Unconditional Love

Walking into that hospital for yet another appointment. It feels so unreal at times and here we are doing the same thing over and over. We sat there in silence waiting on the doctor knowing that MORE TESTS would be inevitable. We want this fixed, we want Joe to feel better, we want him to be well enough to enjoy this so called life. We have our doubts and well to be quite honest, it’s been three years and still no relief in sight. Just wanting answers may not be enough.

In May of 2019 Joe ended up in the emergency room because he was constantly throwing up bile, they did all kinds of tests on him and found nothing. They ultimately decided he would have to have exploratory surgery. The doctor didn’t call it that, but we knew he was going to try and find the problem because none of their tests showed anything significant. Joe was slowly deteriorating and they need to find the cause.

The doctor supposedly found the problem, rerouted Joe’s duodenum with a double stomach bypass. This bypass would be the downfall and almost the death of him, this procedure did not fix the problem. As a matter of fact, it made the problem even worse than anyone could imagine. Now here we are three years later and the throwing up is constant and almost everyday. One hospital caused this now another trying to figure what was done and how to fix it. He has been through so many tests, procedures, medications, doctors and never any real answers or a fix to the problem.

Now that the vomiting is causing his esophagus significant damage and learning this from the most recent test, they now want to fix the problem. It’s what we have wanted for three years and it takes more damage to the body for the doctors to respond. I’m just hoping it’s not to late to fix the damage. I hoping this time they can figure it all out. I hoping for some relief for him because I know the throwing up has caused so much emotional damage to that man and he might not ever be the same. There has to be an answer to the problem, there has to be a fix. I don’t see what MORE TESTS will show or prove, but the list of tests are long and some are being repeated over and over.

He now has to do a Hydrogen Breath Test. They think bacteria is building up in the duodenum area they bypass because the doctor didn’t close it off. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t close the old area. Well I don’t believe that but I’m no doctor. So, basically the food is leaving the stomach and entering the small intestines from two opening when there should only be one. The new doctor isn’t sure why they did such a risky procedure, when stents could of been placed instead. Now there’s no reversing what the other doctor did because when you reroute surgically it’s a forever procedure. So now this doctor has to figure out how to fix this and see if this is the cause of his throwing up.

The next test order is a Stomach Emptying Study, which he has had before and it showed the stomach is emptying at a slower pace, which is normal for the surgery he had done. Now redoing this study will show if his stomach has some paralysis and this could also be the cause of the throwing up because the stomach may not be pushing the food down like it should. Pulling at strings once again and I’m sure this one will be negative too.

After the SES study, he will next have a CT Scan of the small intestines to see if there is any narrowing of the arteries in there, which can also cause restriction or blockage of the intestines and yes you guessed it, throwing up. If this is the case they may have to remove some of the damage intestine and repair it. Easier said than done on an LVAD patient because he may not be healthy enough to undergo this procedure.

This next test he will have to do is a Pill Camera Endoscopy, which entails him swallowing a pill camera and wearing a monitor that receives the photos the camera is taking as it travels through his intestines. This procedure allows the doctors to see the part of his small intestines that the normal endoscopy doesn’t reach. Well, now if this is the case why didn’t the first doctor do this procedure and yes it was available three years ago, this may have saved him from having such an invasive surgery that cause all of his problems and his advanced heart failure. My questions is WHY do they wait until a patient is severely sick to do what probably should of been done in the first place?

I have tried to be an advocate for my husband, I have tried to ask the right questions, I brought what I think I know to the table and I always feel like they disregard what I have to say. No, I’m not a doctor, no I didn’t go to medical school, no I’m not qualified to diagnose him but….I have told them over and over symptoms, medication reactions, his tolerations, smells, looks, skin change and several times I’ve told them there’s something wrong and because they don’t want to admit another doctor screwed him up it makes it more difficult for them to be honest. Please with MORE TESTS just figure it out and fix it. He needs relief, I need peace of mind, it’s what you get paid to do. It’s what you went to school for, and I need you to use that knowledge to find what’s wrong with my husband.