twisted bowel

vhtqm1

the last few weeks have been a real experience for me. it started at the end of june approximately 10 days after my last treatment of Cetuximab and Irinotecan. i have two lesions on my liver that recurred and so i'm trying to beat this again. anyway, was experiencing diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and extreme fatigue. then all of a sudden the diarrhea stopped and the nausea and vomiting continued to get worse. two days go by with no BM and i forgot to mention the pain and now the pain is even worse. off to the ER i go. was discovered i had a blockage, pnemonia, blood counts very low, and swollen lymph nodes in my left lung attributed to pnemonia not anything related to cancer. i was given some pain medication 1mg of dilauded finally after 6 1/2 hours being in ER. the reason they wated so long for pain medication is we were running tests. well, that 1mg did the trick and at least the pain was gone. off to a room i went. and was in hospital for about 7 days. in the beginning it was complete restriction of food and or drink. slowly, my bowels began to function but even to this very day *at least 3 weeks later* things are just not right. anyway, i ended up being treated with antibiotics and had two transfusions. it seemed i was improving enough to go home so like i mentioned earlier it was about 7 days later i was released. low and behold i was back to ER 24hrs later. this time the pain was the worse i've ever experienced. they did testing again and finally i'm getting some pain medication and this time 5 1/2 mg of dilauded which this time barely took the edge off. excruciating pain!! they of course admitted me again but this time i even had a pain pump so as to manage the pain relief myself. about 6am the following morning i noticed the pain gone and turned off the pain pump. well, this time they had compaired several x-rays from previouse ER and Hospital visit and this one. it was noticed i had "twisted bowel." anyone here ever experience this? how long does it take to get things moving along? i'm still feeling after another week in the hospital and now home that i've been ran over by a train. i try and walk but honestly i've been so sedintary that even the muscles in my legs get very sore from just walking. eating is very difficult and they have me on a low residue diet. but even the the proper choice of foods are difficult to consume. mostly i'm still consuming protein shakes, 100% juice bars, water, juice etc..i've had some meals but again it's just very difficult. something i've noticed is a slight lump on my left side of abdomen and slightly lower then my naval. not sure if all the wretching from vomiting caused me to get a hernia or i would think if this was something serious it would have shown up and xrays? anyway, sorry this is so long but i am looking to see if anyone else experienced something similar?



ed



i'm really week so i didn't proof read. sorry up front if spelling and grammer is not up to par...

linandtom

Hope we can help
Ed - my husband just came home from hospital after being told he has several blockages in his small intestines. Blockage is not caused by tumors inside the intestine but from tumors in the peritoneal lining putting pressure on the intestine. He could not eat or drink anything and keep it down. The only pain he had was right shoulder pain so we thought it was from his gallbladder because we knew he had gallstones. So we were thinking he would have surgery on his gallbladder. The doctors will not attempt any surgery saying there are several places where the blockages are located and it would not do any good. With 100 ft of small intestine, I don't understand this. But for now....yes, they took him all all food and water and let his intestines rest. Gave only IV fluids and Decadron (used for nausea pretreatment with chemo). He is home now with a Pump much like the 5FU pump but with Decadron and they are giving him nutrition by IV into his veins not his stomach - call TPN. This is another infusion pump for the nutrition pack which he receives all his vitamins and protein. Within 4 days he has felt so much better, much stronger. With TPN you can still have food if you feel like eating - he will only eat a bite or two but he's getting 2000 calories in TPN. Home Healthcare had to teach us how to administer the TPN and Decadron but so far we are doing okay. I have to tell you this because before he let his intestines "rest" and he was so dehydrated, sick.....I truly did not think he would make it. Dr said without anymore food or water he would last maybe another week. But we've had this good nutrition for 5 days now and he's feeling so much better. Maybe discuss this with your doctor - when you have this type blockage your food cannot pass through. Don't let them put the tube into your stomach - and feed you this way - you will just throw it up. They are putting his through his port. If you have any questions, please let me know. We got ours started pretty quickly - saw dr Monday, and things were delivered and set up ready to go by Tuesday afternoon. Take care of yourself....take very small but frequent sips of fluids - sip and drip.....will keep you hydrated. Blessings to you today.

KathiM

I ended up with 10 incidents of obstructions...
The first, like you, I didn't know what it was...having just returned from the hospital for the start of treatment for my second cancer, a lumpectomy. I had abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, and a wierd rumbling sound at about my belly button, after which the pain lessened. I called my breast surgeon. He said "You know, Kathi, last time I checked my anatomy books, the breast was not connected to the colon. Please call your other surgeon!" (This, I must add, was all very light...I always bantered with him). I called my gastric surgeon, and his nurse said "Get thee to the ER!" (It had been 3 days of this).

