So I started my new job Tuesday last week and everything was going great; the people are really nice and the work itself is interesting. Then I had lunch and I started getting cramps in my stomach bad enough to stop me moving. Thankfully, I was shadowing people so it didn’t disrupt my work. However, when I got home, the cramps got worse and I threw up my dinner. I continued to have cramps and vomiting all night and the next day I was sent home from work as soon as I got in. I called my stoma nurse, as they are who I had been told to call in these situations, and they advised I call the IBD helpline (which I haven’t needed for years).
The thing with the helpline is they call you back the next working day so all I could do was leave a message. Come Thursday, I get a call around midday and the nurse, after hearing my symptoms and taking to my GI, tells me to go to the Same Day Emergency unit at my local hospital. I do and they take bloods which show my inflammatory markers were sky high (over 200 where the normal levels are meant to be around 5). They also book a CT scan which I had that night and it showed inflammation in my small intestine. From there, I was admitted and moved to a ward. I saw both my surgeon, another surgeon, and my GI. All of them suggested infection possibly linked to my earlier surgery in March.
They started me on IV fluids and antibiotics (as well as oralmorph for the pain). On Friday, my GI ordered a stool sample be sent the same day (I’m still waiting on the results of that) and once I did my part, I was moved to a sideroom as its hospital protocol to do so with patients who have loose stool and possibly have an infection.
This morning (Saturday) I had a flexi sigmoidoscopy which showed lots of ulcers in my intestine and a few in my pouch. They said there’s a chance it could be Crohn’s but is more likely an infection. I’m still on strong antibiotics so it’s a case of waiting to see what happens.
What Can I Eat 