tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516991800470797675.post7863806849478637554..comments2024-03-12T01:16:29.564-05:00Comments on Chronic Pain Nightmare: 4 trips to the Emergency room in one monthUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7516991800470797675.post-39751162908954432822009-02-10T05:56:00.000-06:002009-02-10T05:56:00.000-06:00Dear Jerry,I want to thank you for saving my siste...Dear Jerry,<BR/><BR/>I want to thank you for saving my sister's life on 2/8/09. <BR/><BR/>Because I read your blog, I told Teri about the problems that can come from having constipation (due to opiates). I told her that if at anytime she felt like she had severe flu and threw up and it was not "food" that she had recently eaten, she should tell me right away. <BR/><BR/>This past Sunday a friend who was staying with her (my sister was in an auto accident 1/15/09 so we have to have round-the-clock supervision) called me to say that Teri was lethargic, pretty unresponsive and what she had just thrown up was not food but was brown in color. I told her to immediately call 911. Sure enough, Teri had stool all the way from her bowels up into her colon from blockage. Her stomach was 5 times it's normal size. In the ER she again threw up and it was pure bile and stool. She was septic and on top of that, had cellulitis in the new surgical area (she has a crushed femur from the 1/15 AA). With all of those medical complication and the bowel problems on top of it, she would have surely died. <BR/><BR/>But it was what you had written that made me ever so cautious, and I told all of her caregivers the same thing I told Teri. (Teri often throws up as a side effect of medications she takes - specifically antibiotics.) Remembering your blog made me react much quicker because I knew what it meant. Had you not written your experience and had I not read your blog, I may very well have dismissed it. <BR/><BR/>I cannot thank you enough, Jerry. She was already so weak and no doubt would have lost consciousness and no one would have realized how serious it was, until it was too late. <BR/><BR/>They discovered 2 hernias, one that actually pinched off a piece of her large bowel and caused the impaction. I am very happy to say she is doing better today, and was moved from the MICU.<BR/><BR/>God bless you and your generosity in sharing your experience. I know it wasn't easy for you, but it saved a life. Again, thank you for your courage and for taking the time to write it. <BR/><BR/>Bonnieinurdreamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06751986695642805543noreply@blogger.com