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This is part three of my story of what happened to me. Part one and two are important to the whole story and I would ask tat you read those first. Thank you.
Part one maybe found here:
Part Two maybe found here:
After six weeks in the hospital, I was given six months of convalescent leave. I was still approximately 50 lbs below what I had weighed when I first went to the sick call.
My mother spent everyday stuffing me with great food (she was pushing cheese cake the whole time) and I managed to gain 20 lbs during that time and returned to duty at lbs. Still 30 lbs below what I had weighed prior to the incident.
At follow up appointments, I was told that my appendix scare had rolled around and blocked off my intestine. The Doctor who had done the surgery told me that the doctor who had done the appendectomy had tied it off wrong and over time it had caused the problem. I told him that it had been done b an Air Force surgeon and he looked as if I had thrown cold water on him.
Later, I had another doctor tell me that appendix scares can do that anyway and that the surgery had nothing to do with it. Of course, I am smart enough to figure out that one doctor was trying to show that Civilian Doctors made mistake too. It is also possible the other Doctor who told me that it just happens was tying to defend the profession.
Rarely has any doctor heard the whole story. Most cut me off and begin to justify what happened. Yet, I have had two doctors that heard it all and hey told me that it was malpractice and inexcusable.
You see, the incident that I had just gone through was not the end of what happened.
Within a few months of returning to duty, I began to have blood in my stools again. I was also having occasions of nausea. I reported back to my surgeon and they ran several tests. I was tested for Crohn's and Ulcerative Colitis, but the tests came back negative.
The Doctor told me that he wanted to see every other month until the bleeding stopped. So, I made another appointment to see him. The problem was that he got short PCS (permanent change of station) orders and had left in between. When I got to the hospital clinic, I was told that I could not be seen without a referral from a normal doctor.
I made an appointment with one, but before the date came up, I started having the same problems again. Large amounts of blood in my stool and not being able to hold anything down.
I started going to the ER. One day they would give me Malanta and the next they would give me Donitol. This continue for fourteen days straight an I was never placed on quarters, so I had to continue to try to work while I was going through this. On the fourteenth day of going to the ER, the doctor tried to give me a mix of both medications and I threw up all over him.
That was enough to get me admitted and to see the surgeon. They did emergency surgery and this time instead of a resection, they bypassed the blockage that was described in the surgery report as a hard woody fibrous tumor.
The idea was that they would allow me to get better and then go back in and resect the bowel and remove the tumor. The Surgeon explained that it was probably due to the prior years surgery. They left me open and each day used a water pick to spray the opening. It was to help over come the infection that had set in. The problem was that I started closing up.
This led the doctors to decide to go ahead and close up the wound and to try to wait until I was much better. They explained to me that it was not a good thing to have so many surgeries in such a short time.
I was taken to the operating room and stripped naked. It was disconcerting for me to lay there naked in front of the whole OR team. They draped me and I heard the doctor come in. The next thing I heard was a loud "CHUNCK" sound nd my gut felt as if I had stabbed. I jumped and it dawned on the doctor that no one had given me any pain killers or even numbed the area.
Needless to say, I eventually was released from the hospital and followed by the doctor. I had several test runs over and over again. All of which turned up negative.
At one of those test, a barium enema, I was in for more of a surprise.
First, they had me lay on a table and then the uncovered my naked butt. Then they brought 20 people into the room to watch. They explained that they were medical students as if that makes you feel better about having your butt hanging out in front of a room full of people. I mean it wasn't as if I worked for "Chip N Dales."
Next, they inserted the tube, started the barium and the machine broke down. The next thing I know, I am waddling down the hall with this tube up my bum and twenty medical students gathered around me in a circle. Yeah.......Go ahead a laugh. Even I have to admit that the sight was probably hilarious. Besides, I laugh at that one too.
Eventually, I received orders and went to a new base. When I got there, I checked in with the surgeon as I had been told to do. This led to me being sent to a USAF Major Medical Center. They ran numerous tests and all of them turned up negative. However, they did find some ulcers.
Apparently, the surgeon had not sewn off the partially blocked area and I was getting a build up of bacteria from a back wash into that area.
I was sent back to my base and they waited for over another year to complete undo and fix the surgery. By the time the surgery was done, I had numerous ulcers in my small ad large bowel, had developed anemia and had developed chronic diarrhea with blood in my stools.
At some point, they added a pathology report from the surgery that showed I had developed Crohn's and another one that showed I had Ulcerative Colitis. These were found seven years later. Yet, in the mean time, I suffered from bloody diarrhea, stomach pain, weakness, and tiredness. I spent years going to the doctors and complaining about it, but the never did anything about it until the draw down started. At that time, the military medical community tried to identify as many people as possible that could be medically retired or discharged and I got caught.
When this happened, I did a ton a research and found out more about some of the things that had happened.
In the final surgery, they had found that one of my testicle cords had been accidentally cut and had been floating free inside of me. Just to name one. The Doctor had described me as being "messed up" inside. The surgery had taken three times as long as it was supposed to. I lost substantial portions of my intestines (all of the terminal ileum, part of my mid ileum, my ileo sphincter, and portions of my large bowel).
After they discovered the report that showed that I had Crohn's and the other one that showed that I had UC, they started treatment on me. Since then, I have had a lung collapse from a fistula that developed under my abdomen, had multiple infections from fistulas and six more surgeries. I suffer from B-12, calcium, and iron deficiency. I have developed arthritis ( a cousin to Crohn's) in my knees and hands.
I have been on most every medication for IBD and none of them have been able to fully control the disease.
