Maggie Nell wrote:NHMike wrote:
The waves of pain are interesting. I guess that this is how the intestines normally work - they wake up every two minutes to push food along. There can be some gurgling too.
It would be nice if there were a surgical answer. I know that removing the scar tissue could have it come back but right now I'd prefer an ileostomy to what I'm going through right now.
What you can do to help with the motions of the peristalsis is to lightly massage your abdomen, in a clockwise motion. Start from your appendix and gently (let your
discomfort level be your guide) rotate the flat of your hand in a large circle - visualize going up the ascending colon, then across your transverse colon, down descending colon and back to appendix. Do that as many times as you feel needful, gradually pressing down more firmly with the flat of your hand - you're helping to push along any
bloating and faecal material. I have qualifications in tactile therapies and Compassionate Touch massage and whenever I get the sense of there being a
kink-in-the-hose and I'm seeing the bright flashing lights of an ambulance in my immediate future, I give my tummy a rub. I now give myself an abdominal massage before and after eating as part of my self-care.
I looked at blockages and there is a company out there that does some kind of massage work to break up scar tissue. I have heard of this being done in limbs but also heard that it's a very painful process. The other thing is that it typically takes about eight hours until food gets to the junction of the small and large intestines so it's a delayed reaction thing. I haven't eaten anything since yesterday afternoon and didn't eat that much but it still took a long time to go through. I'm planning on eating something today - maybe a piece of toast and I'm curious to see whether things are any better today. I got a lot of sleep last night and some during the day today. It would be nice if rest helped things along. I have the feeling that my surgeon will take a day or two to get back to me so it would be nice if I could survive until then.
I just ordered my CT scan from July (because of elevated CEA) as the oncologist wanted to see it and I'm going to order my CT scan showing the obstruction so that my surgeon has it available to look at. I have an appointment with Dana Farber on Tuesday and I'll bring the imaging disks and they'll put it up so that my doctors at DF and Brigham and Women's has access. I'd like to avoid extra scans if possible. I was surprised when my oncologist asked for the scan as I didn't think that they usually read them.
I did do a little probing and pushing but I didn't really feel things outside of whether it felt hard or soft. When it feels soft, I don't have problems. But, this afternoon, I'm doing okay because there's no food in the system. I have some Werthers and I'm going to suck on them for calories.