In Hospital with Obstruction

coolvdub
coolvdub Member Posts: 408 Member
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Well it's my turn to have a bowel obstruction. Been in the hospital since Sunday evening with what they think is a bowel obstruction. I went for Chemo on Friday and got sick during it, real fun there. Spent the weekend getting sick so went to urgent care Sunday afternoon, got X-rayed and took an ambulance ride. So they have been hydrating me and using an NG tube to suction out my belly to see if things clear up non surgically. They haven't been able to do a CT scan because I can't keep anything down long enough to do any good. We tried drinking the contrast twice and I threw it up both times, so they just give me an early morning X-ray and look for changes.

What has been the course of treatment for everybody else. I haven't eaten since Thursday evening, and actually at this point, I'm not real hungry anyhow. I just want the pain to go away and life to get back to normal, I guess that will come in time. I hope everybody else is doing well.

Don

Comments

  • Fight for my love
    Fight for my love Member Posts: 1,522 Member
    #2
    Hi Don,I am very sorry to
    Hi Don,I am very sorry to hear that you got obstruction. Best luck to you.I hope your problem will be solved very soon and you will get well very soon.Take care.
  • neon356
    neon356 Member Posts: 137 Member
    #3
    hi Don,
    Sorry you're having

    hi Don,
    Sorry you're having to go thru all that. Been there many times, and the standard treatment hasn't changed much- hydration,NG tube, and give the gut time to unblock. I went thru that for nearly four years til I finally had to have surgery again to get rid of the problem. For the first year I still had a port, so I was able to get TPN (total parenteral nutrition)
    through the port. But like you said even though you're only getting the sugarwater you don't really feel that hungry. That always seemed odd to me that I didn't feel hungry. Hang in there, and hopefully the problem will take care of itself as you move about, tear some of those adhesions that may be part of the problem, the swelling in the area that takes a while to disappear, etc. Can't they give you any pain meds? And just keep repeating the mantra "This will all be in the past, and soon I will be normal again"
    Carl
  • WinneyPooh
    WinneyPooh Member Posts: 318
    #4
    Fight for my love said:

    Hi Don,I am very sorry to
    Hi Don,I am very sorry to hear that you got obstruction. Best luck to you.I hope your problem will be solved very soon and you will get well very soon.Take care.

    ME TOO
    Don,,
    I feel your pain, I have been here too, obstruction since three sat. ago, had emergency surgury last tuesday, Still in Hospital, I hope to go home today or tomarrow.
    Best of luck hope you get things moving,
    One weird thing is once they gave me semi solid foods the bowels started to work, ( thru my colosmony).
    Thoughts are wth you
    Winney
  • coolvdub
    coolvdub Member Posts: 408 Member
    #5
    neon356 said:

    hi Don,
    Sorry you're having

    hi Don,
    Sorry you're having to go thru all that. Been there many times, and the standard treatment hasn't changed much- hydration,NG tube, and give the gut time to unblock. I went thru that for nearly four years til I finally had to have surgery again to get rid of the problem. For the first year I still had a port, so I was able to get TPN (total parenteral nutrition)
    through the port. But like you said even though you're only getting the sugarwater you don't really feel that hungry. That always seemed odd to me that I didn't feel hungry. Hang in there, and hopefully the problem will take care of itself as you move about, tear some of those adhesions that may be part of the problem, the swelling in the area that takes a while to disappear, etc. Can't they give you any pain meds? And just keep repeating the mantra "This will all be in the past, and soon I will be normal again"
    Carl

    Yeah, I have been getting pain Meds
    I have been on Diladin for pain. It works wonders. But it is just a band-aid on the problem. I guess the key at this point is to learn patience and accept that what my schedule is has absolutely no bearing on the current situation and when it will resolve.

    Don
  • Mike49
    Mike49 Member Posts: 261
    #6
    coolvdub said:

    Yeah, I have been getting pain Meds
    I have been on Diladin for pain. It works wonders. But it is just a band-aid on the problem. I guess the key at this point is to learn patience and accept that what my schedule is has absolutely no bearing on the current situation and when it will resolve.

    Don

    good luck my friend
    Obstruction are rough, I new I had one when I was thrashing in bed like Shamu the wale, no comfort anywhere. The worst frustration I can remember.
  • Annabelle41415
    Annabelle41415 Member Posts: 6,742 Member
    #7
    Hospital
    I am so sorry that you are in the hospital. I just hope that the liquids work for you so you don't have to have surgery. Hope this quickly passes and you come home soon.

