Howdy Aggie Family! This not football related, but I sure was looking forward to having Aggie Football distract me.
Where to begin ....
A little over a month ago, on a Tuesday, I was feeling moderate discomfort in my lower abdomen. I went to lunch, my appetite was tiny, i spent another hour at-work just not feeling right so for the first time in 30 years left work early for illness. I stayed at home and went to bed but at midnight... a stabbing pain in my internal rectum area got me . I woke my wife and off to the er we went. While sitting in the er, the pain increased, stayed at about an 8 in the same original area, but now my appendix was screaming, I actually felt when it burst. By the way, it was around hour 2 in the waiting area when the burst happened, it's a really special kind of pain.
After 3 hours of excruciating pain, morphine calmed me down. The surgeons came in and said since the appendix was burst, they wanted to slow things down, treat with IV antibiotics, and stabilize. I had a bowel blockage, diverticulitis...perforated, the appendix, and a small mass.
After 5 days, they operated laparoscopically, were able to remove appendix, pull biopsy samples of the mass in my colon and investigate the diverticulitis. The mass was benign, the diverticulitis is diverticulosis, so all clean there. It took nearly a week to get stool passing but eventually it did and home I went. I had a PICC line IV placed so they could run multiple IVs at once, I also had an NG tube down my nose into my stomach for a week after surgery to pull nearly 6 liters of crap out that way. After pulling the NG tube, I began experiencing this terrifying event where the best I can describe it, my wind pipe would seal off. I couldn't inhale or exhale. I had to literally force myself to slowly force air out and it made the most god awful squeal. It was random, but I also could begin to predict when. It never happened around a Doctor or medical staff. My wife is a nurse and when it happened with her present she lost it. I told the entire staff but they never took it any further.
I had constant hiccups from the belly distention from the surgical gas. I noticed that the more i hiccupped, the more air got into my stomach, it would cause my diaphragm to spasm and push up and then cause the choking off of air.
When I got home, I took gas-x and within one day, the distention went down enough to stop the hiccups. Looked like all was well....
Not so fast my friend...The PICC line ended up causing a heavy load of blood clots in my right arm....so after just 3 days at home, back to the er
More cat's, mri's, x-rays, and also an echocardio to see if the DVT was straining my right ventricle, it wasn't but by mere coincidence, the tech also got my left and turns out it was in failure, 25% efficiency
So heart cath performed, they figured artery blocks etc, turned out zero blockages, attributed it to the heavy strain of the original infection and strain of the blood clot. So Heparin Drip to get the clots under control, a series of heart meds to get the pump back to normal.... After another 8 days in hospital, went home on Sunday afternoon of Labor Day weekend.
My bowels stopped working that night, so was bloated bad. I Sent the wife to get a natural softener to get things moving.
By the way, I never had any issue with intestines prior to this and was perfectly regular.
So, I was feeling very full and bloated, I figured I'd try to vomit to relieve some pressure. I can never make it happen but figured it was worth a shot.
I stuck my finger down my throat and instantly threw up...
BLOOD
Soooooooo.... called the wife and on Labor day, back to the er. pulled an EGD and turns out the NG tube tore my esophagus. The bowel not working right, scans showed more of a mass presenting, surgery went back in, pulled more biopsies, all benign, but also placed a temp ostomy bag. Soooo after 10 days, came home weds.
I'm feeling better than either of the first two discharges. But now, after a month in the hospital ... most of it on no food or drink, I lost 50 pounds and I am severely deconditioned. This is a very effective method to lose weight, I wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy.
Haven't had a medical issue in nearly 30 years, guess I've caught up now.
Anyway, thank you for listening to my tale of woe, prayers are always welcome.
Where to begin ....
A little over a month ago, on a Tuesday, I was feeling moderate discomfort in my lower abdomen. I went to lunch, my appetite was tiny, i spent another hour at-work just not feeling right so for the first time in 30 years left work early for illness. I stayed at home and went to bed but at midnight... a stabbing pain in my internal rectum area got me . I woke my wife and off to the er we went. While sitting in the er, the pain increased, stayed at about an 8 in the same original area, but now my appendix was screaming, I actually felt when it burst. By the way, it was around hour 2 in the waiting area when the burst happened, it's a really special kind of pain.
After 3 hours of excruciating pain, morphine calmed me down. The surgeons came in and said since the appendix was burst, they wanted to slow things down, treat with IV antibiotics, and stabilize. I had a bowel blockage, diverticulitis...perforated, the appendix, and a small mass.
After 5 days, they operated laparoscopically, were able to remove appendix, pull biopsy samples of the mass in my colon and investigate the diverticulitis. The mass was benign, the diverticulitis is diverticulosis, so all clean there. It took nearly a week to get stool passing but eventually it did and home I went. I had a PICC line IV placed so they could run multiple IVs at once, I also had an NG tube down my nose into my stomach for a week after surgery to pull nearly 6 liters of crap out that way. After pulling the NG tube, I began experiencing this terrifying event where the best I can describe it, my wind pipe would seal off. I couldn't inhale or exhale. I had to literally force myself to slowly force air out and it made the most god awful squeal. It was random, but I also could begin to predict when. It never happened around a Doctor or medical staff. My wife is a nurse and when it happened with her present she lost it. I told the entire staff but they never took it any further.
I had constant hiccups from the belly distention from the surgical gas. I noticed that the more i hiccupped, the more air got into my stomach, it would cause my diaphragm to spasm and push up and then cause the choking off of air.
When I got home, I took gas-x and within one day, the distention went down enough to stop the hiccups. Looked like all was well....
Not so fast my friend...The PICC line ended up causing a heavy load of blood clots in my right arm....so after just 3 days at home, back to the er
More cat's, mri's, x-rays, and also an echocardio to see if the DVT was straining my right ventricle, it wasn't but by mere coincidence, the tech also got my left and turns out it was in failure, 25% efficiency
So heart cath performed, they figured artery blocks etc, turned out zero blockages, attributed it to the heavy strain of the original infection and strain of the blood clot. So Heparin Drip to get the clots under control, a series of heart meds to get the pump back to normal.... After another 8 days in hospital, went home on Sunday afternoon of Labor Day weekend.
My bowels stopped working that night, so was bloated bad. I Sent the wife to get a natural softener to get things moving.
By the way, I never had any issue with intestines prior to this and was perfectly regular.
So, I was feeling very full and bloated, I figured I'd try to vomit to relieve some pressure. I can never make it happen but figured it was worth a shot.
I stuck my finger down my throat and instantly threw up...
BLOOD
Soooooooo.... called the wife and on Labor day, back to the er. pulled an EGD and turns out the NG tube tore my esophagus. The bowel not working right, scans showed more of a mass presenting, surgery went back in, pulled more biopsies, all benign, but also placed a temp ostomy bag. Soooo after 10 days, came home weds.
I'm feeling better than either of the first two discharges. But now, after a month in the hospital ... most of it on no food or drink, I lost 50 pounds and I am severely deconditioned. This is a very effective method to lose weight, I wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy.
Haven't had a medical issue in nearly 30 years, guess I've caught up now.
Anyway, thank you for listening to my tale of woe, prayers are always welcome.
Last edited:
