Eric Tapley

Another surgery is behind me, and I’m home recovering (once again). I’ll post more later, but for now just wanted to quickly update everyone on my progress. As always thanks for the overwhelming understanding and support!

So this is it. I’ve had my last meal - a delicious open face seafood ravioli at The Sole Proprietor. I’ve started a clear liquids diet until the surgery. I’ve ingested the magnesium citrate (colon cleaner) to prep for the operation. I’m all set and looking forward to tomorrow and the ensuing recovery. This should be it and the beginning of my life after Colitis and Colostomy.

Damn am I ready to start life again. See you on the other side.

I met with the surgery team and a variety of specialists at Boston Medical Center on Friday for pre-operation stuff. What kind of stuff? Questions about my medical history, testing, someone else asking the same medical history questions, more testing, more medical history questions, testing, one long wait, and then more testing integrated with medical history questions. It’s frustrating that each test starts with the same set of background questions (don’t they have a central database with this info by now?), but I am glad they are thorough.

And just for reference, no I’m not allergic to latex or penicillin.

I am tested and questioned out. But that’s what it takes to be cleared for surgery. Now everything is all set for next Wednesday, June 29th, when I’ll have the colostomy bag removed and the ileostomy reversed. Prior to that I just need to drink a lot of fluids, stop ingesting anything 24 hours before the surgery, and use some bowel cleaning magnesium citrate to ensure I’m truly emptied out.

After this surgery I will be recovering for 3-7 days in the hospital, depending on how quickly I bounce back, and then I should be able to return to a light life schedule after arriving home. I will have a new abdominal incision to watch and be careful of, and will continue on the low-residue, low-fiber diet I’ve followed for the past 2 months. This is it for the surgeries, though.

Yea!

In just under a week I will have my follow-up surgery to reverse the ostomy and reconnect my intestines to the rest of my bowels. After this surgery I will be free of Colitis (as I have no more colon) and should be able to put all of these intestinal problems behind me.

Only I’m concerned that it won’t be that simple.

I’ve been having intestinal obstructions on and off for almost a year now, some partial, some complete. So far the x-rays, ct scans and other tests have shown that, yes, I’ve been obstructed… but they can’t pinpoint the cause. The best guess at this point is that I have an adhesion or scar tissue in my small intestine as a result of one of my past surgeries. And that’s the cause of my anxiety - what if this surgery doesn’t get rid of the cause of the obstructions and I continue to have problems?

I don’t think this is an unreasonable fear. I’ve had two obstructions since my surgery on May 11th, and I had three this year before that. They come on suddenly and without warning and are caused by factors I don’t have control over. They are excruciatingly painful and result in emergency hospital stays of undetermined lengths. And recently they’ve been coming on with increasing frequency.

These thoughts make me feel a little guilty. After all, I’m working with one of the best specialists in the country for my problems, I won’t have Colitis anymore, and I’m lucky in the first place to have a disease that does have treatment and cure options. In many ways I’m blessed. But I’ve been sick for years and I really want to put all of this behind me and return completely to my healthy life.

Let’s hope next week’s surgery really will be the end.

My partial intestinal obstruction is improving, but I’m still not out of the woods so they are transferring me to a different floor (where they keep the patients with intestinal problems). I will probably not be able to find another open hotspot, so I expect this will be my last post for a while. For the latest news and information please call Kate. I’ll post again as soon as I’m out.

At this point there are a couple possible courses of action:

1. Medical treatment for my intestinal obstruction followed by a return to the low-fiber, low-residue diet once the obstruction has cleared. Then I’d go home until my surgery on June 29th.

2. Keeping to a liquid or soft solids diet with the surgery moved up to next week to reverse the ostomy and clear whatever may be causing the obstruction.

There are a few possible causes for the intestinal obstruction, including an adhesion or scar tissue on my small intestine from previous surgeries, a twist or kink in my intestines from the way they resettled after surgery, Crohn’s disease, or something else. The doctors are running a variety of tests to try and figure out the cause before deciding on the best course of action to take.

More Information:
Intestinal/Bowel Obstructions
Crohn’s Disease

Hi, friends. Just a quick note to let you know why I’ve been so silent lately and what’s going on. I was re-admitted to the hospital on June 1st with some abdominal problems (a post-surgery and inflammation related obstruction). Wow was it painful! It’s cleared up now and I’m back home resting and once again perfecting the practice of easing back into life. My doctors think that I should be fine until the next surgery, but if you don’t hear from me for a while I may be dealing with additional complications.

As for my next surgery: it is scheduled for the morning of June 29th. For about a week after that I’ll be out of touch, too, as I recover in the hospital and then return home to let my abdomen heal.

I’ll post more interesting information later. For now, be happy with the health news!

I’ve been a little silent online the past few days due to some complications with my stoma (more information on stomas and stoma care). Specifically, my stoma is recessed slightly into my skin so it’s hard to get a good seal for the colostomy bag and appliance. This is allowing stomach acids and discharge to get against my skin in a ring around the stoma, which causes a lot of irritation and some bleeding.

I’m working to manage the pain - so far it hasn’t been too severe, and I’ve been able to work through it or use some mild painkillers. I have continued to maintain my activity level and diet, so I’m not regressing in terms of my recovery, but this is a setback and it’s making life a little more difficult. Thankfully I only need to work with it for another six weeks or so until the reversal surgery.