My Wild Ride on the Pain Rollercoaster

Recently I have gone through the most pain in my life and this is something that I will never forget so I thought that I might as well share my story. So here goes nothing...

It all began with what I thought was food poisoning. I was with my girlfriend visiting her family and we had just got back from a big family gathering where there was lots of food. I helped myself to a lot of food and a beer and was feeling great, but when we returned to my girlfriend's house, I began to feel weak to my stomach and needed to lie down.

Soon after lying down for awhile, I needed to throw up and made my way to the bathroom. This was not good because I was supposed to be leaving for a trip to Colorado with a group of friends the next day and we were going to be driving my car. I ended up throwing up 4-5 times that night and didn't think that I would be able to make the trip to Colorado. My friends were definitely pushing for me to still go and just tough it out.

The next day comes and we decide to just push our trip back a day, but now I had a cramp on my right side that just wouldn't go away. I didn't think that the cramp was anything too unusual because it popped up as a symptom of food poisoning when I was researching my symptoms and I was still able to walk around without too much trouble. However, my girlfriend has a cousin who is in my pharmacy school and we consulted her about my symptoms and she immediately thought it was appendicitis and that I should go to the emergency room. Well, I didn't go to the hospital right away because I just didn't want to go because I was afraid of what the costs might turn out to be and I kinda just refused to believe that I had appendicitis. My friends were still pushing hard for me to go on the trip, but I was in no shape to go. My brother said, "You can lie down in the back with a trash bag and we'll do the driving." Thanks bro, great words of encouragement.

I tried smoking a little bit of weed that to see if that would make me feel any better and it did to a point, but I still felt iffy. I went to bed that night, but woke up at 2:27 A.M. in massive amounts of pain. I knew at this point that it definitely had to be appendicitis and I should have listened to my girlfriend's cousin, but it was too late for that. I crawled over to my girlfriends room and woke her up to tell her that I needed to go to the hospital immediately and then crawled back to my room to rest while my girlfriend got ready to take me to the hospital. A few minutes went by and I heard no movement from my girlfriend's room. So I crawled back to her room and she had fallen back asleep. I guess I didn't wake her up enough the first time or she thought she was dreaming so this time I really shook her awake and to the hospital we went. I had to walk hunched over because I was in so much pain.

When I arrived at the hospital, I found a chair next to the front desk/check in area and started the check in process. They took my weight and vitals. Just for reference, I weighed 155 lbs at this point. Next, I was wheel-chaired to an emergency room setting and had an IV put in right away, blood drawn, and had to answer a lot of questions. I was asked on a scale of 1-10 what my pain was. My answer was 10 because this was the most pain that I have ever experienced. They soon gave me morphine for the pain, but sadly that didn't even touch my pain - it wasn't enough. They had to give me something even stronger than morphine. I think it was called hydromorphone, but this time it did the trick. My pain then went down to around a 3-4 and it was much more manageable after that.

Next, I had to prepare for a CT scan so I had to drink this contrast fluid that tasted like yellow lemonade. I had to drink 2 cups of it in total and then I was good to go. Here are the official findings of the CT scan from my hospital records:

Examinations: CT Scanning-Abdomen/Pelvis W/ Contrast (00000001783617J) performed on 05/23/17
Postcontrast CT abdomen and pelvis on 05/23/2017 with oral and IV injection 100 cc Omnipaque-300
contrast

HISTORY:
Abdominal and RLQ pain.

FINDINGS:
There is a large amount of oral contrast in the lower esophagus. Very small hiatal hernia. The heart is
normal size. Lung base is clear. The liver, spleen, kidneys, adrenals, and pancreas show no focal
enhancing mass. No calcified gallstones. Moderate to large amount of RLQ free fluid is present. At the
base of the appendix is a large appendicolith measuring up to 2 cm in size. The proximal appendix
dilates up to 16 mm. Large amount of RLQ fat stranding. No abscess or free air. Small to moderate
pelvic free fluid. On the delayed phase the kidneys have good contrast excretion. No acute or
aggressive bone lesion. No suspicious lymphadenopathy.

IMPRESSION:

1. Severe acute appendicitis with significant adjacent free fluid.
2. No abscess or free air.
3. Small hiatal hernia with concern for gastroesophageal reflux.

