Complications

Tuesday morning-May 5th, I woke up with lower abdominal cramping. I had a bit of that Saturday morning, so I was thinking that maybe I was getting dehydrated again. After my second trip to the bathroom in a mere half hour, I looked down to a toilet full of bloody diarrhea. After the 3rd and 4th time over the next hour, I figured it was time to call the oncologist's office. The nurse practitioner in charge told me to go to the emergency room. I opted for Mather Hospital, knowing that most of the oncologists have privileges there.

My mom brought me as Dave was alone in the store that day. They put me in a private ER room, which was kind of nice. It even had a T.V. and one of the nurses went right off to get my mom a chair to sit it. They did a CT scan and found nothing in the intestines; They DID find a lesion on my pancreas though and told me they would follow it up with an MRI. They admitted me at 3:30 that afternoon. I got into an actual room at 10:00 pm.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009. Besides bloodwork, blood pressure, and temperature, no tests were done at all... except for a test for C-Def, e-coli, salmonella, and other intestinal type issues (some kind of super-bug). The diarrhea continues all day and they have plenty of samples to work with. All the tests come back negative.

Thursday, May 7, 2009. Diarrhea continues and the blood is back...ugh. Today, I'm on a liquids-only diet to get ready for a colonoscopy tomorrow. This is really no fun at all. I'm beginning to get quite sore from all this bathroom going. They take me for the MRI around 3pm. Then, when I return, they start me on te prep for the colonoscopy which will be done on Friday. The prep involves a 4 liter (about a gallon) jug of a clear, liquid that foams when you pour it into a glass. It tastes a bit like the bottom of a margherita--salty and a bit sweet. Not bad for a sip, but a whole gallon? ALSO...how much more can they really expect to get out of me????!!!! After drinking a quarter of this jug, I head, yet again to the bathroom. 20 minutes later...off to the bathroom again...now it's clear liquid coming out, but I still have 3/4 of a jug to polish off. My friend, Jen visits as I guzzle down until I'm halfway through. After she leaves, I realize I just can't take any more of this torture down below. I retreat to my bed and cry like a baby. The nurse comes in and I tell her how sore I am. She gets me Desitin and it works great...helps to cry like a baby! She tells me to take a break from drinking and I do. About an hour later, I'm ready to try again. I drink another quarter and she tells me I can stop because now she's going to bring me 4 pills that will help me go!!! I ask if she's kidding and she produces 4 tiny hot pink pills. I'm up every hour, rushing to unplug Jose (my iv pole) from the wall, and running to the bathroom. Oh joy!

Friday, May 8, 2009. The nurse comes in around 7 am and hesitatingly informs me that my colonoscopy is scheduled for 2 pm. One of the onologists comes in and I ask her results of the MRI. She says the lesion on the pancreas looks like a cyst and I'll have to follow up in 3 months to make sure it's unchanged. She also says that the chances of me having breast and pancreatic cancer would put me in the World Book of Records-it would be that rare. Whew. Around 10 am, I get my first roommate, AnnMarie. 2pm rolls around and I go for my colonoscopy, which they knock you out for. Best sleep I've had in days! They got halfway into the intestines and had to stop because my intestines are twisted. Now, I have to go as an outpatient to finish by them doing a virtual colonoscopy...whatever that may be! The only thing they find are some internal hemherroids. They tell me to eat a high fiber diet, yet according to the oncologist instructions, when you have diarrhea, you shouldn't eat high fiber! Go figure.

Saturday, May 9, 2009. After clearance from the gastro and onco docs I'm ready to go home at 11 am. Yippee. Dave and I do some mothers day shopping and then I'm home resting for the remainder of the day.

Sunday, May 10, 2009. Happy Mother's Day! It was a gorgeous sunny day. Cassie had a soccer game and then we were off to Marianna's Baptism followed by a luncheon at the Chinese Buffet. I felt wonderfully normal and energetic until about 5 pm and then I had the sudden need to go rest. Cassie and I headed home and took some pics of her in her Sweet 16 gear. We uploaded the pics onto Sam's Club website and ordered a poster for her friends to sign.