Hi everyone,
I forgot to check back in here after getting out of the hospital. I did get out on Tuesday as the blockage cleared up Monday night. That's a lot of days on barely any ice chips but I did not want to take the chance on too many ice chips for fear of getting that $(*% NG tube. I had that aftr my ilius from the RC surgery and do not want that thing up my nose and down my belly every again!
I also found out that instead of stitches, I have two rows of titanium stapes in my intestine. I also learned that they don't use the end of the small intestine (where it meets the large intestine) anymore due to the B12 dificiency risk. Mine was cut right about the middle of the small intestine and now that I have had the blockage, I can pretty much pinpoint exactly where the stapled section is.
Staples, apparently don't allow for the same amount of stretching as stitches after healing. Now I know to be more careful so hopefully I can avoid that problem again. At least I will know what it is if it does happen again.
So....if you also got stapes, be careful of organges, tangerines, strawberries, artichokes, and similar foods. Chew things like steak and fibrous vegatables even more than you used to.
The intestinal blockage and bowel changes are two things I didn't see anything about in my pre-surgery research. Maybe these posts will show up when people (in my previous position) do searches. Had I known about the staples versus stitches, I would have asked my Dr. about it ahead of time and at least been involved in the decision (with knowledge of the pros and cons of each). I'm not saying it would have been a different result, but I would have at least known of the risk and had some clue as to what was going on when I did get the blockage.
For those that don't know: As your intestines push the food along, it isn't a steady continous slow push all of the time. It is a push, relax, push, relax. If you get a blockage, you get intense pain when the intestines try to push. If it doesn't clear on its own, then surgery is needed to either squeeze the food through the constricted/blocked area or cut the intestines to remove the blockage. Actually cutting them is quite rare though as usually the squeezing through works. The pushing pain comes on strong, goes away completely and comes on strong a few seconds or minutes later. My mistake was also thinking "Gee, maybe I need to eat something". If you each much after you get the blockage, most likely you will vomit it up. That's probably better than having too much food in there getting pushed up to the blockage point. Morphine slows the action of the intestines and gets rid of the pain. I would not suggest trying to treat yourself by not eating or drinking as you will get dehydrated if not on IV fluids. Besides that, I don't know to many folks who can get their hands on morphine for home use. You can get regalin, which increases motiliy and they used that on me in the hospital as well.
As soon as it passes, you feel perfectly normal again (even though folks will be asking for days how you are).
When in the hospital with IV and pain meds, you must walk, walk, walk and walk some more. If you aren't sleeping you should be walking. It helps clear the blockage as well. Apparently I set some new record at my local hospital for walking.
Best to all!
Mike
