Endoscopy appointment

My appointment for my endoscopy has arrived, it is on Friday are 1pm. When the envelope arrived I knew as I had an endoscopy about 8 years ago that the big packs where the horrid mix that I have to drink the night before and I thought that the booklet that arrived would simply be to tell my what would happen and when to take the gunk, I nearly put it into the kitchen without looking at it, but for some reason I read it, which turns out to be a good idea as things have changed a lot! There is now a diet to be restricted to for the 2days before and on the day of the actual process. For the two days before I can only eat the type of food that I actually hate, almost everything I eat is off the list. I am supposed to eat only white bread, breakfast cereals, fish, meat, peeled potatoes, white pasta and white rice, crisps, rich tea biscuits, cheese, sauces not including Tomato. Basically a totally fiber free diet, 99% of what I eat is fiber, one of the reasons why food not passing through my gut is a rather odd thing to happen, so far today I have had a large bowl of porridge and 4 pieces of fruit, Adam constantly compares me to a rabbit, all not allowed for Wednesday and Thursday. Out of what I am allowed to eat the only things that I have in the house that I would find edible is the pasta and rice, both of which I am happy to eat plain. It does seem a little odd that you aren’t allowed fiber, when they are asking you to drink two liters of liquid that will make you run to the loo constantly for several hours. I will of course comply with this as they want me to.

On top of that they now lay out in detail when you are to drink the gunk, it has now to be in two sessions one in the afternoon the other in the evening, and once you have begun drinking the gunk there is no solid food at all, just sugar free drinks, excluding milk, why sugar free? What concerns me is Thursday evening, I don’t like the gunk but that isn’t the problem, my medication it slow release, the gunk is going to force it through me at speed, so how am I meant to control my pain levels? I think that is something I am going to have to phone my GP about, as that does worry me a bit, it isn’t just the pain though as I know that the withdrawal of my MST and Amitriptyline would not be a nice thing to go through. I have on occasion forgotten to take my Amitriptyline in the past, as it is a liquid and the rest are tablet. With in a hour of missing it, I have been in a sweat and feeling like death, I have no idea what a sudden stop of my MST would be like. I’m not sure other than an injection what they can do to make it easier.

So once again the NHS have booked out my Friday, I have to say that I am impressed at how quickly this appointment has come through, I did expect to be waiting about months, so thumbs up there. All I hope is that they find something useful and stop me feeling like I do and that they can get my gut to do what a gut is meant to do, without pain preferably. I almost bet I am gong to come home with yet another label just as I did after my scan, I never thought that I had gallstones, but I do and I can’t help wondering what else is lurking in there, this could be interesting.

My condition? Waiting AGAIN!

This is beginning to feel like a daily medical update. There is hopefully some good news following the Doctors visit yesterday but to me at this very second the best news is, I have no medical people in my home today!!! It just feels so good to be in a settled atmosphere, no tension of waiting around, feeling I can’t do anything as the doorbell might ring any moment, not that I really do anything, but even a shower is out until they had been and gone. Today just feels totally different.

I talked through all of what has been happening in the last few months and we are on all change footing at the moment. The Doctor confirmed what the nurse said the tablet fact having traveled right through intact to even the colour was clear Malabsorption, he agreed that that would be a perfect reason to my not having any control over my pain control. I had half expected that it would mean a change to injections but no. I’m not a chemist but apparently there are several different combinations that morphine can be administered in tablets form. It is highly possible that it is the combination the Oxycontin is that my body isn’t dissolving fully, so I am now on MST instead, this sounds simple but surprise, surprise it isn’t. It is impossible to say how much of the morphine has actually been getting into my system so we are playing with dosage at the moment. The reason Doctors prescribe Oxycontin is the combination of chemicals allow a lower level of Morphine, to have the same effect as doubling to pure morphine. The straight swap would mean I should be taking 90mg of MST and that is a lot of morphine. So we agreed that I will start on 30mg and I have 10 mg tabs as well, I can therefore work with it to get the right dosage for me. As I said before I have no desire to be flat out in my bed, but I don’t want too much pain either. This morning I took my first 30mg, one hour later I was in agony, there was not change to the pain level from before I took it. I dived in and I took another 30mg. That was 2 hour ago, I feel a bit doped but the pain is well under control, I think I could easily manage on 50mg, so I will try that tonight, I know the doctor wanted me to try the other way, going slowly upwards not high and coming down.

He as stopped all the bowel medications we have been trying to use to control them, he feel that all we may well be doing is aggravating the situation, but he isn’t sure what the problem is so I am going to have to go and see a Gastro Specialist at the hospital. A day out including people to get me there and back. The only thing that he said was, because of the pain I get, it may involve my Gall Bladder,but that could all be wrong, I need it all investigated. If it gets me body a little bit more controlled I will be happy. So I now wait for the letter to go to the hospital and everything else organised round it.

As for my leg, it is nothing more than what it always had been before, just fluid collecting due to my immobility, edema, more meds, doubling the dose of the fluid tabs to see if that shifts it, it might also help a little with the rest of my weight as well, fluid doesn’t only collect in your legs.

Tomorrow the District Nurse will be here again but luckily not with suppositories, they are going to do a full spectrum of blood tests, that will hopeful rule out some of the possibilities that could be behind my bowel problems, like my liver and kidneys. Then, well then I wait, wait for results, wait for appointments and wait for the right level of all my meds. I kind of feel that I have wasted the last few months and I am right back at the beginning. I also can’t help wondering what would have happened if we had continued on the path we were on, if I hadn’t found that tablet, what would have been the outcome?