Re: omental adhesions suffer update RE: Sherry
From: Gary (gpresto@comcast.net)
Sun Mar 19 19:27:09 2006
Hi, Sherry and all:
I'm Gary, north of Boston, and you are not alone. Finding you guyz here
helps me to know that I'm not alone, too. I've had IBS for 20 years,
plus two surgeries for adhesions -- including one this past January when
I was rushed to the hospital for a major intestinal obstruction. I've
been trying so hard over the last several weeks to heal, return to work,
and get back some semblance of a normal life. My 81-year-old dad died
last November after battling colon cancer for 2 years, and my January
attack was just all too much. Now just this week, I've been having a
lot of my IBS symptoms, and I'm praying that the adhesions aren't
already returning to wreak havoc on me.
My primary doctor took a KUB X-rays series yesterday, and he said that
the "stat reading" came back as no obstruction. He said there may be a
partial one, but retiterated that the time to go to the hospital is if
extreme abdominal pain is accompanied either by a fever or by vomiting.
Those aren't happening to me. But we all know the nightmarish cycle --
cramps equal constipation equal fearing the unwelcomed recurrence of
well-known symptoms equals going back to spend several days in the
hospital's GI Unit with an NG tube up your nose and down into your
stomach, and a bunch of IVs stuck in your arms like a pin cushion.
I don't want to live like this. But I have joined IBS support groups
and am learning to "live with," instead of "always fighting" my pain.
The doctor says to stay on liquids and a light diet for a few days,
apply heat, and do what I do normally during these bouts -- which for
me, is to demand to be alone in my bedroom with the lights low, applying
a heating pad to my lower-left abs quadrant where the pressure-pain
usually recur, and meditating over something tranquil to me like being
on a warm tropical island by myself.
I live alone, which can be good or bad. When I'm in the throes of an
IBS attack (which for me, tends toward constipation), I am extremely
sensitive to everything and everybody like Chinese water torture. I
need to be alone. But the aloneness can feed on itself, too, and lead
to you being terrified of leaving home or taking your "alone" attention
off your symptoms. I've become much more spiritual, health- and
diet-conscious, and exercise-motivated. My doctor has also long had me
on Zoloft which helps me "moves things along" in the morning, plus
Protonix. And for anxiety or spasms, occasional Xanax or Buspar which I
do find help. I also have become a fan of flaxseed in gelcap form,
which I have in the morning after breakfast with about 9 oz. of water
-- it leads to a "second awakening" for me, if you know what I mean!!
Also, a milk thistle tablet with breakfast daily, to help keep out,
prevent, and leech out any medications-related toxins trying to be
absorbed into my liver.
So whenever we feel "alone," we can know that we're all here for one
another! We've got to fight back!!
Peace for now,
Gary in Boston
gpresto@comcast.net
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