Home Again

Back home - yup, you guessed it, from yet another hospital stay.
This one due to a small-bowel obstruction.

I went to the local ER Saturday night/Sunday morning at 3:30am.
I was transported to Temple University Hospital in center city Philadelphia Sunday night around 8:30pm for monitoring by specialists and if emergency surgery was necessary, that was the place to be.

Here's how it came about: Saturday night around 9:00pm I started getting pains in my abdomen, my ileostomy stopped working and I became nauseous. By 3am that night (Sunday morning) I was vomiting up a storm and the pain was excrutiating.
So I called dad and he took me to the LBH ER.

With a small-bowel obstruction, it could be that food-stuffs have gathered and blocked the exit somewhere within the small intestine tract - OR - it could mean that a part of the small intestine had become twisted around itself (thus preventing any further passage) - if it was the latter then emergency surgery would have been required (and that's why I was sent, via ambulance, to Temple.)

I woke up this morning and gas was passing through my system (a good sign since if it was twisted nothing, not even gas, could make it by the obstruction) - then around 7am I passed allot of stool and gas and had to empty my ostomy pouch - then drained it again around 8am. Finally around 11am I emptied a 3rd bagful - so it looked like it was a food blockage and it had dislodged itself and was now passing.

During the time in LBH ER I had an NG tube (or nasogastric tube) shoved up my nose and down my throat into my stomach to help drain the gas/bile from my stomach and the intestines prior to the obstruction - to relieve the pressure. That tube was removed around 2:30pm today and I can still feel it down my throat (that will take a few days to go away as it's very unpleasant to have tubes shoved into places they really shouldn't be.

So, I'm back home and I am now going to bed (as I haven't slept since waking up Saturday morning...so that's, what, 2 1/2 days so far without sleep....so I need some).

It's always something with me.
Ok, drama over (some details were left out to keep the facts clear and concise, but more happened and it was I that instigated being released from Temple since they wanted to keep me a few more days - but that was no unnessecary since the blockage cleared and they refused to give me any pain management.)

I go for my regular ESWL procedure next Monday, September 15, but that should be a quick out-patient procedure.

RobMac