It didn't work.
This post may be TMI. But if you have ever had a colonoscopy, you will understand.
The bloody stuff didn't work.
The stupid, nauseating, saccharine, thick, disgusting stuff that I drank A GALLON OF didn't work! I went to my colonoscopy and wasn't cleared out! I stayed up all night, got 30 minutes grand total of sleep, and woke up panicked and super anxious. I was terrified they would turn me away and say they couldn't do the procedure today. Somehow I knew.
I got to the hospital alone. My husband dropped me off but had to take our kid to day care. So I walked in, by myself, and rushed up the stairs because he doesn't understand the meaning of "haste" when I told him I wanted to leave the house by 6:40 - not just barely leave by 6:50 and get there right at 7 AM. I wanted to be there early so I could breathe. NOPE. Instead they kept commenting that my blood pressure was high. No shit! I was having a panic attack that everything I had just done for the last three days was worth nothing - the reduction in food, the liquid diet for 24 hours, and the dreaded "colon prep."
What a bloody nightmare.
The upper endoscopy was very uncomfortable, even painful. I do remember it, though it isn't super vivid, thank goodness. I didn't feel like I was choking, just that I had some painful thing stuck down my throat. I even remember the little bit of colonoscopy that they did complete before they told me that my bowel was unclean and they had to abort - that did hurt. But I basically passed out right after that.
I woke up with my doctor telling me they needed to reschedule the colonoscopy. I am only grateful that I was able to get the upper endoscopy done today so it was not a complete waste of my time, energy, or money, as you forfeit the copay when they have to abort the procedure, because you're paying for all the prep and sedation. Nightmarish. And I have a meeting, a very important one, in two days. I am terrified that this will get in the way of all my new plans. I cannot have these issues right now! I am not even 30 years old, for crying out loud!
Now, next week, right after Valentine's day (and highly unlikely that my husband will get laid), I have to start TWO days of completely clear liquid diet and drink TWO gallons of the nauseating stuff. It is by far the worst part. That stuff.... let me tell you, I am a very picky eater, so being forced to down something that disgusting is pretty much my WORST nightmare. I would do anything for a pill instead, or a hundred pills. I would even drink 20 ounces of water every half hour if I had to, but not this stuff. I am just psyching myself out now that it won't work again, too.
What in the world is wrong with my body that I can take FIVE laxative tablets and drink an entire gallon of colon cleansing electrolytes and end up with basically nothing to show for it? Here I am, 24 hours after I began taking that stuff (which is supposed to start working within the hour, and totally clear your bowel out by hour 6) and I am still passing....well, it isn't clear, let's just say that.
I feel so tired. So sick of being sick. The fistula between my bowel and bladder is now leaking the disgusting fluid from the loose stools induced by that stuff. But I am so panicked that next week I will have the same problem that I'm tempted to go on liquid diet until then. Right now I'm going to pretend I'm eating like I just had my wisdom teeth out. I won't be taking any of the vicodin, because that can cause constipation, and I wonder how much of that is my issue now. The sluggish movement of my bowel might very well be part of this problem - and it may not be Crohn's at all.
She did get that endoscopy done, and took biopsies of my stomach and small intestine. Miraculously, my small intestine looked normal. My stomach was "inflamed." I don't know what any of that means and can't find much, other than it might possibly be H. Pylori (the ulcer bacteria).
Pray for me. Pray for my bowels. And pray that between now and next week that my insides move fast enough that I can get this damn test done and move on with my life!
MSloan
Showing posts with label crohns disease. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crohns disease. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Friday, January 19, 2018
Uncomfortable Tests and How To Get Through Them, Part 2
Where were we...oh yes, possible kidney stones.
YIKES!
Well, I certainly thought it was a possibility, simply because of the pain level I was experiencing. Goodness, it was a tight, wave-like pain that made me feel terribly nauseated when it peaked. I lived through the pain for a day, having emailed my doctor at home, before calling an on-call doctor in Las Vegas (keep up people...we were away from home.) Because of the Pyridium, my urine was stained an odd color, so urinalysis would have essentially been useless, so the on-call doctor prescribed me a script of Bactrim to get rid of the suspected UTI. After all, if it wasn't a kidney stone, it was more likely to be a UTI, and I wanted to get rid of the pain and frustration of urgency as soon as possible.