    Kim
  • Kathryn_in_MN
    Kathryn_in_MN Member Posts: 1,252 Member
    #8
    Hi Don,
    So sorry to hear of
    Hi Don,

    So sorry to hear of the troubles you are having. I hope it all resolves soon and your pain goes away and you can go home.
  • Shayenne
    Shayenne Member Posts: 2,342
    #9
    Kathryn_in_MN said:

    Hi Don,
    So sorry to hear of
    Hi Don,

    So sorry to hear of the troubles you are having. I hope it all resolves soon and your pain goes away and you can go home.

    I've.....
    ....had 3 obstructions this year alone! The first put me in the hospital for 3 weeks! till they finally decided to go ahead with the surgery, they don't want to do surgery right away because it just causes more scar tissue in your body, which causes blockages, so this is why they will wait to see if it "resolves" itself. But the other 2, I was in the hospital for 5 days, then it resolved itself, and last night I thought I was having another one, but it resolved.

    They inserted that ng tube, I hate that thing! The pain is unbearable, but in the hospital, they put me on a "Pain Pump" where I was able to give myself 2mg of Diladin, which worked real well, while 1 mg was continously running, I would push the button every 10 minutes they had it on, when I needed extra, and that's all, you just lay there to see if you finally have that BM! if not, then they will surgically fix it. They describe the blockages as "a kink"...you have this band wrapped around something, and they have to either wait till this band loosens it and lets it go, or you go in and cut it out, but then creating more scar tissue when they don't want to do that. They gave me shots of Zofran in my IV for the nausea, and did not feed me either for 3 weeks! I lost like 10 lbs there (but have gained it back :)

    I hope you feel better soon. The doctor told me I needed to drink more water, and more fiber to help prevent these as well, smaller food portions at a time, some foods you have to watch what you eat, too much cheese, and other things may make it more sticky, but plenty of fluids is needed to make things run smoothly, and Miralax in some juice or water may help. I do the Miralax thing, but man, I hope I don't have another one of those, they are dreaded by me now, everytime I have a pain in my belly, I think "oh no, here it comes again"

    I am like a regular at the hospital now, since the nurses and doctors now know me because I keep coming in there with these stupid blockages!

    Hugsss!
    ~Donna
  • coolvdub
    coolvdub Member Posts: 408 Member
    #10
    Shayenne said:

    I've.....
    ....had 3 obstructions this year alone! The first put me in the hospital for 3 weeks! till they finally decided to go ahead with the surgery, they don't want to do surgery right away because it just causes more scar tissue in your body, which causes blockages, so this is why they will wait to see if it "resolves" itself. But the other 2, I was in the hospital for 5 days, then it resolved itself, and last night I thought I was having another one, but it resolved.

    They inserted that ng tube, I hate that thing! The pain is unbearable, but in the hospital, they put me on a "Pain Pump" where I was able to give myself 2mg of Diladin, which worked real well, while 1 mg was continously running, I would push the button every 10 minutes they had it on, when I needed extra, and that's all, you just lay there to see if you finally have that BM! if not, then they will surgically fix it. They describe the blockages as "a kink"...you have this band wrapped around something, and they have to either wait till this band loosens it and lets it go, or you go in and cut it out, but then creating more scar tissue when they don't want to do that. They gave me shots of Zofran in my IV for the nausea, and did not feed me either for 3 weeks! I lost like 10 lbs there (but have gained it back :)

    I hope you feel better soon. The doctor told me I needed to drink more water, and more fiber to help prevent these as well, smaller food portions at a time, some foods you have to watch what you eat, too much cheese, and other things may make it more sticky, but plenty of fluids is needed to make things run smoothly, and Miralax in some juice or water may help. I do the Miralax thing, but man, I hope I don't have another one of those, they are dreaded by me now, everytime I have a pain in my belly, I think "oh no, here it comes again"

    I am like a regular at the hospital now, since the nurses and doctors now know me because I keep coming in there with these stupid blockages!

    Hugsss!
    ~Donna

    Thanks for the support
    Well, I had my clear liquid lunch. So far I have kept it down with no vomiting, that's a good thing. I went for a walk to get things moving after eating. My RN hunts me down and tells me to go lay down because my heart rate is to high. I'm on what they call a telemtry floor, so they have a remote monitor on me that snitches me out when I try and do good apparently. Oh well, what's a guy to do. I guess I'll eat dinner later and hope for some movement so I can go home sometime soon.

    Don
  • tootsie1
    tootsie1 Member Posts: 5,044 Member
    #11
    Don,

    I'll be praying for quick relief for you.

