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Surgeon says I'm fine, ER and Gastro Doc say I'm not

Thu, March 22, 2012 6:49 PM

Well the title explains most of it really, but there has to be a reason I'm not feeling well. For some background, I was diagnosed with UC in 2008 and had a colectomy in 2009, my surgeon screwed up on my take-down (part 2 of 2) and instead of two surgeries I had four, because the second one was emergency-reversed.

I am weak since my C. Diff infection in January, and I have such trouble emptying my pouch. Except of course when it's all liquid. What happens with me is I get false alarms, where I can push out a little at a time. I wipe every time so eventually my skin gets wiped away and I get really sore, especially considering all the stomach acids that pass through there. I have to twist around and lean forward on the toilet seat to smoothly empty my pouch. I have a fissure that keeps popping open every time I have a hard bm, and have been to the ER quite often recently to get fluids and something for abdominal pain. They made an emergency appointment with my surgeon for me because my CT indicated my intestines were really inflamed but they couldn't tell anything more than that because they weren't that kind of doctor.

So after seeing my surgeon today she told me my pouch looked great and if I'm still having problems emptying in two weeks then we can do a test where I pass dye through my pouch while they do an x-ray because my gut may still be funky from the infection. But I've been taking probiotics and when I explained my difficulty emptying to my gastroenterologist she referred me to my surgeon. I had this problem before C. Diff, I was in and out of the hospital before that, and now they're saying there's nothing wrong with me but yesterday my intestines were inflamed..? I just am finding it hard to maintain hope and it's hard to explain it to people without grossing them out so it's a pretty lonely hopelessness. Anyone have any pointers? I'd appreciate any input, thanks.

hey2308
Joined Jul 23, 2008

Sat, April 14, 2012 11:02 AM

Reply posted for hey2308.

HI! Sorry to hear you're feeling so 'crappy.' I would suggest the need of unison between your GI and your surgeon. I know that this can be aggravating! One doctor saying you need further treatment and another saying you are fine. How long has this been going on? I would say that if its been a lenthy time period, you need to make it clear to your surgeon that you are not fine and that you want a solution. There is always a point that we need to ask ourselves, "Could I live like this for another month, year, my whole life?" If no to any of the above, why wait another week then? A question that you need to ask your GI is why she referred you to your surgeon. There was a reason, and if you knew that reason, maybe you would be able to dictate that to your surgeon and you can come up with a plan to proceed. Hope you feel better soon!!

altman282
Joined Feb 21, 2012

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