GM all.
Greg here. I am a husband, dad, grandad, father-in-law, woodworking as a hobby, and a former combat military war/working dog handler and a Vietnam vet.
I have been an ostomate since 2015. I was blessed with a high-output ileostomy with short gut and short bowel syndrome. Here is how it started. At the time of all this chaos, I was a Culinary Arts Instructor and a Savory Chef for the Boys & Girls Club of South Puget Sound.
In 10/14, my wife was screened for uterine cancer stage. In 12/15, I had my first-ever colonoscopy. They found 3 polyps and removed them. In 1/15, she was informed that she had stage 3 uterine cancer. So we focused on her treatment plan. At this point, I was having back pains on the right side toward my back. I ignored it, just took ibuprofen, and focused on M's cancer.
In 2/15, I was planning my menu and lesson plans for the upcoming month. I needed to get some supplemental groceries for that day's class. So, of course, I jumped into the car and headed for the store. I got this twinge of pain in my back, so painful I pulled into a Jack in the Box and got something to eat before I took 3 hits of ibuprofen and was going to continue on. However, I didn't. I went back to school and proceeded to fall on my face in front of the principal. I was in pain beyond belief. Paramedics were called, my boss, his boss, and my wife were all summoned to the school. I was conscious at the time of the arrival of these people. My boss and his boss said I was not to return to work until they got my doc's okie dokie. Well, to say that didn't happen.
My wife headed for home with me in tow. Now, to put this in perspective, we lived 53 miles from the school in the foothills of Mount Rainier, just outside of Tacoma, WA. As we crossed the Nisqually River bridge, I told her to mash the gas and take me to the hospital in Morton, WA, another 18 miles ahead. She did, and I was greeted by the chief medical officer of the hospital. He was just on his rotation through the ER that day. He took pictures of the problem area and a CAT scan with contrast. He found several abscesses, the largest one being on my gallbladder the size of a silver dollar. At this point, I was evacuated to a hospital in Olympia, WA.
At St. Peters in Olympia, I went through more tests and had a mechanical pump inserted into me on my right side, which was very painful as I couldn't have any meds as I needed to control my breathing while this was being inserted. At the 5-day mark of my stay, the docs determined that the pump wasn't doing what they had hoped in finding the cause of the infections. So while we were discussing this (my wife, GI doc, and my doc), I had a severe pain on my right side. It was determined by the docs that I needed exploratory surgery to see what was up. They said it would take 45 minutes to 90 minutes and I would be back in my room. 11 hours later, I was returned to my room in great pain. My wife was called to come to the hospital, so they found her a substitute and she headed towards me, some 35 miles away. Doc Brennan, the surgeon, briefed M on what had happened so far in the surgery and explained to her what was left to do. The surgery team added a GI surgeon, cardio surgeon, and 2 more surgical nurses.
When they cut me open, a black cloud escaped my chest cavity. He called for more fans to remove the smell and whatever else was needed to be done. My blood had been severely compromised by the infection, which now was determined to be the worst case of diverticulitis that any of the docs had seen in their careers. They had to remove everything they could. My abdominal cavity had to be scraped to remove the infection from the fat. I was left with 18 inches of the ileum, hence the ileostomy.
I spent the next 45 days at the hospital while I recovered from the surgery. I had 3 complete blood transfusions until they were certain the blood was clean of all the infection. I had PT, nutritionists, breathing exercises, and more walking the floor so blood clots didn't form in my legs from lack of use. I learned about how to change my gear, and I had WCONs working with me to prepare me for the next stage.
Needless to say, I spent the next year getting my life and career back under control. I was removed from the Teen Chefs Culinary Arts program to being the Nutrition and Exercise Program staff. I was told that the club program director needed another male over at the elementary school. In 2018, I retired from the clubs, serving them for 20 years.
I am now co-founder of the South Sound Ostomy Support Group in Tacoma, WA, and the Pierce County area. We are a small group and still using Zoom for our monthly meetings. We have a Facebook page and just put the finishing touches on our webpage. I am a patient advocate through the Alive and Kicking Program through UOAA.
Well, folks, I have bent your ear enough for now. Chat with you all later.
Greg aka G