    *hugs*
    Gail
  • Kathryn_in_MN
    Kathryn_in_MN Member Posts: 1,252 Member
    #12
    coolvdub said:

    Thanks for the support
    Well, I had my clear liquid lunch. So far I have kept it down with no vomiting, that's a good thing. I went for a walk to get things moving after eating. My RN hunts me down and tells me to go lay down because my heart rate is to high. I'm on what they call a telemtry floor, so they have a remote monitor on me that snitches me out when I try and do good apparently. Oh well, what's a guy to do. I guess I'll eat dinner later and hope for some movement so I can go home sometime soon.

    Don

    Glad to hear you are keeping
    Glad to hear you are keeping the liquids down. Did they let you have solids for dinner to help move things along? I hope things move for you soon.
  • robinvan
    robinvan Member Posts: 1,012
    #13
    Oh Don!
    I am so sorry to hear this. What a nightmare to be going through.

    You are in my thoughts and prayers. I truly hope it is resolved soon and that you can get back to that "normal" that you long for.

    Peace and blessings... Rob; in Van

    PS... have you got "highspeed" your room? How cool is that!
  • Paula G.
    Paula G. Member Posts: 596
    #14
    Sorry
    So sorry to read you are having these problems. Hope things improve soon. Paula
  • Sundanceh
    Sundanceh Member Posts: 4,392 Member
    #15
    Get Well Soon
    Hey Don

    Hope you get better very soon...I had a twisted bowel when I first came out of hospital for y original resection, many moons ago...all in all 12 days in hospital the first time and then 9 more followed.

    No fun to be sure...but you've got another story to put on "your resume" now.

    But seriously, do hope you can check out very soon. I know you want your life back - and we all do, but the "Journey of a 1000 miles, begins with the 1st step."

    You take it EZ!

    -Craig
  • luv3jay
    luv3jay Member Posts: 533 Member
    #16
    I didn't have an
    I didn't have an obstruction, but I did have a major backup. Couldn't keep anything down...not even water! I was actually already in the hospital for a lung wedge resection when it happened and they couldn't figure out why I couldn't stop bringing up. We got the xray and realized it was a HUGE backup. So they gave me some magnesium citrate...the first time it came back up. Then they tried milk of magnesia...I was able to keep that down long enough to poop. And wouldn't you know it...that did the trick! Well...after that came the overflow...but you don't need all those graphic details! Hang in there!

    -Sheri
  • coolvdub
    coolvdub Member Posts: 408 Member
    #17
    luv3jay said:

    I didn't have an
    I didn't have an obstruction, but I did have a major backup. Couldn't keep anything down...not even water! I was actually already in the hospital for a lung wedge resection when it happened and they couldn't figure out why I couldn't stop bringing up. We got the xray and realized it was a HUGE backup. So they gave me some magnesium citrate...the first time it came back up. Then they tried milk of magnesia...I was able to keep that down long enough to poop. And wouldn't you know it...that did the trick! Well...after that came the overflow...but you don't need all those graphic details! Hang in there!

    -Sheri

    Yeah, free high speed in the room
    Well I am home as of now. I was released aound 11a.m. I spent the night up in some of the most excrutiating pain I have had. Honestly thought the alien from the movie was coming out of my gut. He didn't and about 12:45a.m. things started moving. I am eating many small things throughout the day. I just want to say thanks to all my semicolon family for the support. I don't know how or if I would have made it without you guys. Love you all

    Don
  • mommyof2kds
    mommyof2kds Member Posts: 519
    #18
    Hope you feel better. Sorry
    Hope you feel better. Sorry to hear you are going thru this..
  • robinvan
    robinvan Member Posts: 1,012
    #19
    coolvdub said:

    Yeah, free high speed in the room
    Well I am home as of now. I was released aound 11a.m. I spent the night up in some of the most excrutiating pain I have had. Honestly thought the alien from the movie was coming out of my gut. He didn't and about 12:45a.m. things started moving. I am eating many small things throughout the day. I just want to say thanks to all my semicolon family for the support. I don't know how or if I would have made it without you guys. Love you all

    Don

    Oh Don!
    I am so glad you are over this and hope things continue to move for you. I'm off to the cupboard for a stool softener and senecot right now just as a precaution! Phew! What an ordeal.

    Rest well now... Rob; in Van
  • kristasplace
    kristasplace Member Posts: 957 Member
    #20
    Sorry, Don!
    I'm so sorry you're having such troubles, Don. I hope they can cause the blockage to clear on it's own. Please know that you're in my thoughts, and hope to hear next you're back home and well!

    Hugs,
    Krista
  • Sonia32
    Sonia32 Member Posts: 1,071 Member
    #21
    Awwww Don
    I hope they can sort out your obstruction. Thinking of you, as always you are in my thoughts and prayers. Keep us up to date on how you are.
    Big hugs
    Sonia

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