TOTAL COLECTOMY - PART 21

Definition of "witz end": ME RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!

So starting Monday: Slept for 15 hrs on vicodin, vistaril, MOM, and senna. Woke up at 4 pm (tues) and attempted to eat, was able to but pain returned and hard belly shortly after meal. Was up till 6 am (wed). Slept till 830 am until my dog had to go out. Did not eat until evening. Had 4 braided preztels, half of meatball with five saltines. This made me feel pain again and my husband noticed my belly is swollen above my scar and hard (he said it never looks like this).

In last 48 hrs have taken: over 25 senna, 4 doses MOM (about 30-40 ml each), 4.5 ES vicodin, 4 vistaril. This is my witz end. I have to somehow take care of pts at 730 am!!! My body is saying NO!!!!! I do not know what else to do.........my friend in an ER Physician Assistant and she thinks I need an xray of my belly. She feels I may have a blockage/obstruction. I have had no formed output....merely liquid in 48 hrs after mass amts of laxatives and what I always forget: NO COLON!!!!!!!

i CANNOT DO THIS ANYMORE!

At My Witz End In Michigan,

Lizzie

Hodaya the senna has never worked very efficiently i.e. i never feel 'cleared out'. The rare times i feel cleared out is when i take the picolax which is like US go-lytely i think. even then it dont always work on me either and is slosshing around inside me all day long.

i have been taking around 30 senna tablets daily for about the past 8 months or so - i gradually increased since my op in june 2007. i find 16 in the morning and 12 at night seem to keep things moving but not necessarily efficient. but from time-to-time i may go rather well whatever that means. but the gut never feels right at all. today i have taken picolax and 16 senna tablets to get things moving a bit more as tomorrow i wont be able to take much senna as going to london early to have another pre-admission appt.

have a nice day and hope you are all ok as can be. x

Lizzie - PLEASE go get yourself checked out, it souns like something could really be wrong!! I'm so worried about you!!

Hodaya - no I do not take laxatives at all, I just take benefiber - 2 tsp daily. I wouldn't worry about bad "vibes" if I were you, sometimes we feel guilty about our condition or about missing work, etc. and our minds play tricks on us. Just continue to do your work and be nice to everyone and don't worry about it unless someone actually says something to you. I promise it'll be fine!

Karen - good luck with your pre admissin appointment! I've never been to London, sounds like fun!

Hi all.....feeling a little better, but not much. I had my electrolytes checked and hgb. Hgb was normal @13, but my potassium has dropped from 4 to 3.3 (normal is 3.5-5). I also had a flat plate of my abdomen, which is still distended....i do not have the results. I am going on 3 hrs of sleep in 2 days and I look like I am half dead (my managers words). She does not think I shlould be working, but my patients need me more than I need time off.

I have had some more liquid out, but that is all so far. I did not eat much of anything today. I few animal crackers and four bites pasta at lunch. It made me feel sick so I stopped. Without my colon I am scared for my potassium. I was on boluses in the hospital. It has dropped from 4.1 in a couple weeks. My fellow co-workers said my hgb is most likely low, but b/c i appear so dehydrated it is elevated. Thats how it works.

Hodaya....IGNORE that girl!!!! you have every right to complain!!!! we all do and we understand eachother.

Karen....good luck with your appt:)

miss u all.

lizzie

OMG Lizzie... PLEASE GO TO THE ER FAST!! i don't want to scare you, but maybe it's a hernia? i'm so worried about you, i'll be praying and i hope to hear something soon.

thank you so much, Lizzie, and you know, it's just that girl and couple of her friends, but all the other folks i work with said that it shouldn't bother me, and they really stressed it that they think i SHOULD take it off my chest and talk about it and that they love me and are always there for me. it was really moving and made me feel much better.

so you're gone to the er, right?

Oh gosh i do hope lizzie is ok.

This time i spent 4 hours at pre-admission.  i am so tired.  no it isnt fun really - London is a busy dirty place and takes around 1 hour by train and tube.  The best part is the West End of London - i went to the east end which is really run down.

I just looked up potassium deficiency.  it can be caused by lots of things - surgery, chronic laxative abuse, (me -i must up my intake then!), illness and medications, kidney disorders,vomiting, diarrhea, ileostomy, decreased food intake or malnutrition. it can be diagnosed via blood tests and ECG apparently.

just an update:

I did not go to the ER.....i went to work and some how got through the day. My stomach is still lopsided...its all swollen on the right side. I think I may go to the ER tomorrow if I do not feel better, I have not gotten the results og my xray. They said b/c it was not ordered stat with a "wet read" that it will be next week before I get the results.

The reason I worry about my potassium us because my body does not hold onto it well, esp without my colon (most potasssium is absorbed there) and when I was 19 I cardiac arrested from low potassium. I was in the hospital with dehydration at the time and thankfully, because the rythm my heart went into was only fixed with electric paddles. I had a 50% chance to live through the night and I did, but i was on heart meds for 4 years due to the damage. It has all reversed, but for some reason my potassium has always been an issue. Potassium stabilizes the membranes of your heart and if it is low or high can send you into deadly heart arrythmias.