I was told after that that I would need surgery (emergency appendectomy) because I had severe acute appendicitis and that my appendix had actually ruptured. This was going to be my first major surgery besides a wisdom teeth surgery. I was taken to a hospital room in the pediatrics area and had to wait about 6 hours until my surgery. While waiting, I could not eat or drink anything and just kinda sat there with my mind blank. I didn't really know how to react to everything. I was in shock.

Come surgery time, I was wheeled to the pre-op area and had my vitals taken again, chest shaven, wiped clean with antibacterial wipes, and I also had to use mouth wash. I then had to answer questions so I could get the correct anesthesia dosage. After all the pre-op stuff was done, it was time for surgery. I said my goodbyes to my girlfriend and then I was wheeled to the surgery room in my hospital bed. When I arrived at the surgery room, I had straps put on my legs so I wouldn't get blood clots during surgery. Then the anesthesia mask was put on me and I was out in a matter of seconds.

Later I woke up back in the pre-op area and was still feeling out of it from the anesthesia and was soon wheeled back to my room in the pediatrics area where my girlfriend was waiting. I was told my surgery was a success and also that I had a JP drain put in me to deal with all the nasty infections that came out of my appendix and protect me developing an abscess.

My surgery was on 5/23/2017 and I was released on 5/27/2017. While I was in the hospital, I was on an all fluids diet and didn't have an appetite. The hospital food was awful, but I had to eat what I could. My diet consisted of broth, apple juice, and Italian ice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner plus some Sprite here and there. I had to go on at least 5 walks a day and use a breathing machine every hour. It wasn't so bad, but before I was released, I had to have my JP drain taken out. If you don't know what a JP drain is, then you might want to look it up for full context. Basically there was a foot long tube that was inside me that was connected to this plastic bulb that filled up with fluid. It hurt like hell when it was taken out of me and it felt like it pinched a nerve by my bladder. Also, the nurse who took it out had to call in another nurse to help her out and I got the sense that she didn't completely know what she was doing.

Anyways, I was released from the hospital but my stomach was very distended and it was difficult to eat food because it always felt like I was full. I ended up throwing up each night/day and I couldn't get any sleep. I maybe got 3 hours of non-consecutive sleep each night mostly in the fetal position on my knees and curled over a trash can. I even hallucinated from lack of sleep some nights. Just about every night I was pacing around all night because I was experiencing gas pains which felt like stabbing pains in my back. Every time I threw up, it was black and a lot came out. I was also hiccuping about 24/7 and sometimes I would hiccup so many times in a row that I couldn't breathe. I would have to spit when I had these episodes in order to breathe again. It was very scary. I had an appointment with my doctor who did my surgery on Wednesday 5/31/2017 and I basically had to wait it out until then because it was Memorial day weekend.

On the night of 5/28/2017, I had 6 episodes of hiccuping so much that I couldn't breathe so I ended up going to the hospital again at midnight. I went through the usual vitals and was taken to an ER room. I had an IV put in and blood drawn again. This time I didn't get a CT scan, but rather I got an x-ray. Here are the results from the x-ray:

Examinations: Radiology-Acute Abdomen Series (00000001789811J) performed on 05/29/17
Acute abdominal series on 05/29/2017

HISTORY:
Dyspnea, postop abdominal pain.

FINDINGS:
The heart is normal size and the lungs are clear. There is oral contrast in the colon. Small
bowel loops dilate up to about 5 cm. There are air-fluid levels.

IMPRESSION:
Moderate to severe ileus versus partial small bowel obstruction. Recommend follow-up.

I was told that I had an Ileaus and was prescribed an anti-nausea medicine. Notice that the impression mentions a small bowel obstruction. This is important for later, but I was not told about this during my ER visit. The anti-nausea medicine helped to a point, but I still ended up throwing up each day until my appointment on 5/ 31/2017. I still wasn't able to get any good sleep, was in constant pain, and was basically just counting down the time until my appointment with my doctor.

