Merry Christmas From Me

Well, I haven't posted in a few days but I managed to get myself into the hospital for a few days.  Thank God I was able to come home yesterday, in time to see the grandbabies open their gifts.

This may or may not be WLS related, probably a bit, but since about August I have had attacks of the worst pain imaginable.  I may have posted about it at the time.  The first time I was at work and I was in so much pain I was ready to go to the ER but fortunately it only lasted about 30 minutes.

A few weeks later the same pain hit me at home.  I decided to wait a while to see if it went away on it's own.  When I say it was painful, that is an understatement.  It was the worst pain I can remember and I've had a bunch of kids.  It was an 11 at least.  After about an hour I couldn't take it anymore and I drove myself to the hospital, which wasn't a great idea.  How I didn't wreck I'll never know.  I wanted to go to the hospital where I had my surgeries because they have all my records and it was a bit of a drive and on top of a hill (which is why they call it the hospital up on the hill) and through a very winding road.  By the time I pulled into the ER driveway I was crying and could not walk.  I honked my horn and cried for help.  They brought out a wheelchair, took me to triage and registered me and had me wait in the waiting room.  It was about 1:30 am on a Saturday night in Portland.  Very busy.  I sat in the wheelchair curled up in a ball for 3 hours or more begging for some kind of help.  By the time they finally called me back the pain had subsided somewhat.  I should have gone home because it was a waste of time and money.  They drew some blood and told me to go home and rest.  I think the bill was over $1,000.00 for that help.  I was so angry.  They did nothing to help me when I was in excruciating pain.

I saw my surgeon's NP a few weeks later for my 3 year check up and told her what happened and of course she was concerned given my history of 2 WLS plus many other abdominal surgeries and she told me if it happened again I was to demand a CT as soon as possible because it wouldn't show anything if I wasn't having an attack.

I so hoped it would never happen again but Sunday night it did.  I called my neighbor and she took me to the nearest hospital because I was in too much pain to go further.  It was probably a good idea because they took me right in and I explained to the doctor what was going on and what the NP had said and they got me right in (by right in I mean within a few hours) for a CT.  And they gave me pain meds, which was so, so welcomed.

The doctor came in and told me I had a bowel obstruction and they wanted me to speak with their surgeon.  Not so fast.  They did not do WLS at that hospital and didn't know my history although they were sending for it.  I told them I wanted to go to my hospital and see my surgeon since he knew my insides better then anyone.  They went and had a conference and told me they were sending me to my hospital.  I wanted to call my neighbor and have her take me but they said I had to go by ambulance.

To make a very long story short I got to my hospital and they did not want to do surgery due to my history.  Because of all my surgeries my insides were filled with adhesions, causing the obstructions and surgery would only make it worse.  They made me stay 2 days and cleaned me out better then a colonoscopy.  I didn't think I could have an obstruction but it seems you can and the waste just goes around it until it can't anymore and then it just collects.  They said my bowel was very dilated and they were worried about it bursting.  I couldn't believe how much poop I had in me because I had had some diarrhea the day before and thought there wasn't much in there.  There was.

Long story shorter, they gave me some instructions on what to do next time, which is more likely then not to happen given the state of my insides, put me on a low fiber diet (who knew) because fiber was what was collecting and adding to the obstruction, and told me to take Miralax (already do) and keep things moving.

So that is Laura's big Christmas advent.  I have to go to work so every one have a great day!

the further out we get, the more we think we are normal and we really never are. 

I am so glad you are ok and didn't have to go through another surgery.  I hope you can keep things moving now so you don't go through that again. 

Merry Christmas, Taz.  Hope you have an easy work day and got to have a Christmas with your family.

WOW!  I worry about this.. I hear about these things happening to folks further out (echo what Price said).  We think we're good.. and them WHAM!  

Glad you're doing ok and hope it doesn't happen again!

Glad your feeling better and made it home from the hospital, I hiope you continue to do well.

Merry Christmas,

Trish

Wow Laura, I hate that happened to you.  I am glad you are now better.  I had always thought that if you could pass gas and go to the bathroom you did not have an obstructions, but I guess you can have a partial one.

Feel better soon.

Linda

I thought the same thing but apparently things can pass by the obstruction for a while until it blocks completely.

I am feeling a lot better, thank you.

So glad you are feeling better and an additional surgery wasn't needed. This is something we all need to be aware of as any abdominal surgery can produce the adhesions that create obstructions. My OBGYN checks my C-section scars by ultrasound annually as my internal scars are wrapped around my bowels already. And bizarrely low fiber diet is prescribed! 

I hope you've had nice holiday and continue to feel better. 

Ashley

I was surprised about the low fiber diet as well.  I thought I was being a good girl and getting in all that fiber and apparently that contributed to the bulk forming the obstruction, so low fiber for me, which is a dilemma because I fight constipation, which is also not good as far as preventing obstructions.  Their advice?  Stool softeners and doubling up on Miralax to keep things going.