So....back to the Walgreens across the street we went. Seriously, they should have given me a job, haha!
I started the Bactrim and had high hopes. Unfortunately, it made me really nauseated, and I felt no difference whatsoever. If you've never taken a heavy antibiotic like Bactrim for a UTI, know that most people feel better within hours of taking the drugs - I had been taking it for several days, and had no improvement. I began to dread going to the bathroom because there was so much pain. I was still passing small, red blood clots, and I was watching every drop in the toilet like a hawk in case there were stones of any kind. Nothing.
When we got back home, I finally got in to have my urinalysis. Surprise, it was no positive for an infection - which I had suspected as the Bactrim did nothing for my symptoms - but my sample did show both red and white blood cells. So something was up. My doctor and I talked more about my pain and possible kidney stones, so she ordered a CT scan. I haven't had a CT scan since i was a kid with ear issues - MRIs feel like such a hassle, while CT scans are fortunately much faster (and a bit less of an expensive copay). After waiting for a few more tense days, I finally got into the office for the CT scan.
All of us with MS will likely tell different accounts of how the contrast material for an MRI feels - most of the time you feel nothing at all; in my case, I usually get a headache afterwards. But that's about it. The iodine dye they use for CT scans is so different! It really does make you feel like you're wetting your pants (not a welcome feeling when you feel like you wet your pants all day - thank goodness for pads!) But the whole process only took about 15 minutes, and then I was ready to go.
As the busy doctor I am, I had a lecture to attend about 30 miles away, so I drove down there, still not knowing what to expect from the scan. I half expected them to tell me they found kidney stones or bladder stones, and also half expected her to tell me everything looked normal (which was not impossible). She called me while I was driving, and explained that the CT scan showed a lot of inflammation in my intestine - certainly not what I was expecting! She said she thought I had inflammatory bowel disease and asked if I had any family history of that; I do not, but as I said before, MS tends to travel with these kinds of conditions so it was not a surprise to me.
She continued and said I needed to visit with both gastroenterology for a colonoscopy, and with urology for a cystoscopy - eek! This was certainly a surprise. Did they think potential inflammatory bowel could be causing all my bladder and urinary issues? How? Did I have a hole in the system somewhere?
I went through my lecture, thinking about what she said. It was difficult to concentrate, but I generally felt ok - so I figured my weekend plans would go on uninterrupted.
The next morning, I was actually due to get on another plane and go for a business trip out of town - I woke up in so much pain that I couldn't do it. I never cancel things like this, and have attended every one of these meetings in the past despite feeling sick (it is that time of year - last year I had a nasty flu, ick!) I stayed home and ended up going to the ER for the pain, where they re-tested my urine for infection (which they did not find). I was eventually sent home after sending a few more vials of blood to the lab and a bottle of Vicodin. Thank goodness for it, too - I had also been prescribed daily Prednisone, which I knew would keep me awake at night.
Fast forward through this last week...my urine changed about eight different colors in three days. It ranged from normal-looking to dark orange, musty and murky greenish, pink on wiping, even more blood clots and even potential pus (yuck). Thursday was by far the worst day all week for pain, and while it no longer hurts to actually urinate, there is a sharp pain in my bladder that comes and goes, and is accompanied by stranger urine afterwards. The blood tests I had last Friday came in and showed my inflammatory markers were all on high alert - my erythrocyte sedimentation rate was >120 mm (off their charts). My C-reactive protein was 6.3. My platelet count rose from 570 to 740. Whatever is going on my body, it's an inflammatory mess!
AUGH. So, now we came to this morning. My visit with the urologist. He and I talked about my CT scan results and he kept saying the same thing - "If you were older, had a history of working in an environment with a lot of chemicals, or were an active smoker, these shadows on your CT scan would definitely spell bladder cancer." I think he was trying to make me feel better by saying it was highly unlikely that was the case - but putting it in these kinds of terms didn't really cut it, haha. After discussing the possibilities from looking at the CT scan, he said we had to do a scope.
