopy, but is not as invasive because she doesn't have a colon "so there isn't very far" for the camera to go.
The reality star said she elected to have the procedure on Christmas Eve “as these appointments are so important and they managed to fit her in quite urgently .
"I jumped at the offering of a 24th December date, then when it came around I realised the magnitude of it being Christmas Eve," she said.
A proctoscopy is a quick procedure using a short, rigid tube with a light to examine the anal canal and rectum for issues like hemorrhoids, inflammation, ulcers, or polyps.
Thompson, who has lupus, has been open about her health struggles, revealed that she went through an agonising birth with her son Leo, which has prevented her from having a second child.
Her fiancé Ryan Libbey also said in November 2024 that he "doesn't know how much more she can take" after Thompson went into septic shock while suffering abdominal pain.
Libbey explained that he had returned home from a weekend away to find Thompson “rolling around in heaps of pain” and eventually took her to A&E and a “few hours later she was on the operating table”.
He told listeners that Thompson was operated on “in the same tummy area that she’s been recovering from since earlier this year with her stoma surgery”.
However, complications arose after the surgery and Thompson was rushed to intensive care after going into septic shock
Speaking about the aftermath, Libbey said: “It’s soul destroying, it takes the wind right out of your sails.
“It leaves you completely dumbfounded because you don’t know why someone would deserve to go through countless bouts of bad health like this.
“I can’t believe we’re back in this situation. My heartbeat is skipping around all over the place which is an indication of how heavy and raw it all feels. It’s very unexpected and a difficult pill to swallow. It’s completely broken me.”
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