Intestinal Blockage, Hopsital Stay, and Home Again

Hello everyone, just wanted to update you on what has happened the past week. Last Monday night (10-20), about 9 pm I began to get a stomach ache. By about 9:30 pm the stomach ache was horrendous and I broke out in a sweat. It was so bad all I could do was lie down on my side and moan. It felt like my insides were going to explode. I did pass something, but it did not make anything better, the pain kept up and got more intense. Then I began throwing up, so I told Mark he had to take me to ER. I got cleaned up after I had vomited on myself and got dressed which was almost too hard for the pain I was in. I got into the car and Mark drove me to the hospital at midnight. They took me back to the ER after a short wait of about maybe 5 minutes. They had to do it because I was rolling around in the chair in pain and moaning. They got me back there and could not find a vein for an IV, so they had to stick it in my foot, by the ankle. It hurt, but I did not care. Once I got some pain medicine I collapsed. They called my doctor and it took a couple hours before they got everything ready for a CT scan. I got some of the contrast stuff down, but the rest of it I threw up.

The CT scan showed I had an intestinal blockage. Two of my doctors showed up and spoke to me, then one of them told me the diagnosis and what they planned to do. I had a nasogastric tube inserted into my nose and down to my stomach. It stopped the horrible cramping pains as soon as it was done, but that tube was awful. Because it was there I was constantly swallowing and that hurt, but it suctioned everything out. The hospital was full the morning I came to ER and so I had to be sit in the ER for over 12 hours before I got a room. Finally, they wheeled me into a private room in the ER at my doctor's request and I immediately went to sleep. My main doctor showed up and told me not to worry he was not going to leave me he would take care of me.

Finally, I was taken up to a room in the evening. They took the tube out on Wednesday evening. They were pleased with the result of having the tube in. One of my doctors had told me that if I got worse while on the tube they would have to perform surgery. Since I got better it is most likely that I had an ileus, which is something that heals on its own. Also, there is greater chance of having a ileus happen after having bowel surgery. The odds of it happening are slim, but lately my life seems to land in the area of slim. I began eating again Thursday night, clear liquids. I did well, so they moved me up to milk products and I have done well with that. Since I am doing well, they let me go home. I think they were a bit hesitant, but Mark does not have anymore vacation time to take off. I am feeling weak and not able to contend with the antics of the boys nor home schooling. I came home to a messy house and tons of laundry and a beautiful vase of flowers sent to me by my friend Kathy W. Thank you Kathy!

I am eating very light and will continue to do so. I will be seeing my doctor soon, they want to keep an eye on me. When I went to surgery on October 9th I weighed 116, but now I weigh 106, so I have lost 10 lbs. Please pray that my bowel will return to normal and be healed. Thank you!