I'm new here, and I found this forum after trying to find answers to my concerns about my husband's recent surgery. I apologize in advance if this is long, but I need some reassurance and some advice.
To give you a summary of his disease: he's had bowel issues his whole life. He wasn't diagnosed with Crohn's until he was 16 (he is now 33). Four years ago he went in for a colon resection after not being able to have a bowel movement for a few months. What they found was a massive super colon that was so diseased that they had to remove it. He woke up, 9 hours later, with an ileostomy. They left things so that he could be reconnected later, but he has opted not to do that.
He has been pain free for those four years and loving it (after 29 years of almost constant pain). However, about two weeks ago he complained about gas pains in his abdomen. After trying Pepto, Gas-X, and Tums, he didn't find relief, and soon he was almost crying in pain. I took him to the E.R. They did a CT scan and then also an X-ray study with contrast and did find an obstruction in his upper intestine. They admitted him and he was there for 6 days; most of the time on an NG tube and a catheter. He even managed to vomit with the NG tube down his throat. They released him last Friday because he thought he saw stool in his pouch and he was feeling better (no, they did not do a final X-ray or scan to verify anything).
All day Saturday he complained of pain. It sounded like dilaudid withdrawal to me (I'm a psychotherapist and work with people with addictions) so I was more concerned about the fact that they just stopped the dilaudid cold turkey and put him on Percoset and figured he was going through withdrawals. By Sunday morning he was crying (and he never cries), and in worse pain than ever, so I took him back to the E.R. They did a CT scan again and found that his obstruction was worse and possibly caused by adhesions from his colectomy surgery. He had surgery that evening, and they found a stricture and had to resect about 4 inches of his upper intestine. He was NPO for a few days, then on clears. He had severe pain. They had to re-open his incision because it was full of puss, and while no infection was found, they put him on a wound VAC. A day later (yesterday), they sent him home with a portable wound VAC. He was having gas pains (both intestinal and in the abdominal cavity), but was eating, and was successfully passing stool in his pouch.
He woke up feeling pretty good today and even asked me to cook him some eggs, which I did. He didn't really eat much of them, though, because the gas pains came back severely, and he sat there, crouching in pain, asking if he could possibly still have an obstruction? Of course I don't know the answer to that, but I hate seeing him in pain. He them vomited three times (the few things he has eaten today), and informed me very little has come through his pouch.
Needless to say we called the Dr. back and he wants us to wait a few hours, and if he doesn't feel better, they will readmit him, insert that NG tube once again, and decompress his stomach.
I am feeling like something is wrong here, and I'm scared. This will be the third time he's admitted in two weeks. Why would he feel better, get home, and then suddenly have symptoms of an obstruction once again? Could the vomiting be due to the Percoset he's on, or to simple recovery? As for the gas pain, why isn't that gone yet -- I thought it was supposed to dissipate 2-3 days after surgery (and it's been a week)? What have your experiences been?
To give you a summary of his disease: he's had bowel issues his whole life. He wasn't diagnosed with Crohn's until he was 16 (he is now 33). Four years ago he went in for a colon resection after not being able to have a bowel movement for a few months. What they found was a massive super colon that was so diseased that they had to remove it. He woke up, 9 hours later, with an ileostomy. They left things so that he could be reconnected later, but he has opted not to do that.
He has been pain free for those four years and loving it (after 29 years of almost constant pain). However, about two weeks ago he complained about gas pains in his abdomen. After trying Pepto, Gas-X, and Tums, he didn't find relief, and soon he was almost crying in pain. I took him to the E.R. They did a CT scan and then also an X-ray study with contrast and did find an obstruction in his upper intestine. They admitted him and he was there for 6 days; most of the time on an NG tube and a catheter. He even managed to vomit with the NG tube down his throat. They released him last Friday because he thought he saw stool in his pouch and he was feeling better (no, they did not do a final X-ray or scan to verify anything).
All day Saturday he complained of pain. It sounded like dilaudid withdrawal to me (I'm a psychotherapist and work with people with addictions) so I was more concerned about the fact that they just stopped the dilaudid cold turkey and put him on Percoset and figured he was going through withdrawals. By Sunday morning he was crying (and he never cries), and in worse pain than ever, so I took him back to the E.R. They did a CT scan again and found that his obstruction was worse and possibly caused by adhesions from his colectomy surgery. He had surgery that evening, and they found a stricture and had to resect about 4 inches of his upper intestine. He was NPO for a few days, then on clears. He had severe pain. They had to re-open his incision because it was full of puss, and while no infection was found, they put him on a wound VAC. A day later (yesterday), they sent him home with a portable wound VAC. He was having gas pains (both intestinal and in the abdominal cavity), but was eating, and was successfully passing stool in his pouch.
He woke up feeling pretty good today and even asked me to cook him some eggs, which I did. He didn't really eat much of them, though, because the gas pains came back severely, and he sat there, crouching in pain, asking if he could possibly still have an obstruction? Of course I don't know the answer to that, but I hate seeing him in pain. He them vomited three times (the few things he has eaten today), and informed me very little has come through his pouch.
Needless to say we called the Dr. back and he wants us to wait a few hours, and if he doesn't feel better, they will readmit him, insert that NG tube once again, and decompress his stomach.
I am feeling like something is wrong here, and I'm scared. This will be the third time he's admitted in two weeks. Why would he feel better, get home, and then suddenly have symptoms of an obstruction once again? Could the vomiting be due to the Percoset he's on, or to simple recovery? As for the gas pain, why isn't that gone yet -- I thought it was supposed to dissipate 2-3 days after surgery (and it's been a week)? What have your experiences been?
