What's on your Thursday Menu?

Thank you! I do bring it up nearly every day.

Good morning QJB and menuers,

So I saw my second GI doctor yesterday. It's interesting to me that two specialists can be given the exact same scenario and symptoms and have two completely different treatment plans and diagnoses. Yesterday's doctor wants a huge amount of sample testing. He's treating for bile-induced issues. Tuesday's doctor is going the SIBO/IBS-D route and wants the liver/blood testing and extended antibiotic treatment. I did not inform either of them that I'm having multiple conversations. It's also fascinating how different the conversation is with the doctor this time versus the PA. She's the one who told me they're out of ideas, which is what drove me to a second opinion. The doctor said no such thing.

Oh, he did say I should be going to the hospital for my incidents for a live CT scan because it could be bowel flipping or partial blockages by the sound of it. He gave me the suggestion of lying down and rolling around to try and flip them back. Lots more conversation but that was the most interesting point for me.

All day strategy session today, so time to go pack snack and make tracks.

QOTD- One of my clients told me I look good in blue. He was about to give me bad news and was trying to lighten the landing. I know because he told me what he was doing. :)

Menu is boiled eggs, banana, tuna packet, maybe something they provide during the meeting. Back home, more peanut butter, meat sauce and spaghetti squash.

Happy Thursday everyone!

Doctors are just so...um...interesting. I hope you get to the bottom of this all. I've been sending positive thoughts your direction!

Thanks Mel!

Very interesting feedback from the different doctors. I do hope between the two you get the answers you need.

Right? And thank you! It's an opportunity to try treatments that can move forward, so I'm good with it!

I am impressed with your insurance that allows you so many Dr appts.
I've been reading about these "incidents" since you joined the board. What are they exactly?

They do allow for second opinions, which is how I ended up with two GI doctors. I'm waiting for feedback from my case nurse on whether I can/should keep them both since they're treating for different things.

The incidents I've referred to leading up to and since my blockage in May are when I get intestinal blockage symptoms. It's generally an 8 or so hour chunk of time that starts a couple of hours after I eat where I have horrible lower back and kidney pain first, followed by the painful "stuck " feeling pain in my lower intestines. I walk laps as much as possible during that time while sweating and waiting to see if I'll get sick, which is about half the time. I bucketed the experience to calling it an incident to spare details in posts, since it just is what it is. Definitely derails the day when it happens, though.

Anything before that...not sure what it would have been. I don't remember having much in the way of incidents in the 6-7 months following the surgery outside of the normal things we go through. Then just the gallbladder things that started in January.

Interestingly, my oldest son was born with a birth defect and had intestinal surgery at 6 days old. He's now 41. For the last dozen years he's dealt with this exact style of episodes. His are due to scar tissue and are brought on by eating (usually some sort of carb) too quickly. If he paces himself, he rarely has an episode. Surgery doesn't seem to be an option for him as his tissue is considered to be too thin or fragile.

Oh, interesting! On one hand, I'm sorry for your son having to deal with those episodes...they're painful. On the other hand, thank you for sharing. It's nice to have a comparison, even if it would be better if no one was suffering!

The doctor yesterday is the one who said it sounds like blockage symptoms and he did specifically mention the possibility of adhesions or scars, like it sounds like your son is going through. I asked if those are things he would have seen during the colonoscopy in June. He just said there's a lot of bowel.

Appreciate the feedback on his causes, too. I've been doing some cause analysis for my last three and think some of my pattern is the volume over time. Trial and error!

You said your son has been dealing with this the last dozen years. Was there some catalyst that started it then?