Not what we expected

As I type this, I am finally back at home, in my own bed. This wild ride started a couple of weeks ago when I traveled solo up to Pennsylvania to say goodbye to my Grammy before she passed. 

I was able to be there for a full day in her hospital room, and spend time with my aunts and uncle. After Grammy passed on a Saturday night, I decided to go ahead and hit the road home. I spent the night in West Virginia to help break up the trip. On my drive home, I was having some bad gas pain. I thought it was just from eating junk food and traveling. 

The following weekend was Grammy's funeral service. This time my dad, husband, and kiddos all get to pile in the Swaggerwagon (aka my minivan) and we make the 8 hour trip back up to Pennsylvania. I'm still having some gas pains and little appetite but still thinking it is just from traveling. 

We got to spend a lot of time with my cousins who we don't get to see often at all. I met my dad's Aunt Ruthie who took care of dad when he was a baby. She lovingly calls him Chuckie and said he was her very own baby doll. 

The funeral service went well but I was still having belly pain and now nausea. After the service, there was a big meal at a restaurant but I felt so bad that I bailed on Wil and just laid down in the back of the van. We went back to to hotel and let the kids play in the pool some more and I'm popping GasX and antinausea pills like they are going out of style. 

We got the kids down to sleep, all sharing the same hotel room, but I just couldn't get comfortable. Wil, with all his wisdom, said we needed to go ahead and head to the ER. My stubborn butt said "Ah nooooo it's just gas. I'll be fine." 

My husband is a saint with patience to deal with my stubbornness. I called my oncology on-call service and was directed to, can you guess it??, head to the ER... So at 10 pm, my dad comes down to spend the night with the kiddos so we can make it to the hospital which is about 30 minutes away. At this point, I'm in excruciating pain. 

We get checked into the hospital and get taken back pretty quickly to a room. I'm told they can't access my port (my permanent IV) because only a special team can do it. Our nurse was amazing and got me an IV in my forearm and got me pain meds. After an exam and a CT, I was diagnosed with colitis (inflamed bowel). The doctors thought it was from a bacterial infection so I got a dose of IV antibiotics. They wanted to keep me overnight for observation (it was around 3 am at this point) and Wil and I just wanted to get back to the hotel. 

The best part of this story was that Wil was waiting outside the bathroom while I tried to give a urine sample (both of us sleep deprived). And a nurse comes down the hall, looks directly at him and says, "Wil, I need you to be second on a trauma, 5 minutes out." Being the southern gentleman that he is, Wil just nods and says "Yes ma'am." Poor guy was trying to figure out how to Google what to do in five minutes. Then quickly realizes the nurse behind him was also named Will. 

So we made it to the hotel at 4 am, got a few hours of sleep and waited for the CVS to open to pick up my meds. We still had 8 hours of travel to make it home. Wil was such a trooper and did all the driving and my dad say in the back with the kids and entertained them. I was just comatose in the front seat walking up for bathroom breaks only. 

I had ten days of antibiotics that I completed this past Tuesday. Wednesday morning, I woke up at 5 am with sharp upper abdominal pain. The pains before were in my lower abdomin. I messaged my GI doctor and oncologist. Dr. Skinner messaged me back and said I needed to be seen. One of the PAs, Emma, called me at 8 am just after we were dropping the kids off at daycare. She told me I needed to be seen at the Forsyth ER in case I needed to be admitted. 

Wil and I head onto to the emergency room and get placed in a room and see a doctor pretty quickly. He ordered antinausea meds, pain meds, and a CT scan. The rest of the day dragggggs on. My nurse didn't feel comfortable accessing a port, so we had to wait for another nurse to come access me. 

Finally things get moving with meds, labs, and the CT scan. The scan showed  "Suspect high-grade small bowel obstruction in the right abdomen adjacent to prior resected bowel along the suture line." The emergency room doctor came in and said that this was going to be a surgical intervention, we were devastated.

Then, the great news came from Dr. Skinner and her team that I would NOT need surgery, that we were going to try bowel rest first. It didn't take surgery off the table, if things worsened but it wasn't our first step. I would need a Nasogastric tube (NG tube) to drain my stomach fluids then nothing to eat or drink. The hope would be that my bowels would unkink on their own after a few days. 

