Instincts
The past three days in the hospital felt like five days. It is odd how time is almost nonexistent when your mind is so focused on something. My team of doctors and nurses had the goal of relieving my abdominal pain and pressure during that stay. I was in full attack mode, ready to help my colon out. I endured over seven different procedures in the hope of helping myself. They were all as brutally invasive as they could possibly be. I was yet again so thankful for my amazing nurses making it all as easy as possible for me. Their laughter and smiles brought me so many giggles.
Sadly, the treatments did nothing. At one point, they caused my pain to soar to a 10/10. I couldn’t do anything in that moment besides just shutting down. We took another X-Ray to see that both my small and large intestines were extremely enlarged with gas. This just further proves that my colon’s length and motility are causing much harm. We need the colonic manometery at Nationwide. This will guide us onto the next step of this journey… Surgery. This hospital stay proved to all of us how I need to have my colon operated on. It will be an invasive and intense procedure, but I know I can tackle it in order to find some relief. So for now, I am just trying to rest with my swollen abdomen. It is so large, I can only wear leggings and sweatpants… Not my favorite fashion statement;)! I am utilizing distractions right now so I don’t focus on my pain, but the beautiful things in life.
Speaking of pain, it was actually managed for a few hours this Saturday. This was because of the Hyoscyamine I was prescribed to manage the pain and abdominal cramping. My doctors actually were planning on keeping me until my manometery study. That would’ve meant another extended stay in the hospital, so with the hyoscyamine in hand we asked to be discharged. We were given the paperwork and left. On the ride home I was thinking about how odd I had felt that day. I was feeling drowsy, weak, and just out of it. Later that afternoon I placed my next dose of Hyoscyamine under my tongue to dissolve. I was reading my phone and realized I couldn’t see. I instantly took a photo of myself and gasped as I saw how dilated my pupils were. I then thought of all of my symptoms that day: weakness, drowsiness, dry mouth, blurred visions, heart palpitations… Fear instantly covered me with goosebumps and panic. I was having an anticholinergic reaction. I jumped into action. I ran to the trashcan and spit out the pills while shoving my fingers to the back of my throat to gag up what I could. I immediately told my parents and after talking with the doctors, my Mom and I raced to the ED.
It brought back so many awful memories. See, last time I had an anticholinergic reaction to a medication it lasted a month. A month of short term memory loss, blurred vision, hallucinations, confusion, weakness, and so much more. Thankfully in the ED we realized I caught it in time. I saved myself another month. I never realized how important our instincts are. Listen to them. Trust them. They saved me another month.
After that chaos we drove home and celebrated with wonderful friends. I am now trying to stay as comfortable as possible without that medication that brought me relief, but almost ruined me. We are essentially in a standstill for now. I can only hope and pray that I am able to get the study done ASAP.
On a hilarious note: Eugenia! That is now the name of my colon. Eugenia is one sassy chick… I am hoping that soon we will able to operate on her and set her on the right track.
Happy 1st day of spring and trust your instincts!
Hugs,
Isabelle
| This was a post I made on Instagram (@thepeacewithinthefight) of my PICC flushes and a flower ball… Finally feeling the spring magic! |