OK – we’ve gone through diagnosis, we’ve gone through treatment and now we need to live with the consequences of cancer and it’s treatment. Not a day goes by when I don’t feel some twinge or some minor pain and I think ‘what was that?‘. Fortunately, many things can just be day-to-day niggles. It’s the cancer …. easy to say, sometimes not easy to prove. However, for Neuroendocrine Tumour (NET) patients who have had surgery, anything that seems like a bowel obstruction is quite a scary thought (I suspect this is also an issue for other cancer types). In fact, even before diagnosis, a bowel obstruction rears its head as it can be how the condition is diagnosed in the first place, i.e. pain leads to more pain and that can sometimes result in a visit to the ER/A&E which can very often lead to a scan and an incidental diagnosis of NETs (and I suspect some other cancers).
I guess this isn’t just a threat for those who’ve had intestinal NETs but others in the vicinity of the intestines could also have this issue – the abdominal cavity is full of organs all very closely packed together! Both the small intestine and the large intestine can become blocked and if it can’t be unblocked by non-surgical means, it can become a bit of a drama for the patient. Blockages can be full or partial so it can often be a tough call for the medical team due to the effects of the patient’s existing surgery including but not limited to previous surgical scarring (adhesions) and the impacts of the blockage surgery on the patient’s future quality of life. Clearing the blockage by non-surgical means is the optimum solution. The presentational symptoms and scans can give immediate clues. Although there are slightly different symptoms for large and small intestine (bowel) obstructions, the key symptoms of a blockage would appear to be:
Feeling bloated and full
Severe abdominal pain
Feeling sick
Vomiting large amounts
Constipation
Looking at some authoritative sites, the logical (and fairly obvious) decision steps seem to be:
Is there an obstruction or is the problem something else?
If an obstruction, where exactly is it?
What is causing the obstruction?
Are there any complications such as adhesions, twisted loops or hernias
Optimum treatment
In 2016, I had 3 bouts of constipation and I confess that a potential blockage did cross my mind on all 3 occasions. However, I was comforted by the fact that I had no nausea and/or vomiting which I suspect is one of the key symptoms indicating a blockage rather than just a sluggish system. Fortunately, on all 3 occasions, the matter settled following a few days of right-sided pain (RLQ). One occasion required lactulose but all three required patience sprinkled with a pinch of endurance! I have to say the lactulose experience was not a good one – fatigue, brain fog and general malaise …..but much better than surgery.
I’m once again making some adjustments to try to find the magic spot between stool frequency and bulk….. it’s really difficult and not an exact science. I’m suspecting diverticular disease might be playing some part as I was diagnosed with a mild version in 2008 spotted during a colonoscopy (a common problem when you’re over 50). Although that tends to be a left-sided problem, I remain conscious that my ‘new plumbing’ may not be the best representation of a conventional layout!
NET Patient Foundation are really good at producing cards and there’s one for this too!
Thanks for reading
Ronny Allan
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