Well, shortly after the antibiotic was gone...I felt the same way again. So, I go back in on a Saturday...because overnight it feels like a bladder infections...I can't wait over the long holiday weekend...so I see dr a. He says there is no sign of infection, but gives me another does of antibiotics because sometimes they don't show up. I don't have the energy to go to church.
A week later, I still feel horrible. My back aches and my side hurts. All the time. I still have NO energy. I call and make another appointment...my dr is out, dr a is out and so I see dr b. He says that I have a kidney stone - not another infection. Orders a CT scan to confirm and Yep - Kidney stone. I had one less than 6 months ago. This time I come home with pain killers - good ones! No church again...I can hardly get out of bed.
Well, a week goes by and I am now starting to get a bit of a sore throat. Really!?!?!?! One more thing. I gargle ('cause that's what we did growing up - gargle with salt water) and go to work the next morning. Throat feels ok...gargle again just to make sure and go to work again...on Friday to be exact. My throat starts to hurt really bad...then around my gums starts to hurt...then I look in a mirror to find blisters ALL over my mouth, tongue and throat. I call the dr again...my dr is out of the office and so is dr a AND dr b so I get dr c. I show him my mouth and he says I have some virus and starts to write out a rx for some anti-viral whatever and I proceed to ask him if the pain pills could be the culprit. He say no and starts to ask a few more questions and really starts to listen to my concerns. He then looks up the side effects to the meds and sure enough, they can cause these blister things I have. So he changes my meds to a different pain killer - another good one! He also thinks I should see a urologist because the stone has not passed - I still have pain. He sets up an appoint with a urologist physician's assistant (dr. d) on Monday.
I am out for the count for another weekend. I call on Sunday to cancel 6 parent teacher conferences on Monday afternoon to make the appointment. I reschedule conferences at weird times throughout the week (I feel so bad for having to cancel that I make EVERY concession to accommodate parents) go to the appointment to be told that it is ALL.IN.MY.HEAD!!!! I hate dr d by the way! He shows me the CT scan results and says that maybe it could be back problems...the lower vertebrae are a little collapsed...but I am 49 and that is what most backs look like at this age...it could be my gallbladder - watch what I eat and see if that has an effect on how I feel...but looking at the small stone...I should be able to pass it and it shouldn't be making me feel the way I do. And besides if it was really my stone hurting me...I would be doubled over in agony and I am just too calm for that! I am MAD. I feel like I have just been told it is all in my head and that really there is nothing wrong and I should just got over it!
I make it through all the conferences the rest of the week, track off and at 3 pm (should have been 2 - but I was accommodating the canceled conferences) on Friday I am officially off track. I have so many things I want to do and accomplish...but excited to finally have a chance. I go to a bbq with our church. I tell my tales of woe and how I feel so bad for feeling so bad and maybe...just maybe...it is all in my head. And I should just get over it. One very compassionate person says, "You are right, it is NOT anything major...but you haven't felt good and that can be hard and stressful." Thank you! Thank you...for validating my feelings. I go home and hubby convinces me to do a home remedy...drinking coke, asparagus juice and tons of distilled water...to get rid of the stones. I don't really want to...but I am desperate to feel better. I stay home and start this process...I miss out on women's conference dinner....I have such a headache, nauseous and feel so lousy. But, I am supposed to be passing a stone so I guess that is how you are to feel. Around 8:00-pm...I am in horrible pain. I can't move...I can't get comfortable no matter what I do. Hubby suggests we go to the er. I do not want to be told it is all in my head again and decide to stick it out. About 9 I think a shower will help. NO. It doesn't...I have never had the shower water hit me and make me feel worse. The pain at this point is horrible. I get out and announce we are going to the ER. I have never in my life gone to the ER in pain. I have gone because I started bleeding while pregnant - taken my children for a variety of reasons - but never for just pain! I can not breathe! I can not sit, stand or do anything. I am taken back within 5 minutes...it may have been sooner...but I had to use the restroom! They do an EKG within 5 minutes, tell me to slow my breathing about 100 times, put oxygen on me and order a sonogram. I usually like to see these kinds of things...but I don't care. Hubby gets to see all the stones and have a wonderful look at my innards. I try to breathe! They order some sort of wonder drug and I finally don't feel near the pain that I had been! My gallbladder is inflamed and full of stones. So, the ER dr (dr e) comes in and says that she is going to call the surgeon on call - he is currently in surgery - and see if I should be sent home and schedule a surgery at a later date or have the surgery first thing in the morning. He confirms that I should have it out immediately and they admit me to have surgery in the morning. I send my very sleepy hubby home and get to a room about 2:15am. I do not sleep - but I don't care - I have some really good meds and I feel very little. Dr f (the surgeon) comes in and I tell him - I leave for Memphis in 10 days - I am going! He says it should be fine and I should be on my way home by early afternoon! Yeah for laparoscopic technology! He asks if I want pictures and stones...of course I do! I come to momentarily in the recovery room...and hear enough to know I am NOT going home today. I am not happy. I get to my room and confirm with hubby that I wasn't hearing things and he tells me some stuff (and at the time that what it felt like - just stuff) and I am having another procedure on Monday morning. On Monday morning, I meet dr g in the procedure room...he asks me to lie down on my stomache...I cry. I hurt and now I have to lay on my stomach...do they NOT realize I just had 4 holes and my insides all moved around 24 hours ago? They start the drugs and I somehow lay as they want me and I am out. When all is said and done...as the gallbladder was removed...it oozed out all the yuckiness into my stomach - sledge -was the technical term they called it! AND when they sealed off the gallbladder from the liver - it didn't hold - so it leaked and they had to fix the leak. Later, dr f comes in and says that as soon as I am up to it I can go home. Well, I was in so much pain and so nauseous all day - and they kept me another night. So, lucky me...three nights for a same day procedure!
So, I spent my 29th anniversary in the OR and hospital. I made my hubby promise that next year it would be somewhere a little more romantic and fun!!!! (We were going to knock off some of my bucket list items but didn't get too!)
I have spent the last week recovering - slowly! Oh so slowly!
I will NEVER EVER say to someone...at least they could do it laparoscopically...like it is no big deal. (I know for some - it may not be too big of a deal...but I will give them the benefit of doubt!) So after several trips to see several (8 to be exact) doctors, I hope to very soon answer the question with a resounding
YES! I feel wonderful and have SO much energy! Wish me luck!
OH - a few more things to add to the list of things I can do now that I have lost weight
CT scan - normal normal machine - not special accommodations for larger people
Laparoscopic surgery - again - not all hospitals have the special equipment for large people
Normal gown at hospital
Pretty sure I didn't want to add these to the list!
PS - I have a picture of my gallbladder - it is just too disgusting to show...and the stones...well I wanted one - but as I mentioned before...it was sandy and considered sledge! So I am posting pictures of happy times!
The people in Memphis I do get to go see!
Happy Memories from last Halloween! 
No comments:
Post a Comment