He realized that if the warm bath, massage, and "splosh" hadn't worked after two hours, or if he had started vomiting, he would have been in the car to the ER. A complete blockage can lead to a ruptured bowel or severe dehydration. There is no shame in the ER. Pride doesn't digest fiber.
After twenty minutes in the bath, he stood up. He didn't put a new bag on yet. He took a warm, damp washcloth and held it over Buddy himself. The heat made the stoma relax and swell slightly—that was good. It meant blood flow was active.
Suddenly, a small, hard pellet of undigested nut flew out into the washcloth. Followed by a spurt of liquid. Then a loud, glorious, bubbling fart.
The clock on the nightstand read 2:47 AM. Leo lay perfectly still, one hand pressed against his lower abdomen, the other gripping the edge of the mattress. A cramping, colicky pain was building—a wave of pressure that would crest, hold for a terrifying second, and then ebb, only to return a minute later.
The pain pulsed again, a 6 out of 10. He ran a warm bath. As he lowered himself into the water, the heat began to unclench the knots in his abdominal wall. He then performed the "gas pass" pose—knees to his chest as best he could.