Yup. Here it comes. Cystoscopy time, folks.
I had been dreading this. I saw a documentary sometime last year and saw someone who had to have her bladder examined for remnants of malignant cells. I remember having the thought - "I never want to have that test." Yup, that's what I had this morning.
Just like for a pap, they spread you wide in the dreaded stirrups. Then, they get fresh with the tip of your urethra - somehow an even more uncomfortable experience than the vagina. He came in and said he was putting something numbing there - it certainly didn't feel like numbing, it burned - and then they inserted this HUGE LOOKING tube up me. I won't lie. It hurt. Maybe it was because my urethra was already inflamed, but it was certainly more than "a little burning." I was miserable, but tried to be brave and made some jokes.
On the screen was the inside of my bladder - pink mostly, but some parts looked angry. I was definitely bleeding, and some tissue on the posterior wall (the culprit on the CT scan) looked almost coral-like. He again repeated, "Yeah, I would be really concerned about this if you were older or had a different history..." which again did not make me feel any better, as it seemed he was saying "it doesn't look good." He said it looked more like inflammation to him than cancer, but they would test it, but it was likely inflammation, but it might get worse before it gets better. I tried not to squirm when he moved the scope around and touched the inside of my bladder, causing more pain. AUGH. Just thinking about it makes me feel ooky!
So that's where we are. Yet another test that was inconclusive while we wait for more test results. We'll find out eventually if it's positive for cancer, but I doubt it. I don't get diseases that could be considered "sympathetic;" right now I'm just hoping they don't tell me I have some other lifelong condition that I will need to watch for the rest of my life.
Wish me luck.
And don't ever sign up for a cystoscopy. ::Shudder::
Love all, MSloan
YIKES!
Well, I certainly thought it was a possibility, simply because of the pain level I was experiencing. Goodness, it was a tight, wave-like pain that made me feel terribly nauseated when it peaked. I lived through the pain for a day, having emailed my doctor at home, before calling an on-call doctor in Las Vegas (keep up people...we were away from home.) Because of the Pyridium, my urine was stained an odd color, so urinalysis would have essentially been useless, so the on-call doctor prescribed me a script of Bactrim to get rid of the suspected UTI. After all, if it wasn't a kidney stone, it was more likely to be a UTI, and I wanted to get rid of the pain and frustration of urgency as soon as possible.
So....back to the Walgreens across the street we went. Seriously, they should have given me a job, haha!
I started the Bactrim and had high hopes. Unfortunately, it made me really nauseated, and I felt no difference whatsoever. If you've never taken a heavy antibiotic like Bactrim for a UTI, know that most people feel better within hours of taking the drugs - I had been taking it for several days, and had no improvement. I began to dread going to the bathroom because there was so much pain. I was still passing small, red blood clots, and I was watching every drop in the toilet like a hawk in case there were stones of any kind. Nothing.
When we got back home, I finally got in to have my urinalysis. Surprise, it was no positive for an infection - which I had suspected as the Bactrim did nothing for my symptoms - but my sample did show both red and white blood cells. So something was up. My doctor and I talked more about my pain and possible kidney stones, so she ordered a CT scan. I haven't had a CT scan since i was a kid with ear issues - MRIs feel like such a hassle, while CT scans are fortunately much faster (and a bit less of an expensive copay). After waiting for a few more tense days, I finally got into the office for the CT scan.
All of us with MS will likely tell different accounts of how the contrast material for an MRI feels - most of the time you feel nothing at all; in my case, I usually get a headache afterwards. But that's about it. The iodine dye they use for CT scans is so different! It really does make you feel like you're wetting your pants (not a welcome feeling when you feel like you wet your pants all day - thank goodness for pads!) But the whole process only took about 15 minutes, and then I was ready to go.