Turned out, as a result of my J-pouch, and the new turn in my colon (It's diagonal now), a part of my small intestine got stuck in the turn, and completely twisted. I, like you, was admitted. 4 days of NPO (nothing by mouth) and walking, walking, walking trying to clear it. Unsucessful, I went thru another surgery, and they removed 3 inches of small bowel.

After that, I knew when things were going wrong (that darn corner...lol!). So, I would take the lessons learned in the hospital. I walked and walked. Drank water. And when a cramp hit, I would bear down like having a BM. I cleared the 9 other partial obstructions this way...before they became total ones (I did NOT want to return to the hospital...I was put in a room with 4 other ladies that were served meals...rofl...I was soooooo envious!!!).

Years have passed, and I have only had one recent trouble. I drank milk (I get a reaction to dairy now) and started feeling pain. I think that that one area is just sensitive...so, I used my old obstruction-clearing procedure, and it worked!

Now, all of that said, that is what worked for me. I was also told that, should the situation reoccur, I should get to an ER within 24 hours, to avoid bowel death.

Hugs, Kathi

vhtqm1

linandtom said:

Hope we can help
Ed - my husband just came home from hospital after being told he has several blockages in his small intestines. Blockage is not caused by tumors inside the intestine but from tumors in the peritoneal lining putting pressure on the intestine. He could not eat or drink anything and keep it down. The only pain he had was right shoulder pain so we thought it was from his gallbladder because we knew he had gallstones. So we were thinking he would have surgery on his gallbladder. The doctors will not attempt any surgery saying there are several places where the blockages are located and it would not do any good. With 100 ft of small intestine, I don't understand this. But for now....yes, they took him all all food and water and let his intestines rest. Gave only IV fluids and Decadron (used for nausea pretreatment with chemo). He is home now with a Pump much like the 5FU pump but with Decadron and they are giving him nutrition by IV into his veins not his stomach - call TPN. This is another infusion pump for the nutrition pack which he receives all his vitamins and protein. Within 4 days he has felt so much better, much stronger. With TPN you can still have food if you feel like eating - he will only eat a bite or two but he's getting 2000 calories in TPN. Home Healthcare had to teach us how to administer the TPN and Decadron but so far we are doing okay. I have to tell you this because before he let his intestines "rest" and he was so dehydrated, sick.....I truly did not think he would make it. Dr said without anymore food or water he would last maybe another week. But we've had this good nutrition for 5 days now and he's feeling so much better. Maybe discuss this with your doctor - when you have this type blockage your food cannot pass through. Don't let them put the tube into your stomach - and feed you this way - you will just throw it up. They are putting his through his port. If you have any questions, please let me know. We got ours started pretty quickly - saw dr Monday, and things were delivered and set up ready to go by Tuesday afternoon. Take care of yourself....take very small but frequent sips of fluids - sip and drip.....will keep you hydrated. Blessings to you today.

linandtom
well, thanks for your reply. it sounds like your Husbands case is much more serious then mine. however, when initially diagnosed i did have tumors throughout my Peritoneal Lining. sure hope no adhesions have developed and i do understand how this can put pressure on the bowels and cause blockage. i'm still struggling to eat food. last couple of days went back on fluids alone. however, this morning had a descent BM even though it was mostly diarrhea. anyway, i was actually hungry so i did eat a couple eggs, homemade pancakes, peaches and Welchs grape juice. it seems to be settling okay so i hope i continue to improve. last night i began to feel pressure on the left side of my abdomen again. i was instructed to use Miralax but due to the way i was feeling i did take Milk of Magnesia which is much stronger. i think this helped but again if my bowels are restricted i do worry about a complete blockage repeating itself. i'm trying to keep focused and keep the nutrition going. unfortunately i also still feel like i've been ran over by a train. so, all in all it's been a very slow recovery and hope that's what this all is.""recovery"" thanks again for responding and i sure hope your husband gets better. just so you know i was diagnosed with multiple mets to lungs, liver, esophagus, and peritoneal lining. at one point for about 8 months i was completely cancer free until lesions re-appeared on my liver. i was able to beat back all those pesky mets everywhere else. so again, good luck to You and your Husband.

vhtqm1

KathiM said:

I ended up with 10 incidents of obstructions...
The first, like you, I didn't know what it was...having just returned from the hospital for the start of treatment for my second cancer, a lumpectomy. I had abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, and a wierd rumbling sound at about my belly button, after which the pain lessened. I called my breast surgeon. He said "You know, Kathi, last time I checked my anatomy books, the breast was not connected to the colon. Please call your other surgeon!" (This, I must add, was all very light...I always bantered with him). I called my gastric surgeon, and his nurse said "Get thee to the ER!" (It had been 3 days of this).

