Back in the Hospital

Melissa is back in the hospital. She finished the antibiotic on Friday. By Sunday afternoon she was having pain which by this morning was pretty intense. She had blood work and a CT scan done. It showed that there is still infection there. She will get IV antibiotics tonight. Tomorrow they will possibly go in and see if there is a leak where she was stitched up. At least she came in ahead of the weather. The surgeon is even spending the night since he is on call.

Pain pain go a way...

The CT went okay but I had to drink the contrast :( If I didn't like red kool aid before I really don't like it now.

Turns out that I have a huge cyst on my left ovary. I also have some inflammation where they closed my illiostomy so the digestive track is a little small there. I'm on an antibiotic now so that should take care of the problem. I'm not sure what will happen with the cyst. I've been getting them off and on, sometimes they are more painful then other times.

And now I want to cry

I've been in a lot of pain the last few days. It comes and goes in intensity but it is always there. I keep telling myself that I have been out of surgery for less then two weeks, it is suppose to hurt.

Today I went to see the doc. He took out my stitch and said the incision looked good. He thought my pain is normal and something I was just going to have to tough out but decided to send me over to the hospital to have my white cell count checked just to be on the safe side. Unfortunately he was wrong, the cell count came back high meaning I have an infection somewhere. I have to go early tomorrow morning for a CT then if the abscess is back they will drain it. I have a feeling it is so I will probably spend the weekend back at Boone. I'll make sure and take my computer just in case so we can keep this thing updated.

In case you didn't know it, I am home and have been since Thursday. I haven't been able to get online until now.

Things are getting better and I am having to go to the bathroom less but I am still having a lot of pain. I think it is mostly caused by gas. I will be going to see my doc Friday and he will take the stitch out then.

I intend to make my first trip to Wal-Mart tomorrow so we will see how that goes. Keep praying for me, it is going to take a while to get back up to par. Sometimes it is frustrating but with God's help I will make it.

I had a lot of pain last night. It seems like about two hours after I eat I have severe pain. The doc said it was normal to have cramps when stuff starts hitting that J pouch for the first time and that it will get better. He thinks I will do much better today but wants to keep me another night. I'm really not surprised.

Today started out on a clear liquid diet but quickly got better when I found out that the doc said I could advance my diet so I got pudding!! For lunch I got soup then they brought me another try and I think I ate too much. I ended up in a lot of pain and feeling like I was going to trow up. I ended up feeling better a little later so I was able to eat dinner but I tried to take it a little slower this time around.

The doc was very happy with my progress, I've never seen anyone so happy about me passing gas. I'm still in pain but it is mostly when I am moving around so it is manageable. The doc thinks I will be ready to go home tomorrow but knowing me I will need one more day, we'll see.

Felix is gone!

I'm out of surgery and still groggy. The good thing is that I'm not in a lot of pain. I should be able to eat a little bit tomorrow, but for now I'm on a clear liquid diet.

And then things got better

The CT from yesterday came out perfect and I will be having my surgery on Monday the 10th. I'm so excited!!!!!

The good, the bad, and the painful

About a month ago I ended up getting an infection beside my stoma. I saw the stoma nurse and she gave me some cream for it and by the time I saw the doc the next week things had cleared out enough that he found a left over stitch and pulled it out. Things had cleared up so I stopped using the cream. Then last week I noticed not only was that place back but I also had a place coming up on the other side of the stoma. I started using the cream but things weren't getting better. I changed my bag Sunday night then Monday morning I woke up to it leaking so I changed it again. I knew I needed to either call the stoma nurse or the doc but I was waiting for the mail to come because I had used my last bag and my supplies were suppose to be in that day. While I was talking to mom and telling her what was going on it started to leak yet again. I called the nurse, took off my bag, put a towel over it, and made a flying trip to Columbia. My doc ended up seeing me and dug around thinking there was another stitch causing this infection as well. He found nothing but it hurt...a lot. He isn't sure what is going on but said the one sure fire way to fix it is to remove my stoma. Sounds bad right...nope, it is the best news all day. To remove my stoma means getting my reconnection surgery. I jokingly said I would do the surgery tomorrow (Tuesday) if I could. He said he couldn't get me in that day but maybe Thursday then he winked at me as he walked out the door. I had the required CT done while I was there and now I have to wait and see what the results are. I am praying that everything comes back clean and I can get this over with. Unfortunately the rest of my day wasn't so good. The stoma nurse helped me get the bag on before the CT but it didn't get a very good seal because I had to change it later at Drew's house. Then I hand to change it again when I got home and then again later. In a 24 hour period I had to change it 6 times. Every time I take it off I feel like I am ripping another layer of skin off and the adhesive remover I use burns. It is bad enough that the next time I change it it will probably bleed. I feel like it almost had to get this bad so that I can go ahead and get my surgery. I will live, I will heal, and this way I will have more time to rest up before I get really busy with wedding stuff.

Stay tuned, I will post my results from the CT when I know them.