June 28, 2023
I’ve had a crazy couple of days. After doing so well managing chemotherapy symptoms religiously it turns out that I started taking constipation avoiding drugs too late. After day 5 of no movement I developed severe abdominal pain and was told to go to the ER. The ER put me on IV laxatives and did a CT scan of my guts. That scan showed that I was indeed full of shit (my brother would say ‘what’s new’).
That CT scan happened to capture a limited part of my heart. The detail oriented radiologist not only noted all the gut concerns but spotted two blood clots that are in my heart near the newly implanted port. That, of course, raised red flags. They were going through the process of admissions to move me out of ER to help me with both problems. At this point I was in so much pain in my guts that I did not have mental capabilities to be concerned about the heart. Luckily, the medicines kicked in and systems were a go! I will never underestimate the value of poop again! Oh wow, just trust me on this one.
Now with the urgent issue dramatically improving with each round to the bathroom (and there were many) I could switch attention to the blood clots. I then started to realize the seriousness of the situation. I had sent Nick home over an hour before to watch kids. I was alone in the ER and watching the buzzing around me. They admitted me to a back corner room with rules posted outside the door. Door must stay closed. Hand sanitizer before and after entry. Only critical entry to the room. Masks required. Etc. They explained that my labs showed extremely low white blood count levels and other elements of my labs were off. Here I thought I just really needed to poop.
The hospital called an echocardiogram technician to come into the hospital at 11 pm (she was in bed sleeping) to look at my heart. Because the heart is on the left side and my mastectomy was on the left side they struggled to get good pictures due to scar tissue. They sent what results they got let me rest. I spent more time on the toilet than in bed but that was fine by me- way better than the pain I was in before.
Morning came and in a dazed fog I listened to the heart doctor tell me about the concerns, risks, and next steps. At the end he said, it’s really good that you got constipated. At that moment, I’m not sure I agreed. So yesterday I had a camera pushed down my throat to look at my heart, another CT but this time of all my heart (and no guts), two IVs going with fluids, laxatives, blood thinners, and some other stuff. I lost track. Finally getting home at 10 pm last night. A big thank you to my friend that sat with me the last few hours, picked up my medicine and took me home so Nick could watch kids and do a work call with China co-workers.
Today, I’m feeling great and can better appreciate what the doctor was explaining. I now will be on blood thinners that may partially or completely dissolve these fairly large two clots. Had I not come in, I would have gone through the cancer journey unaware. So mastectomy, 5 months of chemo, 30 or so rounds of radiation, reconstruction surgery then have the happy day of taking the port out. A sign that the journey is closing and you are into remission land. But those clots would have been disturbed, traveled to my lungs and likely killed me as I rested at home after this routine out patient procedure. Sounds dramatic but that’s why they were so fast and careful with me. They needed to see if these puppies were moving. They will scan and watch me carefully now. We know the clots were not present before the port was placed.
God is good and can perform miracles in unexpected ways, so yes, a poop may have saved my life.
My Journey 