Chemo went fine, but a couple hours later (thankfully, we were binging at Goodwill and still in town) my abdominal pain went crazed, took a look to see Grimhild making a serious break for it, over 6 inches of my colon was protruding, so off to emergency. The doc managed to massage Grim mostly back in, sent for a CT scan, which showed no blockage, but I have a colostomy prolapse, and a parasternal hernia, along with chronic anemia. So, surgery tomorrow, and I have to be flat on my back, so no blogging. I shouldn’t be doing this right now. This is all the info I have right now, figure I’ll be missing for two to three days at the least. Oh, and trust me – you do not want to see a pic, you’d run screaming into the night. It looks like a zombie got a hold of me.
I’m so sorry, I’ll be back as soon as possible. Voyager & Charly, the blog is yours, have fun!
ETA: There’s a lengthier follow up here: CC Notes: When Prolapse Happens.
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Oh Caine, I am so sorry. It’s great that there is no blockage, but what a horrid thing to happen. I very much hope the operation goes smoothly and you make a quick recovery. I suppose at least they’ll keep you rehydrated and pain free.
Take care, Caine, and I hope the medical people get you sorted and comfortable ASAP.
Oh man, none of that sounds even remotely pleasant. I hope everything goes well.
Oh no. Well, good thing you were still there as you say… that is just awful. :-( Rest easy, we will be OK, naturally we will think of you and worry but it sounds like you are in good hands and all I can do is be really glad for modern medicine.
We’ll be thinking of you, Caine.
fucking hell
*hugs*
Oh, and trust me – you do not want to see a pic, you’d run screaming into the night.
The last time I was face to face with a severe injury, it was a young lady (“a cutter”) who didn’t have much experience with real knives and -- when I was not paying attention -- used one of mine on her leg. I went into panic mode, got the edges of everything lined up and taped together and we were just heading for the car when I went into shock, blacked out, fell face-first onto the concrete floor, and broke my jaw (including the shattered end of the mandible rotating and cracking my skull) -- that was how I got my jaw wired shut (and there was much rejoicing in some quarters) and a 2 month vacation with an involuntary weight loss program from hell.
I’m mentioning that because some of us have sympathetic shock syncope and it can be pretty interesting. Reading your description left me sitting in my chair whooping for air and staring at the ceiling. I’m not complaining, I’ve had to learn to deal with it, but it sure is tough on those toxic masculinity roles.
PS -- thoughts and prayers!
Well, shit. I suppose it’s the best of bad news, in a way -- be well, recover well, I hope all goes as best it can. Many supportive thoughts to Rick as well. ♥
Best wishes.
Wishing you allthe best and figuratively holding Rick’s hand.
Good luck.
I’m sorry. I wish they can put all the bits concerned to their correct places! My warmest thoughts for you and Rick!
Feeling well enough to misbehave a bit this morning, but I don’t have long. Rick watched the doc massaging Grimhild back in yesterday; and just from that, he proved himself to be outstanding at doing it himself. He’s so talented. I’m a bit slower learning how to do it. Still, surgery awaits.
Thank you all so much! I’ll get info to you all as I get it, right now everything is up in the air.
Marcus, I am so grateful you did not hurt yourself! I’d hate to feel responsible for such a thing, I didn’t know. Glad you can deal with it better now. I did deliberately go light on the description, because the sight did actually send Rick and I into shock, we didn’t start to come out of it until quite late last night. And be proud of not being a toxic male stereotype. :D
Oh, fuck, I’m so sorry, Caine. Good luck for the surgery and my best wishes for you and Rick. You’re lucky to have him.
***
Marcus Ranum, you are not alone in that, my father is the same. There doesn’t have to be a lot of blood or weird anatomical injuries for him to black out either, just the perception that someone else is in severe physical pain. I don’t think he ever injured himself as much as you did, though!
OMFG, I hope it all gets better soon.
Damn, Caine, it seems like you’re getting whammied with every possible whammy and then inventing some new ones. Hope all goes well with the surgery and you’re back to “normal” soon.