As the busy doctor I am, I had a lecture to attend about 30 miles away, so I drove down there, still not knowing what to expect from the scan. I half expected them to tell me they found kidney stones or bladder stones, and also half expected her to tell me everything looked normal (which was not impossible). She called me while I was driving, and explained that the CT scan showed a lot of inflammation in my intestine - certainly not what I was expecting! She said she thought I had inflammatory bowel disease and asked if I had any family history of that; I do not, but as I said before, MS tends to travel with these kinds of conditions so it was not a surprise to me.
She continued and said I needed to visit with both gastroenterology for a colonoscopy, and with urology for a cystoscopy - eek! This was certainly a surprise. Did they think potential inflammatory bowel could be causing all my bladder and urinary issues? How? Did I have a hole in the system somewhere?
I went through my lecture, thinking about what she said. It was difficult to concentrate, but I generally felt ok - so I figured my weekend plans would go on uninterrupted.
The next morning, I was actually due to get on another plane and go for a business trip out of town - I woke up in so much pain that I couldn't do it. I never cancel things like this, and have attended every one of these meetings in the past despite feeling sick (it is that time of year - last year I had a nasty flu, ick!) I stayed home and ended up going to the ER for the pain, where they re-tested my urine for infection (which they did not find). I was eventually sent home after sending a few more vials of blood to the lab and a bottle of Vicodin. Thank goodness for it, too - I had also been prescribed daily Prednisone, which I knew would keep me awake at night.
Fast forward through this last week...my urine changed about eight different colors in three days. It ranged from normal-looking to dark orange, musty and murky greenish, pink on wiping, even more blood clots and even potential pus (yuck). Thursday was by far the worst day all week for pain, and while it no longer hurts to actually urinate, there is a sharp pain in my bladder that comes and goes, and is accompanied by stranger urine afterwards. The blood tests I had last Friday came in and showed my inflammatory markers were all on high alert - my erythrocyte sedimentation rate was >120 mm (off their charts). My C-reactive protein was 6.3. My platelet count rose from 570 to 740. Whatever is going on my body, it's an inflammatory mess!
AUGH. So, now we came to this morning. My visit with the urologist. He and I talked about my CT scan results and he kept saying the same thing - "If you were older, had a history of working in an environment with a lot of chemicals, or were an active smoker, these shadows on your CT scan would definitely spell bladder cancer." I think he was trying to make me feel better by saying it was highly unlikely that was the case - but putting it in these kinds of terms didn't really cut it, haha. After discussing the possibilities from looking at the CT scan, he said we had to do a scope.
Yup. Here it comes. Cystoscopy time, folks.
I had been dreading this. I saw a documentary sometime last year and saw someone who had to have her bladder examined for remnants of malignant cells. I remember having the thought - "I never want to have that test." Yup, that's what I had this morning.
Just like for a pap, they spread you wide in the dreaded stirrups. Then, they get fresh with the tip of your urethra - somehow an even more uncomfortable experience than the vagina. He came in and said he was putting something numbing there - it certainly didn't feel like numbing, it burned - and then they inserted this HUGE LOOKING tube up me. I won't lie. It hurt. Maybe it was because my urethra was already inflamed, but it was certainly more than "a little burning." I was miserable, but tried to be brave and made some jokes.
On the screen was the inside of my bladder - pink mostly, but some parts looked angry. I was definitely bleeding, and some tissue on the posterior wall (the culprit on the CT scan) looked almost coral-like. He again repeated, "Yeah, I would be really concerned about this if you were older or had a different history..." which again did not make me feel any better, as it seemed he was saying "it doesn't look good." He said it looked more like inflammation to him than cancer, but they would test it, but it was likely inflammation, but it might get worse before it gets better. I tried not to squirm when he moved the scope around and touched the inside of my bladder, causing more pain. AUGH. Just thinking about it makes me feel ooky!
So that's where we are. Yet another test that was inconclusive while we wait for more test results. We'll find out eventually if it's positive for cancer, but I doubt it. I don't get diseases that could be considered "sympathetic;" right now I'm just hoping they don't tell me I have some other lifelong condition that I will need to watch for the rest of my life.
Wish me luck.
And don't ever sign up for a cystoscopy. ::Shudder::
Love all, MSloan
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