Me now!

Hello everyone, I hope everything is going well your way!  You will not, or maybe you will, believe that I had to have my catheter replaced AGAIN!  This time it was purely my fault – let me tell you the story..

So, every since winter started, I have been trying to figure out an exercise that is both ostomy and catheter friendly for me to do.  First, I tried walking/jogging on the treadmill that has been doing nothing lately but collecting dust.  I was doing good for a while, until my arthritis in my knees started creeping in, so I had to stop doing that exercise.  I didn’t do anything for a while which was really getting to me, so I thought that maybe I should try something else.  I decided I would try the yoga DVD that I had bought a year ago that was collecting dust.  I was really getting into that, and actually started to enjoy it.  I would say I did this exercise for about a good week and a half before I had to stop doing this also.  One day, my home health nurse did her weekly visit to collect blood and change my dressing.  She took off the dressing and started cleaning it, obviously not paying much attention to what it looked like because we were blabbering on like school girls.  I asked her if my catheter/stitches were red because the alcohol she was cleaning the area with was burning.  She looked down and told me that my stitches had been popped and the catheter was barely hanging in there!!  Obviously, when I did my stretches for yoga, I stretched too much and it pulled my catheter right out!  I knew I couldn’t do some of the stretches and the ones I did sometimes hurt a little so I would stop..not sure when it happened during that week.  She immediately taped me up as good as she could and called my doctor to tell her what had happened and to see what she wanted to do as far as replacement. The doctor had 3 options: 1. We could take it out and leave it out. 2. We could replace the catheter and 3. We could put a port in.  The doctor chose option 2..

So I told the doctor that this time I wanted to be sedated because I had a bad experience last time (see previous post).  They wanted to do it the next day so I had to hurry and let my husband know so he could take off work to take me..

Everything was going well until the doctor himself tried placing the IV into my arm..he attempted to stick it in a place I’ve never been stuck before (backside of arm) and of course he didn’t get it so he had to go up but this time he grabbed the ultrasound machine for tracking veins.  I told him where to look and he stuck the IV needle right through the gel and into my arm!  I thought to myself that I just may get sepsis from him doing something like that but I’m still here to tell the tale!  The next one was a gusher and he tried to stop it from pouring out by putting a clear tacaderm on it.  That was funny because it just slipped right off from all the wet blood that was on my arm!  Finally, he got the IV bleeding under control and when he left, there was blood everywhere!  There was a big pool of blood on my bed covers and drops of blood on the floor from where it dripped off the bed.  My whole arm was covered with dried blood and he just left me that way!  The first nurse that came in told me he was there to give me my blood transfusion – I must have looked confused, then he looked at me and told me that by looking at all the blood everywhere, I may need one!

May 2016

All in all, the surgery itself went well, a lot better than the last one!  If the doctor would have chosen the first choice, they would have taken the catheter out and put me on a medicine called Gadex (not sure of the spelling).  This medicine helps the inside part of the intestine (villi) grow back allowing me to absorb what is needed to help me thrive.  The one small drawback is the dosage involves one shot of this medicine per day.  It also makes you gain weight since you are absorbing much more than before.  Okay, the TPN has made me gain 30 pounds, now they are telling me I will gain more??!!  I know being healthy, in more ways than one, should be my main goal, however, I know me and it will affect me mentally if I gain any more weight!  No kidding, I have 7 big tubs of just my clothes in the basement because for every season, there are sizes 4-14 already, I cannot imagine adding on an extra size or two more!

All in all, I’m doing pretty good, despite a couple of mishaps.  I do feel like I am getting another fistula and my bag is pancaking but that is just something I’m going to have to live with right now, I am trying my best to take care of them both without having to go to the doctor.  I have to change my lifestyle again and drink plenty of fluids and so far, it hasn’t been too bad.  I know I need my doctor’s permission, but is there an exercise that you can recommend that is both ostomy and catheter friendly?  Maybe something low-key?  My main objective is to firm up some.  Just remember to take one day at a time and we’ll somehow get through this crazy world together!

Chow for now!

Kelly