Dealing with Pain and Frustration in the Hospital

So, about 2 nights ago, I started having a sharp pain when I inhale that gets worse with hiccups, coughing, and laughing. If my bladder gets full, the hiccups start. Since being here, they've given me morphine and Zofran. The doctors believe the pain is coming from ureteral stents needing to be removed. I'm hoping this helps too, but in my body, I feel like this pain is directly related to the ileostomy. The pain is in my rib cage, on the same side as the ileostomy. It's just frustrating. When I got my ileostomy, it was due to endometriosis. I had a total hysterectomy, a mass removed from my bladder, and 4 inches of intestines removed. I just don't want them to miss or pacify a greater problem because that happened with the endometriosis and landed me here. I'm just a ball of nerves and tears today. Sorry to rant.

Hope they get you straightened out and feeling better soon!

This is not a place to feel sorry about ranting.  Sharing things with others who are likely to understand the problems can be very useful and cathartic.  It also presents me with an opportunity to resurrect a rhyme or tow on the subject.
Best wishes

Bill 

VENT A RANT.

I want to rant and scream and shout
and show my discontent.
I want to let the venom out
‘till all of it is spent.

So listen to me rant and rave
then you might understand.
The way you see me now behave
results from life’s crap-hand.

Sometimes I’m sick of all the shit,
the troubles and the strife.
I wish that I was rid of it
the pains and banes of life.

If my life was sweet and fair
I would not need to rant.
Because my life seems so unfair
I just need to decant. 

Pour out my feelings one by one
and empty out my soul.
So anyone and everyone
can see in my hellhole.

It does me good to shout and scream
take’s strain from off my brain. 
What better way to let off steam
it helps to ease the pain. 

Life has been both cruel and mean
to leave me as I am.
So now I need to vent my spleen
as often as I can. 

As I say, life has a way
of  being most unkind.
A rant a day keeps life at bay
and lifts the troubled mind. 

So let us all appreciate
the rant in all its glory.
For rants are so appropriate
to tell a bad, sad story.

                                 B. Withers 2011

Oh my, I am so sorry. I hope that the root of your pain will be found and fixed. Don't worry about ranting on this site. Keep us updated.

I'm so sorry you're in the hospital, Kara. Even though it's sometimes necessary, we all hate being there. Rant away on here, but also try to advocate for yourself. It can make you feel more in control, and it can get them to take other views seriously. If you have a very strong sense that this is ostomy-related, keep pushing that. You can even mention that you "just don't want anything overlooked." Hang in there.

Stories of Living Life to the Fullest from Ostomy Advocates I Hollister

Rant all you like; it keeps the fire in you going!

Hope you get better soon.

I can understand your wanting to rant. It sounds like a difficult situation being made more difficult by them not listening to you. You should speak up to the doctor and explain that you know more about where the pain is located than they do. Make them listen to you. Keep on ranting if it helps.

Safe hugs.

Hello K

Be true to yourself and firmly establish with the doctors what you know specifically about your own condition and express openly - but with due respect, your fears..... Once you are able to establish a dialogue, I feel this will begin to aid your recovery and obviously will help your own tolerance - There is nothing so frustrating as when you may feel you are not being heard.

BW

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ waves to Illinois ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jayne

That sounds hellacious, and I vigorously support you advocating for yourself and your treatment. If you have an advocate that can support you, that is even better. I was in for what the doctor said was outpatient surgery (redoing my midline surgery that fell open when they removed all the staples!), and the nurse said no, she needs to stay for at least a night. She was in shock before this surgery, and we need to make sure she's good to go home.

I'm so sorry. You have every right to rant.

While they may be right about the stents, it's a reasonable place to start. The stent on the ileostomy side may be the one hurting. If they are right, the pain should begin to get better very quickly when the stents are removed. Don't let them send you home if the pain isn't improving.

And always feel free to rant to us. Most of us have been in similar situations. We understand. I reserve the right to rant like crazy myself one day in the future.

Yes… You rant on, girl. 🙋🏼‍♀️

I feel for you! I hope they figure out what is wrong and get you out of there. Hospitals are not a fun place to be. In the meantime, feel free to rant! I've also found that you need to be a squeaky wheel and advocate for yourself. Be vocal about your frustrations.

Terry

I just wanted to add that you might want someone there with you, if possible, when you advocate for yourself, especially if you're exhausted, anxious, or in pain. It helps to have the extra support.

G-Day Karasmatic,

Keep pushing until something is done; if you don't, who will?

Regards, IGGIE

Thank you so much!

Bill, you are a gem! Thank you so much.

Thank you, the support here is amazing!

Thank you, it seems to be working—advocating for myself. I suppose an update is due here, lol.

Thank you! 💜

We've discovered that the stents were infected. I'm currently on antibiotics via IV. The wound/ostomy nurse here is a godsend. She offered me great solutions, resources, and a goodie bag. Today, I have been having some runs of tachycardia. The pain is still there, so I will be having an MRI as well.

Oh wow, hoping you're on the up and up from now on!

Infection in the stents is very serious. I'm glad they found that and got you on antibiotics. I hope the pain and tachycardia turn out to be related to the infection and not something else going wrong. At least they are looking more closely now.

I'm hoping you get better soon. Please let us know.

Thank you all… the tachycardia was my body responding to being dehydrated. The scans were great, and I am now home. It was scary, but I'm glad that part is over now.

Glad to hear you are on the mend.

One thing that may help explain this is that when those of us with ileostomies have these surgeries, there is a lot of work that goes on below the surface. You may very well be dealing with "referred pain," which is very common. What that means is that the issue is in one spot, but you feel it in another. It would be very normal to assume it had to involve the ileostomy, but it may not.