Monday, January 4, 2010

Oops, I did it again... New Years Eve and weekend


New Years Eve brought another instance of intense abdominal pain, similar to what I had at Thanksgiving. That evening my father, brother, and I went to see Avatar at the IMAX 3D showing at the Mall of Georgia. What a movie. 3D is definitely come of age.
After the movie we went our separate ways. I stopped at The Green Tea Restaurant and got two sushi rolls to go. When I got home, let Koko out, and was eating the sushi, I could tell that something was going on with my stomach. I didn’t even finish the second sushi roll. I worked very hard to get my fluids and protein in that day, and completing that task went to bed early (Laurie was back in Sugarland, TX for a few days as Bridgette and RJ decided to get married on New Years Eve).

I suffered through Friday 1/1/10 taking periodic doses of the Lortab elixir, and the drug did give me some relief, but within a few hours the pain returned. Laurie was returning at noon on Sat 1/2/2009, and I was determined to get through this without having to have a repeat to the E.R.

I called Dr. Richard at 8am that Saturday and spoke with him (he was oncall) and he said to do what I thought was best – he was indeed oncall at the hospital and I could come in through the ER. He first asked several questions: was I passing gas (yes), was I drinking (yes, at the time I was still able to keep water down). I left for the airport at noon and picked Laurie up and got her home, then took off for the ER. The pain had not let up any, and might have been somewhat worse.

Upon my arrival at the NE Ga Hospital ER, I was quickly seen and given a bed in the ER. The ER doc, Dr. Freeman, came in and assessed me and ordered an XRay which was promptly taken. Dr. Richard did come by an acknowledged that I was there and ordered a CatScan, but first ordered me some Dilaudid and something for nausea. Once the nurse administered the Dilaudid, it was like a ‘whoosh’, and the pain disappeared. I was completely pain free (and quite drugged up).

Dr. Freeman came back in and said that they did see a possible blockage of my intestines and were going to admit me, which I kinda figured. I called Laurie and told her of my predicament, but insisted she stay home and wait for more word from me there. I saw Dr. Richard again and he described his concerns to me – he said it looked like my residual remaining stomach and the bypassed section of intestine were inflamed and possibly not draining properly at the junction with the “Y” part of the Roux-en-Y procedure. I was whisked to a room (6704), given more meds, and slept peacefully and pain free.

Sunday IU awoke and Dr. Richard said that he would “probably” release me if I had an uneventful day, but that he could see some additional surgery in my near future. Either my “Y” portion was kinking during these painful episodes, or the Y itself was not draining properly – and the related hernia that I had repaired over 15 years ago might be part of the problem, too. So he wants to watch me for a while and let the weight loss continue (I was at 258lb today, 1/4/2010). He would like to see me lose more weight prior to the surgery, but wants to ‘fix it’ quickly so I do not have any further painful episodes.
And he wrote me a prescription for the Dilaudid in pill form and for Reglan, which from the info on the internet should help ease things up on my gut – and help reduce the inflammation in my old stomach and related intestinal run. I return to see Dr. Richard on Monday 1/11/2010 at 9am for a follow-up. I’ll know more then!

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