A lesson learned

Cori T.
on 5/9/05 3:31 am - Neah Bay, WA

Hi everyone, I know I haven't been around much lately but I just had to post about a lesson I learned this past weekend in hopes I help someone to avoid making the same mistake. Back track to Friday, around 11am. My son was home sick for his second day and I was rushing around trying to get things ready for our company. I decided I needed to eat something as I had had nothing yet that day. Hurriedly (is that a word? LOL) ate some tuna salad on a trisquit cracker, not chewing well enough and ate too fast. Right away it didn't feel too well, but I chalked it up to having eaten too fast. Pain subsided by dinner time when I tried to eat 2 tiny bites of steak, hurt instantly. Decided not to eat. That night, couldn't sleep as the pain kept getting worse and worse. Then around midnight, the violent vomitting started. Could see the chunks of tuna, pickle, onion etc... I was in the worst pain I ever remember being in. I figured something was stuck where the stoma empties into the intestines. So, we call my Primary Care Dr's office in Port Angeles around 5am. Get the Dr. on call w/the practice to call us back. He tells us to go to the ER in PA (1 hr 45 min. away!) More violent vomitting the whole way into town. Got to be green, meaning bile. ick! (sorry about the graphics) They get me right in. I was so dehydrated they super pumped in a saline bag of fluids (I think they call it a bolis?) and then gave me anti-nausea meds, some torridal (sp?) for pain (IV), which didn't work. Then they gave me something that is like Morphine, can't remember what she called it but one dose is equal to 5 of morphine, something like that. That actually worked. It was very obvious the Dr. wasn't all too familiar w/a gastric bypass patient as I didn't feel he really udnerstood the size of the stoma, the exit size into intenstine etc...he ran all sorts of bloodwork, urine, xrays. Of course lots of waiting inbetween everything. He mainly was looking for a bowel obstruction. All came back good. Then, I mentioned about a stoma blockage and that they'd need to do a camera scope to check it out. He felt we didn't need to do something that drastic (huh?) We got discharged around 1:30pm. He gave me a perscription for 10 vicodin and 15 anti-nausea drugs as I was very afraid the pain and vomitting would return once we got back home to Neah Bay and the meds wore off.

I was afraid to try solid foods again just in case there was still something stuck but I think I might have actually dislodged something during all that heavy vomitting. For Sat. and most of Sunday just had soup. Did eat egg this morning and all seems well. I feel very sore on the insides from all that heaving. ICK! Feels like I've done 1000 sit ups. So remember my mistake and don't forget to CHEW, CHEW, CHEW, and SLOW DOWN!