I went back to work on Wednesday June 27, 2012 for 4 hours a day. Those 4 hours were rough! My job has me out and about driving clients around all day. I stayed in the office. I had no energy to do otherwise. On Tuesday July 3, I went to work for 4 hours but didn't work the entire time. At about 2pm or so, I started getting hungry and the cramping pain were unbearable. I was on my way to pick up a client and decided to turn around because the pain was so bad. I sat in the parking lot trying to wait it out but it only got worse. I called my boss who came downstairs and wanted to call an ambulance. The hospital my surgeon is at is only 5-10 minutes down the road. I had one of my co-workers drive me to the hospital. I called my surgeon to let him know I was coming. They told me to go in through the ER and get an X-ray done immediately.
I went to the ER and waited for about 30 minutes before they sent me to get an X-ray. No surprise here. The X-ray showed that my small intestine was extremely distended and about twice the size it should be. Same as last time. They immediately got me a room on Bliss 8, the floor I always go to. I was in so much pain and just wanted it to go away. My brother met me at the ER and stayed with me that evening. I got my own room which was such a great thing. I finally got situated with an IV put in and pain medication and fluids flowing in.
The next day after losing a few more pounds. I was currently 96 lbs. My surgeon decided to put a PICC line in. The PICC line would allow me to get multiple liquids and nutrition at once. It can't go through a regular IV because it would be extremely painful. I have never had one of these before and it was scary.
The IV therapy nurse comes up and has to sterilize the entire area around you. She put on scrubs and covered me with a sterile sheet. She cleaned the entire area around me and scrubbed my right arm where the PICC line would go in. She uses an ultrasound machine to find a deep, large vessel in the upper arm. The nurse inserts a long, slender, small, flexible tube into a peripheral vein and advances it until the tip settles in a large vein in the chest near the heart. I thankfully did not feel it traveling through my chest. I only felt the initial insertion. An X-ray is needed right after it is put in to make sure the tube has not entered the heart. With the PICC line in, I was able to get fats, proteins, liquids, and other nutrients through the IV. This would prevent me from losing any more weight and prevent nutrition depletion.
The cramping didn't go away so they put me on a medication called Reglan. Reglan is used to treat certain conditions of the intestines and stomach. The Reglan would help my intestine move the gas through allowing my intestine to relax and move more comfortably. The Reglan has been a lifesaver. I am still on it but instead of taking 3 a day like I was, I am down to 1 pill a day. Unfortunately this medication can cause serious side affects such as unusual face movements that won't be able to be controlled and may never go away, even after use of medication has ended. Hopefully the medication will help enough that I won't have to be on it much longer. It has been a blessing so far. I have had cramps maybe twice since I came home from the hospital on July 8.
I can finally see light at the end of the tunnel. My stomach is healing. My family and I joke about it looking like the evil eye. Scars are scars. They don't bother me a bit. I will still rock a two piece at the beach :) 
