Latest Bout of Illness

The last two weeks have been challenging physically. If you are interested in details, please read on.

On July 19, I wrote the following and asked our administrative assistant to translate it into Chinese for use when I went to the doctor the next day:

July 14, I woke up with a bad headache and pain in my abdomen
July 15, the headache was gone, but the pain in abdomen remained. Could not sleep this evening at all.
July 15 - 19. Daily pain in my abdomen with difficulty sleeping at night.

No diarrhea, no nausea, no fever, no cough, no sore throat, no runny nose.

Because of the pain, I have eaten less. Thus, my bowel movements are less than usual but still daily.

Pain is quite strong immediately upon waking up in the morning as well as during and after eating. The feeling of the pain is similar to that of unreleased flatulence except that this pain is higher, i.e., not in the colon. During this time, I have not had any more or less flatulence than usual.

Abdomen is sensitive to touch.

I went to the doctor. He ran a blood test to confirm that it was not appendicitis, diagnosed me with "GI function disorder" (胃肠功能紊乱), and prescribed two "western" medicines and a Chinese medicine. The "western" medicines ended up being the homeopathic Belladonna Tincture (颠茄合剂) and Bacillus Licheniformis Capsule (地衣芽孢杆菌胶囊). After some web research, I discovered that Belladonna is also known as Deadly Nightshade and known for its poisoning properties. At first, I assumed that the Bacillus Licheniformis was just another beneficial intestinal bacteria like acidophillus or lactobacillus. Then I looked on the web and decided that it was not really the innocent probiotic that I thought. I felt let down by the doctor.

I made no improvement and went back to the hospital on July 23. This time a medical student friend took me to secretly see her teacher. He ordered an ultrasound, more blood tests, urine test, stool test. The stool test was quite difficult since I had already stopped eating for several days due to the pain. I collected as many test reports as were already processed and went back to see the doctor. He looked at the reports and said the diagnosis was difficult. However, since my serum amylase (淀粉酶) was 718.0 u/l when it should be between 32.0 and 641.0, perhaps I had pancreatitis. Two tests were not going to be ready until 4:30 p.m., but he said that they were not going to add any relevant insight into the problem, so I did not need to bother to pick them up. He prescribed two Chinese medicines as well as two western medicines: Sodium Rabeprazole and Pinaverium Bromide.

Not picking up my tests did not sit well with me since I had paid for those tests, so I had our administrative assistant pick them up the next morning--just in case. I continued not to have improvement, so on July 26 I went back to the hospital. I pulled out those two last reports and said, "Do you want to see them?" He glanced at them and admitted that they were important. They showed that I had pus in my stool and that my dynamic ESR (动态血沉) was at 100.0 mm/h instead of the normal between 0.0 and 15.0---seven times higher than normal. He immediately ordered a colonoscopy under general anesthesia, and gave me a prescription to help me clean out my bowels in the next six hours. The pharmacist handed me two IV bags of Mannitol Injection, and I went home to "prepare". I was truly confused. I did not know if I was supposed to shoot it up, use it as an enema, or drink it. Remember, I am doing everything in Chinese. In the end, I decided to drink it, and that was correct, for my bowel was quite clear within six hours

I was not quite sure how I would get back to the hospital without continuing the catharsis en route. So I stuffed my underwear with towels and hailed a taxi. I told him, “我比较赶时间，请开快点儿” (I'm relatively in a hurry, please drive a little fast). This is a dangerous request because taxi rides are already harrowing experiences in China. I made it to the hospital without an accident of either type.

I felt some anxiety about the anesthesia, but committed the occasion into God's hands, and went under. As soon as I came to, I began asking questions in Chinese. In retrospect, I am really proud of my Chinese--I can communicate even if I am dull-headed with anesthesia. The doctor said that my ileo-cecal valve was bleeding and inflamed (回盲瓣炎), but that it was so close to my appendix that he could not know for sure that my appendix was unaffected, so he ordered another immediate sonogram. After confirming for the third time that it was not appendicitis, he handed me a prescription for levofloxacine and tinidazole and disappeared.

I felt disappointed because all I know is that I have this problem and I do not know what caused it or all the other pains I had earlier on. This inflamed valve cannot account for the full abdominal pains I was having earlier. It only accounts for the very localized pain right next to my appendix. I do not know anything about prognosis or prevention or anything. If anyone medical can assist, please post a comment!