A Light at the End of the Tunnel

 And it's been awhile since I could have enough information to post about my condition.  December 2020 ended with my second sig flex with dilation procedure.  It showed that I was still overhealing and the anastomosis site was trying to close.  What they changed was injecting a steroid shot at the site to see if that would keep it open. 


Fast forward to January 13th when I had my 3rd sig flex with dilation procedure scheduled here in Louisville.  Good to know, if you have tiny veins then you should let the scheduling department know to have the IV team on standby.  I lost 20 minutes because they could not get the IV going.  They were getting a blood return, but the fluids were not flowing.  After 3 sticks and the use of an ultrasound machine, they got it.  Anyway, the gastroenterologist was able to expand the anastomosis site from 15 mm to 18 mm.  She confirmed that the steroid shot did its job and the site stayed open.   She did another shot to continue keeping it open after her dilation procedure.

I was messaging the bowel surgeon back and forth after that.  I asked her how wide did the anastomosis site need to be before we could schedule the loop ileostomy closure.  She said that it needed to persistently be wide enough for a scope to go through.  "How wide is that?," I asked.  She would not tell me exactly how wide the site needed to stay open.  At that point I searched on ze internet how wide a colonoscopy scope is; answer: 14 mm.  If I was 18 mm wide at that point, I realized her hesitation was the fact that not enough time had past with the steroid injections to ensure the site would not start closing again.

Unfortunately, the gastroenterologist in Louisville did not have another opening for my next sig flex until another halfway through February, but St. Louis did a week earlier.  My mom-in-law and I arrived in St. Louis February 3rd around 7 pm Central time.  We had a big dinner and went to sleep around midnight.  Unfortunately a perfect storm emerged to create my first ostomy bag blow out.  Who doesn't want their first blow out to be in the presence of their mom-in-law?  My previous bag change was not the best stick (when you try to lift it back up to reposition the hole you cut out, it can compromise the seal) and I had a rather large dinner with two sides of steamed veggies.  I also should have emptied my bag one more time before going to bed.  I woke up at 2 am with my pajamas ruined for the night as I find a replacement bag and dash to the bathroom.  I jumped in the shower for 45 minutes, before my mom-in-law checked on me and helped with the aftermath.  Thank God we had two separate beds!

The procedure on the morning of February 4th went well.  My IV went in on the first stick with the second person successfully guiding the needle in the vein.  I was very transparent with the gastroenterologist about my concerns with our health insurance so he was on my side with getting the bowel surgeon moving to schedule a date for the closure surgery A.S.A.P.  The procedure went well. He did not end up doing the dilation portion because it looked open enough for the closure surgery to be scheduled, in his opinion. If he were to further dilate, then it could cause an inflammatory response.  It looks better for the bowel surgeon that there is no inflammation when considering surgery.  He told me that his report on the procedure would be available that evening, but HE LIED!  Long story short, it took many messages and phone calls to determine that the gastroenterologist had not signed his report of my last procedure done 1.5 weeks prior.  He signed it Monday, the bowel surgeon verified we were good to go, and I got the call from the scheduling department today.  The closure surgery is set for March 4th assuming the Covid test beforehand is negative. 

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers!  I will continue to keep you in the loop as surgery draws near.

P.S: Menstruating twice in one month is ridiculous.  I may have to call my NaPro OBGYN and see what he says about this nonsense.  I have pretty much been bleeding or spotting all month long.  Maybe my progesterone is low.  Any good progesterone products you guys recommend I buy?  I figure anything actually effective is probably only available through a prescription pad.

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