Let's fast forward to the appointment on Wednesday. When I finally saw my doctor, I could tell by the look on his face when he was looking at my stomach that things were not good. He told me that I should be readmitted to the hospital right away and have a CT scan done. So I go the the hospital again and at this point, my stomach is already feeling full. I get to the point where I have to drink the contrast fluid again and this time it was very difficult to get it down. I finished one cup of the fluid without too many issues, but I still had to drink one more cup. My stomach felt so full so I only managed to finish about 3/5 of the cup. I get to the CT scan and I had to lie flat on my back for it and this was very uncomfortable. I was holding back puke the entire time and felt awful. I eventually made it through the CT scan without throwing up, but as soon as I was wheeled back to my new hospital room, I threw up everything in my stomach. They gave me a puke bag and I literally filled up the entire bag. It was 1700 cc of fluid and it was all black. I felt so relieved after that that I almost felt normal, but after about an hour the pains came back and I didn't feel normal. I was still hiccuping and with every hiccup, a little bit of puke came into my mouth.

Here are the results of the CT scan:
Examinations: CT Scanning-Abdomen/Pelvis W/ Contrast (00000001792379J) performed on 05/31/17
Postcontrast CT abdomen and pelvis on 05/31/2017 with oral and IV injection 100 cc Omnipaque-300
contrast
Comparison with 05/23/2017.

HISTORY:
Recent appendectomy with persistent abdominal and pelvic pain.

FINDINGS:
The heart is normal size. There is a large amount of oral contrast and a very dilated lower esophagus.
The stomach is extremely large. Loops of small bowel are extremely large. They measure up to about 6
cm in size. The appendix is surgically absent. There is oral contrast in the colon, which may be related
to 05/23/2017 CT examination. The colon is very collapsed on this exam. There is collapsed terminal
ileum. No abscess or free air. Minimal RLQ free fluid.

IMPRESSION:

1. High-grade distal small bowel obstruction needs very close follow-up.
2. Interval appendectomy. No abscess or free air.

I was told shortly after by my doctor that had a kink in my bowel (imagine a water hose that has a kink in it) and that I would need surgery again in order to fix it. My doctor said that the bowel obstruction was due to the adhesions from the first surgery. This time I was looking forward to my surgery because I had been in constant pain up until this point and I was just ready to feel normal again, but I had to wait until the next morning for surgery so I had to go a whole day without drinking any water or eating any food. It was the worst because I was just dying for a nice cold glass of water all day, but I just had to power through it. The IV fluids was all I could have.

The next morning comes and it was about 7:30 A.M. when I was wheeled off to the pre-op room. I went through all the same procedures and my mind blanked again. I was in shock that I was about to go into surgery again, but I knew that this time should be the last time that I need surgery. This time I had my girlfriend, brother, and mom with me in the pre-op room. It was very comforting to have all of them supporting me so I felt really good about the surgery.

After waking up from the second surgery, my stomach was in a good deal of pain because they used the same incisions from the first surgery (both were laparoscopic surgeries) and I had another JP drain put in place. My uvula felt very weird as well. I was informed that during surgery, they discovered that I had an abscess and that they also drained my stomach of 300 cc of fluid.

The recovery process was a lot better this time. I was walking around the hospital with more energy this time and just feeling better than after the first surgery. I was still using a breathing machine as well. I was also still on an all fluids diet. So I had broth, apple juice, and Italian ice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner again for about 3-4 days. Eventually on one of my last days in the hospital, I was upgraded to the full fluids diet so I could have chocolate milk and chocolate pudding. Woohoo! Eventually I was released from the hospital on 6/7/2017. I had my JP drain removed before I left again, but the nurse who did it was a lot better than the other nurse and it didn't hurt as bad as the last one.

So that's just about my whole story. I left out some details like some other times I experienced gas pains, how it was difficult to sleep in the hospital (nurses came in my room for vitals about every 2 hours and my blood was drawn every morning at 4 A.M.), and how my dog was allowed to stay with me in the hospital, but I think you get the gist. I am doing so much better now and I almost feel normal. I can actually sleep at night now. My incisions are all healed up and I'm just waiting on my muscles to heal up now. It was a crazy experience and I will never forget it. If you ever have a cramp in your side that lasts all day, just go to the hospital.

Thanks for reading. :)