Okay, you have all heard me say this a million times, we all share the Good, the Bad, and the UGLY!!! Well, as embarrassing as this may be, I am only sharing it in hopes, that no one else will have to suffer as much as I have the past few days. A few weeks ago, I had stomach pain located around my belly button, it felt like a dull knife through it, I felt so bad, I actually missed work, I called Dr. Spaw and since I had been moving furniture, he felt that maybe I had an adhesions pull, it got better within a few days, and I figured that was what it was. Well, Sunday when I woke up, I had lower back pain and it felt like severe back spasms at times, where it hurt to move. I actually took some Tylenol, for those of you that know me that is a big deal for me to take any pain meds, since my surgery. Monday, I felt bloated, gassy (actually had a lot of gas and was passing it), had a few bowel movements, because I had taken MOM on Sunday, thinking maybe I was a little constipated and that was contributing to the lower back pain, and overall I simply did not feel well. Sunday night I ate some grilled chicken breast and it came back up, very unusual for me now, then Monday night, the same thing happened, but this time, around my belly button, I was in severe pain, the type that brought tears to my eyes and I could not even straighten up or sit without my legs bent. I was in a lot of pain and took some Tylenol again, it did not help. After calling both Susan and Elena, I called Dr. Spaw (I hated to call, because I know Monday’s are very busy days for him, because they are one of his surgery days, but he never minds because he is such a caring surgeon, but I just hoped it would get better, but it did not). Dr. Spaw was very concerned and sent me to Baptist ER to have them check me out and have a CAT scan done. They gave me morphine for pain and Zofran for nausea; I had to wait for an hour and a half before they could do the scan. (The stuff tastes really nasty with water, since the only other options were apple juice and diet sprite, which a RNY patient can’t have). The scan found that I have a small cyst on my right ovary, not the culprit, but really nothing else other than suspicion that it might me IBS. I was sent home with pain meds and instructions to contact my PCP for followup. I called Dr. Spaw instead, since he was whom I had already been in contact and I thoroughly trust. Well to the UGLY, after speaking to Dr. Spaw, we decided that even though I have been having bowel movements every two or three day, sometimes very hard, I may be really constipated and packed. I was instructed to drink up to two bottles of Magnesium Citrate, half a bottle 30 minutes apart, until my bowels began to move. I had to drink both bottles and about two hours after the last bit, I finally began to move. It was still dar****il I had to drink another bottle today. I guess as I told Susan this morning, “I must have just been full of it”, LOL. I feel much better now, very sore, but due to the distention of my bowels, this is very normal. I am on Rx iron medication and have been having bowel movements, but apparently, I have not been able to clean out my bowels completely and this was the UGLY result, I am grateful that this is all it was, embarrassed but grateful, I follow all the rules to the T and since I was having bowel movements, I would have never imagined that my bowels were in this shape, therefore please make sure that you really watch this, because this was such intense pain, I would never want anyone to ever experience what I have.
Shelia
