Yes, I said a bowel obstruction. 5 weeks ago while I work I got a yucky, cramping feeling in my guts. It felt like lunch just didn't settle right. But the feeling continued to get worse through the day and turned into down right pain going into the evening. After I was done making the guys dinner I decided to lay down and see if I could ride the pain out. I had had a previous bought with this kind of pain before, and the MD thought that it was a gall bladder issue. The pain eventually went away with the help of some Morphine that time, so I thought I would try and tough it out a bit at work. I went into my room and laid down, and that's when the pain completely overwhelmed and consumed me. I was absolutely horrible, and I realized that I was not going to be able to respond on a call if we had one. I walked out to the dinning room and told my Captain GT to call the Battalion Chief and have him bring someone out because I was done. I text Shawna and told her that I would be heading to the closest hospital to get checked out.
The guys were great, loading up all my stuff for me back into my car and asking if they could do anything else. I got to the hospital ok (it was only 2-3 miles down the road) and Shawna met me there before the doc came in. I told the doc that I thought it was my gall bladder, and he said Yeah, probably not. He was not convinced that it was a gall bladder issue, so he brought on the tests. First was a "GI cocktail" and that's basically some viscous Lidocaine and a liquid Tums like medicine that you drink. If the pain is from an ulcer, this will knock it down. That didn't work.
Next was the soda infused contrast for the CT scan. I haven't drank soda in a very long time. Occasionally, I'll have a sip here and there, but then it grosses me out and I put Shawna's drink back down. This time, I had to drink a 32oz Sprite mixed with the contrast. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great. It took me a while to get it down, even throwing some of it back up in the process. Once that was down, it was off to the CT machine where the Iodine injection plays weird tricks with your mind. I was warned that the Iodine would make me feel like I pee'd myself, but that was an understatement. It felt like I had diarrhea in my shorts. Luckily, I didn't. The CT results: Obstructed Bowel.
Now that they knew what was going on, it's time to treat it. Treating the obstructed bowel is a horrible process. It involves sticking a tube up your nose that then snakes its way into your guts. The tube is then attached to suction. They suck all the gastric juices out of the belly, and relieve any pressure in the intestines. This actually creates a negative pressure, causing the bowels to get untwisted and open. The NG tube as it's called it just extremely uncomfortable and is miserable when they put it in, and have to advance it further down (which they had to do twice for me). The next few days were filled with Dilaudid and Ativan. A pain med and an anti-anxiety med. It was the only thing that kept me from yanking the tube out of my face.
The first night was horrible trying to adjust to the tube, and I simply gave up trying to talk. It hurt to talk, and it hurt to swallow my spit, so I just didn't do either. Luckily, the Dilaudid makes you sleepy, and I have a great wife who answered all the questions for me so I just slept. I'll skip the projectile vomiting story of what happened after they put the tube in place, and the fact that it felt like I was getting a massive ear infection or strep throat from the tube (neither of which actually happened). I was without food from Monday (I think I threw up everything I ate that day in the ER) and on Thursday I was finally allowed to have clear liquids! Meaning chicken broth, water, juice and Jello. Thursday night the tube finally came out, although the doc wanted it to stay in another day, and by Friday am I had my first real food; scrambled eggs, banana and a cup of coffee. Did I mention that I wasn't allow to have coffee for the entire time either? Talk about torture. The doc wanted to keep me yet another day in the hospital, but I was having none of it!
By this time I was finally starting to feel like myself and I wanted the hell out of there. Granted I felt weak, but at least the tube was out, I had food and coffee. The doc reluctantly signed the discharge papers and I went home Friday night after I had another meal at the hospital. I was in the hospital for 5 days, and lost over 7 pounds during the course of events. Fortunately, I have a wonderful wife who was there for me, and a great family who helped out with the kids while I was out of comission. I also had some good friends who came by and visited me while I was stuck in the hospital.
Follow up with my personal doc said what the hospital doc had said. The fact that I had my appendix out almost a decade ago (and some serious complications with that to boot) means that there is scar tissue inside by abdomen. The intestines can catch some of the scar tissue, or lesion's as they like to call them, and make them get all twisted causing the block. They don't want to do surgery because it will then cause more scar tissue, making the problem potentially worse. My doc also said that the "gall bladder" issue I had a few years ago was probably a mild bowel obstruction that just happened to free itself; and since I've had this one, it means that I'm more prone to having another one. So I got that to look forward to, which is awesome! I eat a fairly clean diet, but the doc did suggest that I try to avoid foods that make me bloated and gassy. Otherwise, there's nothing that I can do about it.
Needless to say, I was off the training that entire 5 days in the hospital, and then for a few more days after that. I did get on my bike for an easy spin inside the days before I saw my doc to see how it felt, and it went great. The following week was just a matter of some easy work outs and lots of eating to regain my strength. In went back to work, after missing the following rotation, and am now back in the training full time. It was a crazy weak, one that I won't soon forget, and hope that I don't ever have to experience again either. Here's a shot of me from the hospital with the tube in my nose. I think this was sometime Tues. I can't really remember with the drugs and everything, but it's me with my stoned Dilaudid face. I do have a video of them taking the tube out, but I'll refrain from sharing that with you. Enjoy