I have been panicky all night becuase I took 3 vicodin for the  pain and when i freak out i get palpitations. I have had them for an hour so I am just keeping myself awake....Its after 3 am and I have to get up at six am....so again i will get little to no sleep.

I feel like such a complainer and i am so sorry if you all are sick of my needs lately....i understand.

take care my loves...

lizzie

hello my friends,

Lizzie, i still think you should go to the er. OMG.. having such a heart condition at such a young age and taking heart meds too??? i'm so sorry you had to go through all of that. please don't feel like you're a complainer... we'll NEVER be sick of you, honey!!! don't ever think that, o.k? we love you and care about you and always be here for you no matter what!! and we DO want to know about everything you're going through, cause we care!! i'll be disappointed if you don't share everything that is happening to you with us. so please don't stop updating us.

you really shouldn't have these heart probs at your age, no wonder you can't sleep, it's impossible to sleep when you have these palpitations.. i know that from my mom.

thanks Karen.. well, according to what you've come up with, i guess my low potassium can be due to hardly eating anything + laxatives abuse. but what you're saying, Lizzie, about it can have a bad effect on my heart is rather scary.

Karen, sounds like you had a really rough day in London, i just really hope you didn't go for nothing!!

Amanda, i'm SO glad to hear you're doing so much better. i knew you'll make it.. you don't seem to me to be the kind of person to sink with depression, although it can happen after an ordeal like you had. but sounds like you're doing great pulling youself up instead of sinking down and that's great!!

i'm not doing so great, actually i took my lax' before went to sleep, and when i do, i'm up every hour or so, cause i get REAL BAD cramps in my lower abd. and it takes hours for it to actually reach the rectum. but this weekend was not good. i think my anismus is getting worse, cause every time i got the urge, when i went to the b/r it was just a drop coming out and then my anus and rectum get all swollen and i just CAN'T make it out. so i stop pushing, cause i know it'll do no good, and i take a deep breath and aim it to my abd and rectum, just like the pt of biofeekback tought me and it helped a little but not much. i'm so worried about this.. i don't know what i'll do. maybe i should try bottox anyway.

hope to hear something from you Lizzie, i hope you're going to the er.. you have to be checked about that lopesided belly.

No Lizzie dont be silly we arent fed up with you at all we are worried about you and want to know what you are going through. but glad you are feeling a bit better - is that because you may have passed a bm?

Oh Hodaya you are having a dreadful time and you sound run down. I do hope they get your date sorted soon - thats the least they can give you - a date for your surgery?

hey Liz, you poor thing.. it's so frustrating that when you finally start to feel good, the minute you eat somthing... it starts all over again. i know so well where you're coming from.. it's such a vicious cycle ....

i'm glad your heart has been better for the last few years. it's good you're on guard as for the potassium. are you taking potassium supplements to save it from dropping? should i take those too? i'm going to see my regular dr this evening so i could ask him.

i geuss you can't call your dr back now, cuase they're probably closed for the weekend. well i don't know, if you feel you can pull till monday, so maybe it's o.k. i hope it's nothing serious in your abd. i hope you feel good and able to sleep. it's so important that your body gets the rest he needs.

thanks for your concern. well, actually i kinda feel like i have a slight of fever ALL the time, and not just when i have the flu, only when i get the flu it feels worse and muscles hurt too and my whole body hurts. do you think the reason i feel so weak and sick all the time is b/c of my low potassium?

well i also have lots of probs with my lungs, they are not healthy at all. i'm not sure i know how to say it in english.. well i have like holes in my lungs + broncitis chronic + atelectasis + like chronic pneumonia and ground glass areas. i don't know who to blame for feeling sick all the time. maybe it's the combination of all of those things.. the sick colon, low potassium and my sick lungs.

anyway, i'll be fine. i'm waiting to hear how you xray is.

thanks dear Karen, well no date yet till they're absolutely possitive i can take it emotionally. i don't know, i guess my gi got the impression i have a very high anxiety, but i can assure him it's nothing beyond the normal, considering i'm facing such a change in my life, it's not over the normal. hope you're feeling well.

love y'all.  

oH HOW annoying why cant they just tell you in plain english and clarify it for you.  You are none the wiser are you.  Are your kidneys ok- that would cause pain in the back maybe? You need input from these people.

hope you find out soon lizzie. x

GOOD LUCK KAREN!!!! SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish the best in tour surgery and recovery! Stay Strong :) I will be praying for you and cannot wait to hear from you!

Lizzie

OMG Karen.... i'm sooooooooooooooo excitet for you!!!! FINALLY it's your turn!! oh.. i wish you the best of luck, honey, and G-D will be with you watching over you.. i'll be praying for you, dear. i hope everything goes smoothly NO complications whatsoever!!! that the surgery is most successful and speedy recovery.
we'll be waiting for your return.