Turned out, as a result of my J-pouch, and the new turn in my colon (It's diagonal now), a part of my small intestine got stuck in the turn, and completely twisted. I, like you, was admitted. 4 days of NPO (nothing by mouth) and walking, walking, walking trying to clear it. Unsucessful, I went thru another surgery, and they removed 3 inches of small bowel.

After that, I knew when things were going wrong (that darn corner...lol!). So, I would take the lessons learned in the hospital. I walked and walked. Drank water. And when a cramp hit, I would bear down like having a BM. I cleared the 9 other partial obstructions this way...before they became total ones (I did NOT want to return to the hospital...I was put in a room with 4 other ladies that were served meals...rofl...I was soooooo envious!!!).

Years have passed, and I have only had one recent trouble. I drank milk (I get a reaction to dairy now) and started feeling pain. I think that that one area is just sensitive...so, I used my old obstruction-clearing procedure, and it worked!

Now, all of that said, that is what worked for me. I was also told that, should the situation reoccur, I should get to an ER within 24 hours, to avoid bowel death.

Hugs, Kathi

KathiM
yes, your situation is similar to mine however even though surgery was an open option on the table these last two visits to ER and Hospital didn't get to that point. i was wondering, how long did it take for you to get regular? even though i'm home now and have been since Tuesday night i'm still having considerable diarrhea when i do go and nothing real substantial. now, i haven't been eating solid food every day and i did go back on liquids the last couple of days so im not sure if that's not the reason my BM are so watery. i just worry somewhat because if the bowel is still restricted for some reason than maybe that's why mostly diarrhea takes place or again is it because my eating or should i say not eating? i learned the same lesson. all the doctors made sure i knew how serious this was and even suggested not to worry about overreacting and so to error on the side of caution and go to the ER whenever you suspect this repeating itself. i guess in what i experienced 37% of people don't even survive. the bowel can burst hence big infection and that infection is most patients demise. i sure hope this doesn't repeat itself and i do try walking, and i even went swimming yesterday. i'm going to try and keep active and if i feel like eating i will when i don't liquids only. i hope your doing well and thank you so much for responding.

ed

KathiM

vhtqm1 said:

KathiM
yes, your situation is similar to mine however even though surgery was an open option on the table these last two visits to ER and Hospital didn't get to that point. i was wondering, how long did it take for you to get regular? even though i'm home now and have been since Tuesday night i'm still having considerable diarrhea when i do go and nothing real substantial. now, i haven't been eating solid food every day and i did go back on liquids the last couple of days so im not sure if that's not the reason my BM are so watery. i just worry somewhat because if the bowel is still restricted for some reason than maybe that's why mostly diarrhea takes place or again is it because my eating or should i say not eating? i learned the same lesson. all the doctors made sure i knew how serious this was and even suggested not to worry about overreacting and so to error on the side of caution and go to the ER whenever you suspect this repeating itself. i guess in what i experienced 37% of people don't even survive. the bowel can burst hence big infection and that infection is most patients demise. i sure hope this doesn't repeat itself and i do try walking, and i even went swimming yesterday. i'm going to try and keep active and if i feel like eating i will when i don't liquids only. i hope your doing well and thank you so much for responding.

ed

They use surgery as a last resort....
It's invasive, has a recovery time, and the bowel HATES to get messed with!!!!

As far as your continuing loose bowels...yes, I had that, too...usually because of all the treatment to try to pass the obstruction...lol...I'm fairly sure that if the restriction was still there, you would know it...the pain, nausea, etc.

BRAT diet worked well for me the first few days...Bananna, Rice, Applesauce, Tea. The bananna works, at least for me, as a stool firmer...

Here's to you never experiencing this again...if for no other reason that, as you now know, it hurts like heck! AND, I can tell you I have NEVER had such discomfort as from the NG tube...I even made a deal with my doctor when he had to remove it because 'it wasn't working right any more'...I said "I PROMISE you will get no fight from me to reinsert if I present with symptoms, but until then PLEASE leave it out!" (By this time, I had had my surgery).

Hugs, Kathi