What happened to Mike? (Or how I spent 4 nights in the hospital)

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

The pain started around 3:00pm on Tuesday. My stomach was sore in a way I wasn't accustomed. I wrote it off as having done too many sit ups on Monday. It gradually got worse, to the point that I left work early. I went home and laid on the couch but it was clear this was no ordinary pain.


Mom drove me to urgent care, but after a quick analysis they directed me to the ER. I was in the ER triage/waiting area for about 4-5 hours, intermittently getting tested. I got moved to room to prep for a CT scan when the pain and movement caught up to me, causing me to throw up.

Things are a blur after that. Waves of really intense pain. Throwing up, getting the nose tube inserted (excruciating), some relief from a dose of morphine. Then the pain returning doubled until I finally got a morphine drip, and some rest.

After that things settled down for the night and my hopes rose. But that ended when the tube was pulled and I was told it would be another night before I could leave. But I could try some clear liquids. Which seemed promising until the pain returned.

So here I am, no idea when my belly will recover. Gonna have to wait it out, and stick with baby steps on all eating and drinking. I got out of the room to write this in the sunlit lobby, headed back to room now.

That was written Friday morning. Things did look promising. I had some clear fluids: apple juice, some chicken broth. They took me off the IV. Then the nausea returned, as the nurse said:

“It’s not a good sign when I come in and you are curled up with the puke bucket”

So they gave me some anti-nausea medicine, moved my IV and reconnected me and I was stuck for another night. I threw up a little, and the pain was there, not as severe, but I did take a hit of the morphine to get some rest. Then around 1:30AM the diarrhea arrived, which was unpleasant, and not fun, but it finally turned things around. Flushing out my system, and finally relieving the last of the obstruction. Once morning really arrived things picked up speed.

I was able to eat (without problem) some clear fluids and some oatmeal so I was released around 10:30AM. So all told 4 nights in the hospital.

First, thanks to everyone who chipped in to help Kim with the kids and everything else while I was in the hospital. Second, I am still pretty sore, so I will have to take it easy on the working out for a while. Third, I am doing some research, but just some cursory digging this morning has given me some clues to what and how this happened, and most importantly, what I can do to prevent it again in the future.