Since getting released from the hospital I am certainly happy and more comfortable at home. Unfortunately I’m not totally out of the woods with this bowel obstruction. I had an appointment with a GI immediately after I was discharged and when she felt my abdomen she said I was still blocked and distended. She seemed a little surprised that I was discharged. She told me if I run a fever, have extreme pain, or throw up even once to take a U-turn back to the hospital. She also recommended I go back on a mostly liquid diet for a few day. So I’ve been pushing water, juice, ensure, broth, etc. Today I may try to eat some soft peaches, without the skin of course.

I still have some discomfort in the abdomen but it is certainly not as extreme as when I was admitted. As long as I am careful about what I am putting into my body, little by little, this little bugger should resolve itself slowly. I have been doing a great job of wrapping myself into a heated blanket burrito, resting, and watching an excessive amount of bar rescue.

The other concern that the GI and I discussed was the thickening of the colon seen on my CT scan. Unfortunately she will have to do a full colonoscopy because the thickening can be seen on both the right and left side of the large intestine. It is not safe to have this procedure done so close to a bowel obstruction as pumping air into the colon could cause a worse obstruction or perforate the colon. She will be waiting 5-6 weeks for this.

If she finds something inside of my colon, like a polyp, she could remove it then. If she does not see anything during the colonoscopy that means the thickening is external and could point to teeny, tiny, tumors studding the outside of the colon. Cancer can also sometimes cause a film (apparently?) so she said that may also be a reason but we will not be jumping to any conclusions until the colonoscopy is done. So for now, I’m taking everything as status quo.

As of right now I still have an appointment to see the oncologists in Boston for Tuesday but I really don’t feel good about going back on drug with a lingering bowel obstruction. I wrote to them yesterday to see if I could reschedule…the jury is out until Monday. Fingers crossed.

So although I’m not pleased to be taking a step backward, I am happy to have sound medical advise that won’t land me back in the hospital. I knew it was way too soon for solid food. So instead of backpedaling let’s just keep it festive and call it moonwalking.

Love & gratitude my friends 🙂