Mom is in the hospital. I called her this morning and she was in extreme pain, plus the ever present vomiting. She sounded awful. I called her doctor, and his nurse later called and told her to go to the emergency department. Her brother took her.
I has not completely unpacked from my return on Wednesday, so I quickly gathered up my things and came to the hospital, where we both sit in the emergency department.
They ran a CT scan. She’d had one on June 20 so I was curious what they would see now that they didn’t see then.
We just spoke with the doctor and they confirmed a bowel obstruction, most likely caused by scar tissue from the kidney removal surgery. When she eats it gets blocked, then backs up to her stomach and she vomits. And thus the awful cycle she has been enduring for weeks.
Having surgery to remove scar tissue is a last resort, and can be counterproductive as it could just lead to more scarring.
So they are going to run a tube to her stomach to decompress things and hopefully clear the obstruction. The two doctors who spoke with us were tenuous in their hope of this being a permanent fix.
She will be admitted tonight.
More when I know it.
9:30 PM UPDATE
Mom finally was admitted to her room at nine tonight after spending nearly eight hours in the emergency department.As it turns out, the tube that is running through her nose to her stomach is basically to empty her stomach and relieve the pressure, pain and vomiting. She will then be on “bowel rest,” which means no solid food for several days.
They gave her some pain medication that made her relaxed and sleepy. The surgeon came by and assessed her. He said that the obstruction could come from scar tissue, but it could also come from tumors pushing on her bowels. He said the best way to find out is through surgery. Sometimes it can fixed, and sometimes it can’t.
He is going to consult with the oncologist tomorrow.
I am frustrated and annoyed with these doctors and their diagnosis roulette. They spin the wheel of possible diagnoses and try this or that drug to treat what they *think* it is or, worse, just manage the symptoms without really addressing the underlying cause. Meanwhile, my mother has suffered severely for weeks.