Day 5 (3 appointments)
#1 - #3 (Biofeedback)
Today is my fifth day of the program, which
means I’m halfway there! I can’t wait to finally go home, but I’m still really
disappointed that I haven’t made very much progress this past week. My first
session this morning started off pretty rough, which I’m assuming is because of
how awful I felt the night before, but once I got past the initial discomfort,
I was actually able to move back down to the “1” scale and stay there for a
while before moving back up. Unfortunately, that was very short-lived and
during the second and third sessions I fluctuated between the “3” and “5” scales.
My nurse thinks that my muscles get tired of doing the right thing pretty early
on, which is why I seem to have better luck in the morning and shoot up to
higher numbers in the afternoon. I’m
hoping this will improve over time. Additionally, whenever I eat lately, my
stomach bloats to an unbelievable level. After doing a warm water enema
Wednesday night, I was finally able to expand my stomach when I breathe, making
it easier to lower my levels on the biofeedback machine on Thursday. But after eating
a small lunch yesterday, my stomach became very distended and bloated all over
again. I wasn't able to eat anything for the rest of the day Thursday and most
of the day today, until I forced myself to eat again around 5pm. I don’t
understand why eating such a small amount of food causes so much pain,
discomfort, bloating, and nausea, but I’m hoping my doctor will have some
helpful solutions at my next appointment with him on Thursday.
Since Mayo is closed on Saturday and Sunday, I was given the
biofeedback machine to take home for the weekend and use before I go back on
Monday. My instructions were to use the machine 2-3 times a day for about 30
minutes each, using the techniques I have learned over the past few days. Additionally,
I have to document my starting (after 1 min) level and lowest numbers I am able
to reach in each session. This is like a trial phase with the machine, to see if
I can make it work well on my own and without the assistance of a nurse. So,
once I try it out on my own a few times, I will give another update as to how
things are going.
If the trend continues and I have no bm on my own between now and
Sunday, I will be doing another enema Sunday afternoon before starting with the
balloon on Monday. The whole next week I will go down to only 2 appointments
per day, but instead of using the biofeedback machine, I will be working
strictly with the balloon. I’m hoping and praying for better luck next week,
but I was warned it will probably prove to be more difficult for me, since I
have not made very much progress with the biofeedback machine. I guess we’ll
just see what happens!
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