Back to the hospital

I had to return to the hospital this week. I have had uncontrollable vomiting, pain and inability to do j-tube feedings without pain and vomiting. The doctor started me on TPN and I have felt a lot better since they started it. After a week I am still unable to eat and having trouble with tube feedings. I will likely go home and use the TPN at night through my PICC line. I am a bit worried about the PICC. If it gets infected I could get sepsis. We will have to be very careful and clean with the lines. We will also start the drug domperidone tomorrow. It is a standard drug for gastroparesis if you can't handle the other drugs like Reglan (drugs that can cause dystonia). The domperidone is still risky for worsening dystonia, but much less likely because it is known not to cross the blood brain barrier. It is not FDA approved so we have to get it from Canada but it is really the only hope for my stomach at this point.

The picture is of my "all-in-one" TPN IV. It has kept me alive for the last two months.

Home and Glad to be Alive

Well, it has been an eventful month to say the least. I have been home for about a week now and I'm finally feeling well enough to post.

I had surgery in Bloomington to put in a G-tube and a J-tube with ileostomy in the middle of October. Unfortunately there were complications of surgery and I had internal bleeding on my spleen and needed some blood transfusions. Eventually the doctors decided to send me up to Indiana University Hospital in Indianapolis for better care. I was flown by the life flight helicopter in the evening and Greg drove up to meet me in the intensive care unit at IU Med. I was very sick. After several days in the ICU the doctors decided to do surgery to repair my G-tube which had pulled out causing an infection in my abdomen and clean up some of the internal bleeding. My tummy was so huge at this point. I felt and looked like I was 9 months pregnant. After the second surgery I looked better and began to finally recover. After the surgery I had pretty bad edema, tachycardia and trouble maintaining my oxygen levels so everyone was pretty worried about me. I slowly began to do better and they were able to move me out of ICU. I was in the ICU for several days after the surgery and then moved to the progressive medical intensive care unit where I spent the rest of my time at IU Med. It has been a painful and difficult recovery but I am finally home.

I am still having a lot of pain and I'm taking Lortab and Oxycodone which help a bit. They are fairly strong drugs and I hope to get off of them soon so that I can get my body back to "normal". I still can not eat and am getting nutrition from J-tube feedings every night. The feedings are painful for my intestines and I get very bloated, but I'm told my body will adjust. I just started eating some baby food yesterday and I can drink mint tea. This is a big accomplishment after vomiting and stomach pain for the first several days I was home.

Gastroparesis is a difficult illness to deal with and has almost taken my life. I am lucky to be here and hopefully my tummy will improve as I recover and I will be able to eat more. I am so glad to be home with my son and hubby. We missed each other so much. I am finally on the road to recovery and I know everything will be okay. Once again I am trying to live in the moment. It is difficult with the pain, but I am doing better each day and I know I will be back to working on my dissertation before long.

The picture is of a visit from my son while I was in the hospital.