Hubby is having severe tummy pain

Hi Butterfly,
How did the June 19th appointment with your husband's doc go?

about the pain and sleepiness (sleepy or fatigue?). I guess I would determine if I take him to ER or do a wait and watch. Where, exactly is the abdominal pain located? How long has pain been there. Does he have tarry stool or digestion problems? Fever? There are so many things abdominal pain could be. Some serious, ....or painful, but not serious gas bubble. Fatigue is normal for ESLD.

Very good thing you got your directives and Will in place. Better to do these things while not in crisis.

Hugs, themiz

Hi Themiz,

The appt went well, we changed doctors during that process as well. The pain is his whole upper abdominal area. This has been going on for about 4 weeks now but its becoming unbareable. He thinks it maybe serious gas bubbles but his whole digestiion track/process is a mess. Stools arent tarry but arent normal either..Look.. HE IS SO TIRED ALL THE TIME.... my poor hubby is just tired of being tired.

I am looking forward to the MRI.. I want to know how his inner organs are doing. I dont like the unknown ....

"HE IS SO TIRED ALL THE TIME.... my poor hubby is just tired of being tired."

ME, TOO!! It seems to get worse every day. And it won't get better until I'm successfully treated for hep C...which keeps getting delayed for one reason or another.

Your husband's fatigue is not likely to ease up, either. It's just part of the disease, and even worse with hep C.

If you go to the ER, they don't have an MRI machine and won't be able to get him in for one. I found that out myself. He (or you) has to push for an appt. for one.

Hugs,
Connie

B. I'm not sure, it could be so many things. But if it is that severe, I'd want him seen sooner rather than later. Unless the docs are aware and are unconcerned. Even so, can't hurt if he is willing.

When Mike was so very bad they gave us parameters for ER visits:

Bleeding that does not quickly resolve
Fever over 101
Breathlessness with exertion that does not quickly resolve with rest
Sleeping a long from which he cannot be easily roused (coma?)
Acute pain

We made something like 9 ER visits the year before transplant
They kept him about 5 days each time for:

Acute renal failure -twice
Sepsis
Peritonitis
Bleeding of the small intestines
High ammonia
Hyponatremia

Each time they loaded him up on various fluids -albumin! Potassium, etc and gave his kidneys or GI system a break and sent him home feeling better. I sort of wished I could have a bag of that albumin on hand, evidently it does these patients good

He got some transfusions and treatment for odd sodium levels also.

You will know when it is time to bring him in.

There were times I just knew he needed to go and times I knew he would be whining to take him home an hour later. Don't go those times

Post Edited By Moderator (hep93) : 7/10/2013 5:42:58 PM (GMT-6)

Our war stories *wink*

We just got through transplant eval at Mayo, AZ on Friday, so no telling how many ER visits we will log before he gets the blessed liver.

So far since 2010 we have been to the ER 3 times.

1. stomach pain, slept 16 hours, difficult to wake. Could not stay awake. Found out he had black tar stools. DX: stomach bleed from portal vein pressure, bleeding ulcer. Admitted 3 days.

2. abdominal pain at month 5 of 6 for Hep C (Riba/Interferon)treatment. Infection around gallbladder. Emergency surgery, transfusions. Admitted 5 days.

3. lump in neck. Benign cyst, drained, released.

A few more inpatient hospitalizations, but we scheduled them. We lucked out on those. We were able to see his GI doc avoiding the ER.

I almost took him when he had first bout of edema. New things are scary. Thanks to you guys on this forum who gave good input, we wait and watched that one. Edema in legs is now part of his "normal" (~sigh~).

Good luck, Butterfly. This is hard stuff when it is in your house. Hugs.