Yikes!

Hi everybody,

Well, much has happened since the last update.

I went in for those ultrasounds Friday afternoon, thinking it would be a short 30-minute affair like my other ones have all been, and ended up being there for a little over three hours. I had a really nice ultrasound tech for the first part who chatted with me and let me see stuff on the screen though, which was kinda cool (though the stuff I was seeing isn't good). My goodness are some parts of my intestines huge- he said the walls were thickened in spots almost three or four times what they should be, and there was quite a lot of blood flow to those areas that I saw on screen.

He was pretty thorough, but after he was done, two doctors wanted to have another further look- the first guy had gotten less chatty near the end and looked concerned, so I was worried they found something unexpected. They moved me into a bigger exam room where the 2 doctors, the tech, and an aide/orderly/whatever gave me injections of contrast and took more ultrasounds.

The doctors were pretty concerned at this point- they told me that they wanted to do a pelvic ultrasound as well, so I was moved to yet ANOTHER room and they did that (mortifying, btw, because the ultrasound tech was a really, really good looking young guy, and they didn't exactly cover me up well during that one... eep).

The main ultrasound doc told me that they had found lots of inflammation (expected), and in the spot where I'd been having my severe pains, they found a microperforation and a stricture. Not so good. A perforation is a hole in the intestinal wall, and a stricture is an area where the walls of the bowel are so thickened that barely anything can get through. Apparently the area is basically just on the verge of a big infection- it's not abcessed yet, thank goodness, which can be pretty bad- and another major concern is blockage. The doctor didn't want to let me go from the hospital but her hands were tied, so I went home and waited for Dr. Kaplan to get ahold of me.

On Saturday I talked to him, and he said it looked like the perforation had healed up on its own, but the issue is that there's significant inflammation and free fluid in my abdomen (which makes sense since I basically sprung a leak). He told me that I'd need a CT scan to get a better look at things, since ultrasound can make things look worse than they are. If the area is infected, I'd be hospitalized and get either IV antibiotics or surgery, or both. He put me on antibiotics ASAP (ciprofloxacin and some other one I can't remember right now) and told me that if I felt any worse, I was to go to the ER at Foothills right away and ask to see Dr. Panaccione (a GI that I've heard a lot about).

On Monday morning the whole hurry-up-and-wait ordeal began. I was prepared to be admitted to hospital that day if necessary, and played phone tag with people all day about getting in for the CT scan. Dr. Kaplan had no luck getting me in that day, and wanted to admit me to hospital to hurry the tests. However, there were no beds available either! Unfortunately, I basically ended up waiting all day for nothing, as I couldn't get in that day for anything. They did manage to get me in for the CT scan Tuesday morning, and told me to be prepared to be admitted to the hospital Tuesday too.

Tuesday morning I had my CT scan- routine, pretty much. Drank the two litres of water stuff over two hours, and had an IV contrast injection, then the scan, and went home to wait for more instructions.

Around 3 pm Dr Kaplan's office phoned, and his clinician, Val, explained that they still didn't have the CT results back, and that no beds were available to admit me to hospital, so basically I have to wait- again! She said they'd page Dr Kaplan as soon as the CT results were ready, and gave me a number to call Weds. morning about getting admitted. She said Dr Kaplan would call me about the results when they were in, assuming I don't get admitted first.

So as it stands right now, I still don't know what's going to happen- I have no idea if I'll have surgery or not, but Mom and I feel like they're leaning towards it, since it's the thing Dr. Kaplan talks about the most, and since they're still trying to admit me to hospital even without the CT results back yet. If I do need surgery, I don't know what ones yet. Best case scenario, I just stay home and take antibiotics, worse case scenario, they take out some bowel tissue.

So hopefully Wednesday will be an enlightening day, and I'll finally get some word about what's going to happen, and hopefully get the ball rolling here!

It's super stressful to have to wait around like this, but unfortunately, this is the norm in Calgary right now, with the medical system (and Foothills in particular) being pushed to the limits. The worst part is not being able to plan anything. We're really short staffed at work right now- to the point that there's really nobody to cover for me- and I can't even tell them what shifts I'll be able to make, or if I'll have to have an extended leave of absence. Too, I'm registered for spring session classes, which I may have to drop if it turns out I need surgery, so I have until the 14th to figure that out.

Keep checking back for updates over the next day or two though- I'll certainly let you all know if I have to go to the hospital and what the results of the CT scan were. Keep me in your prayers- please pray that I'll be patient and that I'll be in the hands of good doctors.