Mr. Funk E. Dude

Written on Feb 12, 2020

I awoke early Saturday morning to intense pain in my abdomen. I thought maybe it was just food poisoning, so I took it easy Sunday hopping it would go away the next day.

It didn’t.

Monday came and more of the same, especially during a bowel movement. I thought it had been easing off so I wasn’t that concerned.

It wasn’t.

Tuesday morning I knew something was wrong. It wasn’t getting any better. It was getting worse. I called my doctors office and talked to a nurse who, after asking me about my symptoms, told me to get to an Emergency Room in the next 4 hours.

I did.

To make a long story short, they discovered I have something called Diverticulitis. Basically I have a hole in my intestine that isn’t supposed to be there and it got infected. I had to be hospitalized. For the next 2 days they pumped me with lots of antibiotics and emptied my stomach by not allowing me to eat or drink. My options were, if the antibiotics work, I could go home and continue the antibiotics. If they didn’t work I would have to have the infection drained, and then possibly have the section of intestine removed. And lastly, if draining wasn’t an option, having the section removed.

Did I mention that even if the antibiotics worked I might still have to have the section removed?

Fortunately the antibiotics were doing there job and by late Thursday I was able to go home. I was put on a liquids only diet and now I’m on a low fiber soft foods only diet until I see the doctor next week. By that point I will have had another CT scan and we’ll discuss if I should have surgery. I’m really hoping I don’t.

I’m not really afraid of surgery. I’ve had out patient knee surgery. I get that there’s always a risk with any surgery, but I don’t fear it. I just don’t want to have to deal with the hospital stay and the aftercare. I want my life to go back to normal. Getting rest in a hospital is a struggle. You’ve got people poking you every few hours. People in rooms next to you crying or coughing. Hell, the IV unit in my room was loud enough to keep me from sleeping more then 45 min at a time. After I came home I passed out and slept for 9 hours and then slept for 5 more hours later the next day.

Then there’s the surgery after care. I’d have to have a nurse check in on me daily at home. I’d have to be on a liquid diet again. I’d need help doing basic things for a few weeks. It would just suck, and if I can avoid it, I’d rather.

The one thing that I’ve really learned from all of this is that I need to make some changes in the way that I take care of my health. Time to be even more proactive then I’ve been. For the last few years I’ve been paying more attention to my calorie intake then I have foods to help keep my gut healthy. That’s going to change for sure. Hopefully I can learn from all of this and make positive changes.

Hopefully.