Dr. Skinner happen to come to the ER room to visit right when the NG tube was about to be placed, so her and Wil got to witness that lovely event. Going off of how it felt alone, it was a garden hose being shoved through my fragile nose gagging me all they way in. Because I'm prone to nosebleeds, I got one of those as well. I had the NG tube in for almost 12 hours and despite it being in the stomach, it wasn't draining anything. 

We were admitted to the oncology floor and the night shift nurses advanced it further. During that, I was throwing up around the tube. But finally, the tube was suctioning all my stomach contents. 

I always thought that once the NG tube was in, you wouldn't feel it anymore. That is NOT the case. It sometimes would make me gag, like if your toothbrush gets you in the back of the throat. You can't swallow easily around it. Nose breathing is difficult because it jostles the tube around. So I was just miserable, I was able to get IV antinausea meds that knocked me out and I tried to just sleep it off. 

I had another test done to make sure this wasn't my gallbladder acting up which was ruled out. During this time, I wasn't passing gas or having any bowel movements. Then finally, I FARTED !  Strange to say when you are praying for gas to move but God answered our prayers. This reminded Wil and I of one of our favorite nurses, Mama Sharon. She was one of our night nurses after my very first cancer surgery who threw us a "farty party" in the middle of the night when I finally pooted after having my first bowel resection. 

I was admitted Wednesday and by Friday it was time to test my bowels again! Radioactive fluid was injected into my NG tube and then I got a series of X-rays to see it flowing through my GI tract. This would show if the blockage was still there or if the dye was able to pass through into my large intestine. This process took about four hours to keep getting all the X-rays at the correct time. I kept refreshing my phone from 1:30 pm when the last x-ray was to get the report. If it showed no blockage, I could get the tube out of my nose. To say I was cranky was an understatement.

Dr. Skinner, out of town at the time, still called to check in on me. She worked her magic with her PA. Emma to get my report read which did show no further blockage. So at 5:00 p.m, I was able to get my tube out. 

Wil said it looked like she was starting a lawnmower, nurse's hand on my forehead and pull the cord ! It was over two feet of plastic tubing getting yanked out of my stomach through my nostril. But that first sip of ice water was pure delight. I could swallow, I could blow my nose, I could clear my throat! What simple pleasures we take for granted. 

I was started on a clear liquid diet and did well with no nausea or pain, so was advanced to full liquid. Doing well with all of that, I got a soft GI diet (no fruits or veggies) and had breakfast. Doing well with that and after Dr. Skinner's partner, Dr. Wallace, examined me, we got to be discharged! Wil and I were ecstatic. We were able to go home before Easter Sunday.

I've been reading a book by Joni Eareckson Tada "A Place of Healing: Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain, and God's Sovereignty." I had read before this hospital stay that God commanded us to give thanks in all circumstances, not be thankful. That the more you give thanks, it changes your attitude and mindset and transforms you.

 I did not do well with this in the hospital with an annoying tube in my throat, but I tried. I gave thanks for a loving and support husband who never complained about sleeping in a recliner or having nasty hospital food, eaten by himself since I couldn't eat. I gave thanks for wonderful in-laws who were watching our kids and dogs . I gave thanks that I had my port, so I didn't have to be gentle with a peripheral IV.  I gave thanks that I have full use of my arms and legs to reposition myself. I gave thanks for wonderful medical staff and oncologist who provided great care for me. I gave thanks for a work family who love and support me and take care of me (go see Lewisville Laser & Aesthetics!). I gave thanks for friends who tried to distract me while I waited in the ER and shopped via text while hopped up on IV drugs and don't remember it until a purse shows up to my house (love you Maegan). 

It felt amazing to see our kiddos and sleep in our own bed. I felt good enough to be able to go to church and celebrate the reason we can have joy in suffering, that my Lord conquered death and sin and I will have a renewed body one day. I will be free from cancer, free from pain, and basking in the glory of God. 

Prayer Requests :

1. For protection for my guts from another obstruction. 

2. For wisdom and guidance for my future cancer treatments as we may have to stop my infusions for safety. 

3. Praise for healing and not needing surgical intervention.