Latest health update

I had a poor week last week. For only two days out of seven was able to do anything apart from lie on the couch suffering. On the Tuesday I went for a walk for an hour along the side of Christchurch harbour and on Friday I went to a lecture at Southampton University. Otherwise I wasn't well. The problem was a return of the bloating, colic and what appeared to be steatorrhea (pale, loose and fatty motions).

Differential diagnosis is either a progression of the cancer or blind loop syndrome. Blind loop syndrome occurs after surgery when there is a loop of small bowel that goes nowhere. By creating an anastomosis between small and large bowel the surgeon has left a length of small bowel from the anastomosis to the stricture which is blind, a cul-de-sac. My Australian friends call it a bilabong. What happens is that large bowel bacteria creep back through the anastomosis and infect the blind loop causing bloating, colic and steatorrhea. The treatment is metranidazole or Flagyl and this is what I started yesterday. We will have to wait and see if it works.

I have a CT scan booked for the end of the month, but if my symptoms don't clear up this will have to be brought forward.