Office visit and CT scan

Warning: There is a lot of poopy talk in today's post, so please skip if you are squeamish.

Alan has been dealing with a lot of pain over the last two weeks. None of the painkillers (Gabapenten, Hydrocodone, Fentanyl) have seemed to help much, and he has not been having good bowel movements. We've been hearing a lot of gurgling coming from his tummy and he seems to relax a bit whenever that happens, when he passes gas, or when he has a bowel movement. We figured it was constipation, something we've dealt with countless times before.

By Monday night, his pain and upset had come to the point where Harold was ready to take him to the ER, but we called Doc P for the next step. He suggested an enema (adult strength, not pediatric) and wanted to see Alan on Wednesday. The enema gave Alan a lot of relief right away (he was practically falling asleep on the potty) and he was able to sleep through the night. But the pain was back by Tuesday afternoon.

We took him to Doc P this morning. They took a blood draw and his counts are great but that was not the concern today. Doc P did a physical exam and heard a hollow sound in his tummy. Between that and the very loud gurgling, he was concerned there was a blockage so he sent us straight to the Children's Hospital for a CT.

The only way we could the CT done today was if Alan was not sedated.  You can imagine how pleased he was to be on the CT table.  However, after some tactical wrapping, some counting to 100, and some distraction with the iPad, we were able to get the scans.  Yes, two CT scans were needed because they had to measure the difference in the contrast level betweem the first scan and the second scan 10 minutes later.

We spoke to Doc P about the results around bed time. Though the radiologist didn't note a blockage, Doc P didn't concur. What he saw in the scans corroborated what he found in the physical exam earlier today - the tumor is pushing on Alan's colon. It's also pushing his bladder to one side which is probably causing him some pain. His right kidney is extremely swollen though his creatinine levels are good.

Though we know what's causing his pain we're not sure what can be done about it. Doc P his putting his thinking cap on and we've sent an e-mail to Doc H2. We have a CD of the scan to take with us to MDA tomorrow (for Alan's MRI and consultation with the radiation oncologist). Since Monday's enema worked and was able to give Alan some relief for a while, Doc P told us to go ahead and give him another one. Good thing we got a two-pack on Monday!