Some of you may have heard I was having problems again and that is true. Tuesday night right before going to bed, I ended up having some bright red blood when I went to the bathroom. We called the doctor on call at the hospital and she told us that it was normal but if it increased to a cup of blood in one hour we needed to go in. The next day I called Dr. Safar and he decided he wanted to see me next week. The blood continued throughout the day and my frequency of using the bathroom increased. That evening I ended up going 5 times in an hour and every time there was more and more blood. We called Barnes again and they still didn't seem to concerned. The doc did tell us we might want to go to the local ER to have my blood levels checked out. Drew and I decided to head to Boone because they would have the type of doc I needed if something was wrong. By 3 am they had decided I had pouchitis and gave me a cipro (antibiotic) and a percription for 10 days worth. Thursday we called to follow up and they decided to have me come in at 1. The problem is it was already 11:20 and it takes over 2 hours to get there. It didn't really matter we still had to wait 2 hours. Basically it was a huge waist of time. All we really learned is I am probably drinking to much water and not enough salt. I am feeling better. I'm not having to make as many trips to the bathroom and the blood has decreased. The best part is I am finally able to sleep through the night! Monday I go see my gi doc in Columbia and I have an appointment with Safar for Thursday bt I don't think I will need to keep it.

My doctors appointment went well (and really Fast) today. They took my staples out, decided I should load up on more fiber, and told me if I was still going to the bathroom 20 times a day to give him a call next week and he would perscribe something to help. So I came home and ate a bowl of cereal that claims to be an excelent source of fiber with some benefiber on it and took two imodium pills. I'm still going a lot but it is a bit thicker. I really hope things start getting better soon. This being sick all the time is getting really old. My legs are hurting now too. I don't know if it is from walking more then I have been (we went to world market and target as well as walking through the hospital) or what. It feels like I need to keep moving. I'm actually out on the couch because I couldn't lay still, kept getting up to go to the bathroom, and didn't want to wake up Drew. If you have ideas either for fiber or the legs let me know.

I am starting to feel better for the most part but now I feel like I did when I had uc. My biggest problem now is my bottom hurts. It is raw from going so much, it hurts from sitting on the hard tolit seat, and it feels like I worked it out too. I am also losing weight because there isn't much I can eat and I feel better when I don't eat. Amanda is taking me to the doctor tomorrow to get my staples out.

I got to come home on Thursday and thought I was doing pretty good. I have to take pain meds every 5-6 hours and I am having really bad spikes in my pain level that I think is gas and stool goinh through the end of my digestion system . Thosr pains get closer and closer together until I canter take it and I go to the bathroom. Today has been worse for some reason. Drew brought home food from church and the smell of it made me feel sick. The pain has been worse and the meds don't seem to help as much either. Drew called the oncall surgeon and he said he couldn't do much because I wasn't throwing up or running a high temp. He did suggest that I could go into the local ER and have them check my white cell count and do a ct it it was high. We went in and they did the test and gave me some iv pain meds. My white cell count is slightly elevated but not enough to be worried or do a ct scan. However, now we have a base reading if it gets worse.

Today I have had a lot more pain but nothing like the past. I just got apple juice for breakfast but got some pudding for lunch. The doc came in this afternoon and said I could advance my diet tonight for dinner. They are also going to pull my IV and switch me to oral pain meds. The biggest news is I may get out as early as tomorrow!!

Melissa had surgery this morning, lasting less than an hour. Everything went well. The surgeon is cautiously opptunistic, but will not say it is a success for several days given Melissa's history. They say she will be in hospital 4-5 days. She would really like to be home by the weekend. The leak she had from the contrast was right at the staple they had put in last December to close the stoma so it was not a problem. Thank you God!!!!!!

Don't worry I'm not keeping anything from you, I just don't know anything from my test yet. When I first called the doc was on vacation. The second call a week and a day after my test I found out they still couldn't tell me anything because he wanted to present it at Monday meeting. So I called on Tuesday and found out they didn't get to my case so I will find out next week....thats one week before surgery. I personally think something bad showed up but maybe he just wants to make sure. Either way I wish he would call me or have someone call and tell me whats going on.