almost done

Hi everyone

Some times I feel like this blog is like the song that never ends....it just goes on and on and on.

I am so sick of doctors and hospitals and treatments etc. I just want my life back in a normal way.

I am due for my 39th treatment today and my last one on Monday.

I had been doing very well and it all seemed to fall apart in a handbasket (how DOES that saying go?)

I developed frank bleeding this past week, (with my bms). I have never had this much before and it had actually gone away about half way through my HBOT treatments. Starting last weekend I have been passing bright blood and dark blood and clots. It is a bit frightening, as a doctor, I always send everyone with any amount of bleeding to someone who can do a colonoscopy. In Bandon our surgeon does them, but in the bigger centers, gastroenterologists do them.

When I saw the gastroenterologist in January, my bleeding was extremely minimal and since I had had a colonoscopy a year earlier, he thought it was not necessary. He did say he wanted to know if I developed any further bleeding. That happened in February, it was more obvious, so I decided at that point that HBOT was the best way to treat the problem, and that colonoscopy in the situation of radiation enteritis, was higher risk of perforation. (in other words, I did not contact the gastroenterologist)

On Monday I was passing clots even when I passed gas, so I decided I should see the gastroenterologist again.

I mentioned it to the HBOT doctor, and he said it clearly could be related to the HBOT. He said that the whole point of HBOT was the angiogenesis, or formation of new blood vessels in areas where the blood supply has been damaged by the radiation. When new vessels form, sometimes they form in ways that might bleed more, or this could all be part of the healing process. He also thought it would be a good idea to see the gastroenterologist.

So that is what I did yesterday.

It was a good visit, he was quite interested in the HBOT, and what it was like etc etc.

Perhaps I have entered an elite...... someone who has been treated with HBOT :)

So I am booked for colonoscopy for next Wednesday

The doctor has said he will not do any biopsies unless he feels something looks a lot like a cancer, because any sort of opening the bowel has a very hard time healing. Could just cause more bleeding. When they do colonoscopy they often do "routine biopsies", he said he will not biopsy anything unless it is absolutely necessary. BTW I am not worried about cancer.....

Normally when they find the area of bleeding in this kind of colonoscopy they treat it with ???? cobalt blue...(or something like that, I did not quite get what he said there) but we agreed that he will not treat any areas of bleeding because I am not anemic from the bleeding, and once again he could cause an open area that will not heal.

Should the bleeding become worse, we will deal with that in the future.

I have to say I am a bit worried about the prep, it is hard enough with normal bowels, right now I get nauseated if I drink too much water at one time, and I have to drink a gallon.

I am going to stay in Eugene for that reason

He also shed some light on better understanding my small bowel symptoms, ie, nausea after I eat and being unable to eat any fiber.

He said that when the small bowel is affected (ie the blood supply damaged), what happens is that that portion of the small bowel does not obstruct like you think, he said what happens is that it just stops peristalsis. So anything going through, does not go through this area as well because there is no muscle contractions to help it through. So from that I better understood what was going on in small bowel.

I am off for treatment number 39 today. Monday I get to "ring the bell".............