Re: intussuseption

February 21, 2003

Jen,

My son had intasuseption (sp?) a few years back. They said it was

where part of his bowels telescoped into itself. He suffered with it a week

before they found it. They told us the thing they were worried about was

that part of the bowel tissue would die (for lack of a better word) because

of being folded like that. They said we could probably look at worst case

being that he would lose part of his bowels and have to have a colostomy?

bag for awhile until it healed. I can't imagine them not finding it befor

years went by. But, it took a regular pediatrician to find it on . We

spent a week at the cf hospital and they sent him home with no expanation.

We got back and had him to the pediatricians office within an hour. They

did a cat scan, which the cf hospital did not do, and found it within 20

minutes. They wanted to send us back to the cf hospital but we said no. We

talked to a surgeon here and he said he could do the same thing here. So,

we said not to waste anymore time and get it done. They had him in surgery

that afternoon. The surgeon said that luckily there was no tissue damage.

He said they basically had to remove the intestines, milk all the stuff out

and put them back in. He did stitch them at an angle where they had

(intussuseptioned?) telescoped in the hope that it would keep it from

happening again. It has been about 8 years and it has never happened again.

Of course I watch him constantly for any symptoms. Something funny that I

never noticed was that he had stopped passing gas. It never even dawned on

me. You would think I would have noticed the break it gave my nose. LOL

s symptoms were stopped passing gas, stopped pooping, vomiting what

smelled like poop, severe pain that would make him hit the floor in a ball.

The pain only lasted awhile then he would be up playing again, then it would

hit him again out of nowhere. The pain was really bad after he ate. I

guess it all makes sense now. He ate, but it couldn't go out the bottom, so

he was puking it back out. The pain was from the pressure of the feces

pushing against his bowels.

I hope this helps a little.

Vondie

February 22, 2003

Jen,

I would call the doc about the black poop. Correct me if I am wrong guys,

but doesn't black stools possibly mean blood. If I am not mistaken black

means blood in the upper intestines area and bright red blood means lower

(hemmeroids sp?). I would insist that they hurry with the surgery to

prevent any more damage being done to the tissue. I was told that

sometimes they can correct intussuseption with a barium enema, if caught

early enough. In my son s' case, they said it could have been caused by

the food going through fast. At the time we were having a hard time getting

enzymes down him. I was also told that it could happen again. Now I just

know what to watch for now.

If nothing else, if the pain gets too bad for her OR you to handle, take

her to the emegency room. They can call your doc in and maybe that will

speed things up.

Good luck to you.

Vondie

mom of & , both w/cf

February 22, 2003

dark blood does in fact indicate old digested blood and is something to be very

concerned about. Iron supplements will also cause black stools but if there is

already an underlying problem call the doc right away