Tuesday, October 21, 2014

recent appointments...

It is absolutely crazy to think that it has been three years since my colectomy. In a sense, it seems like it was yesterday then in another sense it seems much longer; so much happened since then. Thinking back to how I was functioning and living then compared to now, it just makes me appreciate and see things differently.

My appointment with my GI doctor went well. As usual, we discussed my clean out routine. I expressed how I am burnt out from doing so many clean outs. Forget the fact that I have drank over five hundred bottles of magnesium citrate, my body is just tired from doing it. However my GP can't just take a break so we adjusted and tweaked some of my medications in order to hopefully help things. We also discussed my pulse rates. After a clean out, it is normal for me to see my pulse rate anywhere between 140 to as high as 152. Needless to say, I don't feel the best when it's that high but I just deal with it. Anything between 90 - 125 is normal for me, I don't think a thing of it and just keep going. My GI doctor commented that a pulse rate of 152 was getting pretty high. My clean outs are causing me to become dehydrated which are resulting in a higher pulse rate. When you also add to the issue that I had an ostomy (people with ostomies tend to be dehydrated more due to having an ostomy), it's just stacking issues on top of each other. He recommended increasing my fluid intake on the days when I clean out. Normally I'd have no issue with that because it makes perfect sense. However when I clean out, the more that goes in, the more that has to come out which results in making me even weaker. If I have a really good clean out, I have to stop taking in fluids sometime that evening or night depending on how things are going because there is a pretty good chance that I will pass out during the night when I wake up. There is nothing worse than getting to the bathroom and not being able to make it back.

Overall I was content with my GI appointment. He wasn't thrilled with my weight. He explained that weight gain would be hard for me as long I has I had to clean out. Since the beginning of all of this, I have lost around thirty-five pounds. I have an appointment to see him again in November to follow up and see how things are progressing.

In September I met with my surgeon. I had went back and forth with the idea of whether to see him or not. We had spoken over the phone several times and I finally made the call and set up an appointment. Last fall, I had started experiencing some spasming in my remaining eight inches of colon that I no longer use. Since then the spasming had worsened causing me to become experience a lot of pain, nausea almost to the point of passing out when it would take place. Some days I would have multiple spasms and then I would go several days without. It was always sporadic.

I met with my surgeon and explained how bad the situation had become. I explained that I was interested in having him remove the rest of my colon in an attempt to stop the pain and spasming that I had been enduring. It wasn't like I was using or going to use that organ again anyway. He explain to me that a surgery such as that, one where the colon and rectum are removed would be fairly difficult, more than the colectomy I had. The downfall would be that I don't have a colon, just a small intestines with motility issues. There would be a hole in my body where my colon and rectum were and should be. Because those organs aren't there, my small intestines could literally fall into this hole, kink and form obstructions (compliments to my motility issues). This in itself would be something to add on top of my GP. If and when it happened, it would be bad.

He also commented on my motility issues as a whole. Considering where my motility issues are currently and the amount of medication it takes, were the surgeries even beneficial? I quickly corrected him. Yes! They have given me time. So I still have to clean out but when you look at the big picture, who truly cares?! I'm alive and happy and that is what matters. I explained to him that with the colectomy, I have been able to sleep about three more hours during my clean out than I use to be able too. The surgery in itself was worth it for that because I was exhausted from not sleeping. As for my ileostomy, I love it most days and plan on keeping it. He doesn't need to doubt doing the surgeries, I'm more than happy with them even though they considered them as failed surgeries.

I have some decisions to make regarding a port for hydration as well as what to do about surgery. Is it something I want to deal with and just push through or do I want to "risk" my chances at getting an obstruction or kink? With motility issues, it's something you have a chance of dealing with anyway.