*grim humor warning tag*
The Partner works in the ER and being very experienced, often ends up mentoring new nurses/paramedics. Some of these people are really excited about finally getting to work with actual patients! That is, until they see some of the injuries/illnesses etc. that people come in to the ER with. The Partner has described far more than one of these excited, hopeful people wilting and passing out when actually faced with seeing a gunshot wound, lots of blood etc. The other people just shrug, help get the new person up off the floor and somewhere safe, and then calmly continue working on the patient. I guess one can become accustomed to seeing blood and mayhem… BUT, I always have to give shots to my goats all by my lonesome as the Partner simply can not bear the thought of an animal being in pain, even for a second! I guess we all have our limits. I could never work in the ER. I’d be on the floor too.
Oh dear! Best wishes and good luck for both of you!
Thank you all again. There’s been a change of plan. Saw my surgeon today, around 11:00am, after spending all this time last night getting everything packed for a hospital stay and all that shit to be told no surgery. My last cycle is set for 2 weeks from now, on the 30th this month. My surgeon doesn’t want to do surgery until the chemo is done, because chemo slows down healing, and yeah, I’ve seen evidence of that all through. That said, they ideally don’t want to do any surgery until at least 2 weeks past the last cycle. I won’t be having my CT and labs until 3 weeks after my last cycle, and my surgeon wants to see those results prior to surgery, then wait one more week.
So, it will be SIX FUCKING WEEKS before the prolapse and hernia are dealt with, unless Grimhild goes gray, or I start with the nausea and vomiting. I was sent home with an abdominal binder, which may or may not help. (I’ll take a pic tomorrow -- it’s the smallest one they have, and it ain’t exactly for smaller type people.) It’s either that, or lying flat and massaging Grimhild back in every fricking half hour I’m upright. I did most of my crying and screaming and ranting already. I will definitely be sleeping in, I’m in desperate need of a sleep with no alarm waiting.
I’ll be home to get at least some of the regular stuff up, but I still probably won’t be around much for a couple of days, I need a bit of time to deal with this latest bump in the road.
JESUSONAPOPSICLESTICK!
You must have broken a fucktonne of mirrors, walked under every ladder you ever saw, and always stopped to let the black cats cross your path. :-)
I feel for you and Rick, I really do wish you all the best and that you soon get some relief from these trials and tribulations.
May the scent of a thousand roses fill your days and the light of peace and calm fill your nights.
DavidinOz:
I think I must have too. :D I’ve missed you, what have you been up to lately?
Sounds like you have six long weeks ahead of you, I wish I knew how to help in making them go by more quickly. The abdominal pain will at least be under control during that time, I hope?
Nightjar:
Oh yes, I still have standing scrips for standard and extended morphine, and the pain is primarily cause by Grimhild protruding. The more she protrudes, the worse it is, so that has to be dealt with by laying down and massage. I wore the binder today, while shopping, it’s not terribly comfortable, and while it does seem to keep the protrusion in check, it also prevents the passage of gas and solid materials, which is not okay, so I think I have to limit wearing it to times of fairly heavy activity. I guess I’ll see what works and what doesn’t in the time to come.
Welp, it’s long past official, that is entirely too much bullshit for one mere human! Times, like, twenty.
I’m sorry Caine. I hope the pain meds and binder help and the next six weeks fly past.
Thank you, Onamission5. I hope so too, but I suspect it’s going to be a long six weeks.
Argh fuck. 6 weeks and that during the best time of the year.
Let’s hope that the final chemo goes down smoothly and then you can have your surgery and finally start healing.
Caine -- I’m very concerned -- are you ok? What precipitated this event? I’m so sorry this has thrown your schedule off yet again. This sucks so much it’s just fucking ridiculous.
Victoriajoy
Giliell:
Yeah…this is going to bump right into my radiation schedule, too.
Victoriajoy:
I’ll be okay, I just need a couple of days to accept this current mess. I have no idea what brought this on, it seems prolapse is a fairly common problem, and more likely to happen when a movement is necessary. Grimhild is at normal level right now; I expect I’ll have more problems after the last cycle in two weeks, because I get chemo induced constipation, and have to take milk of magnesia to deal with it. The most helpful thing will be being mentally prepared for it -- no one brings this up until it happens, and it’s a serious psychological shock -- that effect is much stronger and worse than the actual prolapse, which is fairly easy to deal with, once you know how.
Now that we had time to think and talk, it seems this will bump right into my radiation schedule, so that will most likely be pushed back, which is more effing upsetting, too. At this rate, I wont be done until very late in the year. And yes, I agree, this is ridiculous.