Back in the pain cave.

Source: Bruno van der Kraan, Unsplash

The day after my first day home I started to feel better and back in the swing of things. Then the upper abdominal swelling came back. At first it was mild discomfort that led to pretty annoying heartburn. I was cleared to go back on a solid diet when I got home but with every meal I was feeling progressively worse.

When I was in the hospital the nurses were worried that my bile duct near my duodenum might be blocked. They said this usually passes in most people but that I was to go on a liquid diet until it passes. I also need to go in and get my blood checked today as the marker for a blockage is my bilirubin levels.

Exhibit A to your right shows how the stomach interconnects to the liver. The issue the doctors think I am having right now is a potential bile duct blockage.

My pain levels now are back up to a 6/7 which is where I was before the surgery. The good news is that the swelling around the rest of my abdomen is going down day by day. Depending on how my labs go today they may or may not send me in for another CT scan to rule out swelling versus extreme fluid build up. During the surgery they removed a ton of fluid from the same area so I am a bit worried that this might be the same problem.

There’s a lot of questions that still need to be solved but I am hopeful today will shed some light on some of these things and we can tackle the next step. In the meantime I’ve been enjoying my jello breakfasts and homemade chicken broth for lunch and dinner thanks to my wonderful friend Suzie.

-Brynn