My Fat Tummy or Packed Colon

So I think we might have found out what is going with my little body on Monday. The whole thing is amazing how it worked. I didn't sleep Sunday night because I was in so much pain. Finally at 5:30 in the morning I started searching for Gastroenterologists because I needed someone to tell me what was going on inside of me, since no surgeon or ER doc or family prac. doc have figured anything out. I was sick of going to the ER every week and I was sick of having surgery once a month. So randomly I typed in GI doctors within a 25 mile radius of my house. I typed in all the numbers into my phone under "Gastro American Fork" or "Gastro SLC" etc. so when they opened at 9 I could call one of them and hopefully get in that day.

9am finally hit and I started calling doctor's. No one could see me that day, and in fact no one could see me until Wednesday. I hadn't eaten for over a week, I wasn't able to drink anything at this time, and I had just been to the ER the night before and was in so much pain. My stomach hurt so bad under my left ribs and every doctor told me that my CT scan looked perfect. I scheduled an appointment with a random doctor in SLC for Wednesday.

At about 10 I was near tears and feeling so discouraged. I was just messing around with my phone and scrolling through numbers and deleting the ones I didn't need. I came to the S's and I had typed in "Sandy Gastro". I hadn't seen it earlier because I had saved it in a completely different section. I decided to give them a call. The receptionist answered the phone and I explained my emergency and wanted to know if there was anyway that they could get me in that day. She transferred me to the nurse and I explained to her what was going on. She said that she just had a cancellation and Dr. Schmidt had an opening at 1pm and she would get me in if I wanted. I was about in tears and said YES!

I got to the Doctor's office that was maybe 15 minutes from my house at 12:30. I filled out all my paperwork and they literally got me in by 12:45. Dr. J. David Schmidt walked into my room at around 1pm. He asked me why I had come to see him, how I found him, who referred me, etc. I told him the story how I found him on the Internet and wanted a second opinion. He said okay, and started pulling up ALL of my history from the IHC website. He was probably in his 30's and reminded me of my brother-in-law.

He started asking me all of these questions as he pulled up my latest CT scan from the night before. He took about 5 pages worth of notes, and then started writing on the paper that covered the bed because he needed to take more. I asked him if he could show me my CT. He said, "Of course. Let me show you and explain to you what everything is." He then showed me and explained to me in detail every part of a CT scan. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. He then got to my colon and showed me what a healthy colon should look like. He then went back to my picture and showed me mine.

Let me explain what a healthy colon looks like on a CT scan. It is basically clear with little patches of white throughout it. It loops all over your body and is approx. 6 feet long. The patches of white are stool and the clear is the air in your colon. You want a CLEAR looking colon. He then showed me what mine looked like. It was completely white. It had maybe 1 or 2 slivers of clear and then was ALL white. It was packed with white from my rectum to the start of the right side of my body. Here is the amazing part, right where I had told the ER doctor where I hurt, under my ribs on the left side; my colon was swelled and completely white. FULL OF POOP that won't move.

Dr. Schmidt asked me when my last bowel movement was. I told him that it had been over a week. He also had asked me where my pain was before he showed me the CT scan and I had told him. He then showed me EXACTLY why I was in pain. He also explained to me why I am not able to keep anything down. Ready for this....my food and liquid have absolutely no place to go. I swallow and because my large intestine is completely full to the brim, my food goes through my stomach and then comes back up because it can't move any further. It's not coming out of me "down there" so it comes back up the only way it can...through my mouth.

This was absolutely amazing to me. I wanted to cry I was so happy that a Doctor was finally able to tell me what was going on. I was also very frustrated that no other Doctor had been able to tell me when it was so clear to me on the CT scan after he explained it. He was also somewhat worried because this is the exact same thing that my mother had experienced. He said that this was probably genetics.

The great news? He said that this had absolutely NOTHING to do with my gastric bypass. He said that my bypass looked great and whomever did it did a great job. He said my small intestine looked great and healthy. The only thing wrong was my large intestine. (Thanks Mom!)

So here's what we do from here. He put me on Miralax this week. The usual dose is 1 capful a week or a couple times a week for people. What's my dosage? 4 capfuls a day!! You mix it in gatorade and I just have to sip it all day long. This is how they prepare people for a colonoscopy. He is basically trying to clean me out. He said if I don't have a bowel movement by Friday then they are going to have to take more dramatic steps. I have an appt. with him on Friday. He said that by then I should have take at least 20 trips to the bathroom. 20!! I haven't had 20 bowel movements since May! I can't imagine having 20 in less than a week!

So this is what is going on right now. We'll see how this week goes. But at least we found out the problem, I am literally "Full of Shit" as Dave put it. ;) Let's see if we can clean me out! Pray that it will work! I'll keep you all updated! This should be a fun week :P