ER Visit - May 2024

Ever since my abdominal surgery in August 2020, I have had occasional  pains--usually mild--in my stomach and abdominal cavity in general.  Most of those pains have been due to excessive crunching/slouching, excessive eating, or excessive abs workouts.  This past Sunday (May 19) my parents came to town to celebrate my daughter's high school graduation.  We went to the Yard House by the Linq, and I had a cheeseburger.  Nothing fancy, except that I upgraded from regular fries to truffle fries.  I also ate some pieces of a huge pretzel appetizer that we all shared, plus the remains of my daughter's dessert cake and ice cream.  I knew what was in store for me--a little pain following a minor bout of over-eating.   I went home that night, slept well, and got up early for the 5 AM boot camp class at Camp Rhino..

The workout went well.  I normally eat something beforehand, but on that morning I was still full from the night before, so I skipped breakfast.  I had taken the week off from work to better respond to any graduation business, airport pick up and drop off, etc. . . . leaving myself plenty of time to run errands and visit with my parents.  The main errand that I assigned myself Monday morning was to take my Gary Fisher Wahoo to the bike shop for some new inner tubes and a tune-up, after which I stopped by the hotel to chat with Mom and Dad.  My stomach was starting to hurt again, and I was tired, so I took a nap for maybe a half hour to an hour.  It did not hurt while I was lying down, but it started hurting again when I got up.  For the rest of the day it gradually got worse, leading me to call the doctor from four years ago and discuss the symptoms and next steps.

Based on the pain I felt--both at that  time, and the worsening trend--I did not think I could make it through the night, so I had my wife drive me to the emergency room at St Rose San Martin, where my doctor was on call.  After a quick assessment they decided to put a tube up my nose and down into my esophagus to relieve pressure (and reduce pain) in my stomach.  That was no fun, but it worked as advertised.  Lots of stomach acid and other stuff came up that tube.  An x-ray (possibly Tuesday morning, but I don't remember exactly when) indicated a partial intestinal blockage.

In attempt to fix the problem without resorting to surgery, a pair of enemas was ordered, the first one at 6pm Tuesday and then the second one  at midnight.  "Number one" was to commence immediately after they moved me from the ER to a private room.  It was 5:30 or so when a room became available, and the move itself did not take long.  I did not even have to get out of bed; they just wheeled me to the elevator and down a few hallways.

Enema . . . I can't even think the word without picturing Jack Nicholson as the Joker announcing "this town needs an enema!" in Batman.  I had never had one before.  It turned out to be as unpleasant as I had imagined it would be . . . but it worked.  Big bowel movement.

Following "number one" we had time to sit and think. I wanted to remove the tube from my throat, but the night orders did not allow for that.  The nurse was required to follow orders, so I asked him to call the doctor to see if those orders could be changed in light of recent developments.  That tube caused a little painful and a lot of annoyance.  The abdominal pain was gone, and there was little if any need to continue venting, so we were allowed to remove the tube.  It had been in for just under 24 hours.  After the somewhat surprising success of the first request, I personally called and left a message asking the doc if we could skip the second enema, but I never heard back. I later found out that he was agreeable, but sadly the answer never made it to us, so shortly after midnight (Tuesday night/Wednesday morning) "number two" was performed.  After that we simply waited for morning and a new set of x-rays.  The x-rays indicated that the blockage was indeed gone.

My diet changed from nothing (fluids and nutrition provided via IV) on Monday to liquids only Tuesday and Wednesday to real food on Thursday.  When I demonstrated tolerance for solid food, I was discharged. Any other lurking abdominal issues will hopefully become known during upcoming follow-up appointments, rather than in the ER.

I had planned to attend my daughter's graduation ceremony and celebration on Tuesday.  I missed both, of course, but I at least got to see her walk across the stage thanks to a livestream of the event, which I watched on a tablet from the ER during some down time Tuesday afternoon.  They certainly get their share of crackheads in that ER; even after the live stream ended, the "show" went on and on.

My takeaways from this:  It should not be too difficult to avoid a recurrence, with daily fiber and adequate hydration, maybe a stool softener for bad days.   The old adage "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" is perfect for this situation.  General dietary improvements may be indicated. I need to hydrate more/better.