The C Word – A New Battle 65 - Blockages

Today we had our first post operative experience of a small bowel obstruction.  It came on rather quickly – and we reacted just as quickly with a trip to the emergency room.  I had texted Dr. B that we were in the ER.  We had phoned his office earlier and were told he was in a meeting and she would send a message to him that we weren’t sure if we should go to ER or not.  My message only confirmed our decision.  He responded a bit later that he had just gotten out of the meeting and received our message and he would call the ER on his way to Los Gatos.  However, he stopped by the ER and saw George just as he was headed to get the CT scan.  He did an evaluation and gave possible scenarios.  He then stopped by to see me and give me the same.  He indicated that the options would be (if an obstruction was found) to admit overnight to keep an eye on him, give IV fluids and ensure pain was controlled – or to go home and try to do the same.  I got the feeling he was leaning towards George deciding to stay overnight. 

A CT scan showed an early stage partial blockage.  The morphine was doing the job and he was doing okay.  The next step was to see if George could tolerate drinking fluids.  If he couldn’t then he would have to stay overnight.  He drank a cup of water and had a little bit of cramping but it subsided quickly enough.  It was time to talk about discharge!

We left the ER about 4 ½ hours after we got there, having had labs, CT scan, etc. completed.  The medications he might need are ones we have on hand at home so did not need to make an extra stop to get those on the way home.

Unfortunately, this type of thing will probably be something we have to deal with more than we would like to.  It is part and parcel of this dread disease.

On a side note: My sister arrived two days ago for a couple of days to stay with us.  We had some nice sister time both last evening and for the entire day today.  It was upon our arrival home this afternoon that we found George having pain and nausea issues.  Tonight we pick up my niece, Alissa, as she will spend the night with us as well and tomorrow they will head over to Santa Cruz to see my nephew and niece-in-law.   Beth will return back here on Saturday night and heads out on Sunday morning.  It’s been nice having her here to chat with.