The Tweedles

Thursday, November 13, 2008

The Gall! (bladder)

Hey did you notice the post from yesterday, kinda lame, eh? I know that Adam wrote it, from his phone in the ER, and I'm totally not judging his writing. In fact I am so happy he posted, helps with the one a day, ya know. Anyhow there's totally a story.

Since I've had Trixie I've had these excruciatingly bad pains in my abdomen and I thought that they were gas pains, so I went with that, gas pains. I took Gas-X like it was candy and complained and moaned that I was going to die, waiting for the pain to pass. At first it did in a couple of hours, and during that time I was still able to function, so it wasn't much of an issue. But each episode would get worse and worse and finally when I would have "the pain" I would be layed up in bed quietly dying... although I'm sure Adam would say I wasn't so quiet. (so painful!) Before I went to Canada the last time I had "the pain" again and it lasted 3 days, which also included me being on a plane with Trixie. Lets say I was less than amused. It sucked. I'm not sure how I survived. While in Canada I had "the pain" two more times, for a shorter time, but so much more intense. Anyhow can you see where this is going?
I keep getting gas pains, they are getting worse and worse and more frequent. I don't see a doctor, eat Gas X like it's candy and it does nothing. I suffer, Adam gets little sleep.
Then I get the mother of all of the episodes last Saturday night and it's so painful that I throw up, several times, which wears my throat raw and makes me have bloody puke. On Monday Adam tells me to call the doctor, and she tries to prescribe me antacids. I refuse because I want to know why this is happening, and not just mask it with drugs, because I would like to get pregnant soon and I don't want to be reliant on scary drugs. My doctor gets exasperated with me and sends me to a allergist who pokes me many times for a skin test which proves I have no allergies (yay I can drink milk again!) I have many blood tests and I am not pregnant, no allergic to wheat and have no issues with any of the organs she tested. (she didn't test my liver....) Then last night "the pains" start again. So I rush to take an over the counter antacid and a handful of tums all washed down with some strong peppermint tea. I wait. There is still a lot of pain. Adam comes home and finds me crying from the pain (seriously as bad as labour pain, but with no breaks) so I call an advise nurse who tells me to go to the hospital NOW! We pack up the baby and go. We fill out forms, have my blood pressure checked and temperature checked (high- duh!, normal) and we wait. While we wait Trixie makes eyes at everyone she sees and they all coo over her, I try not to bite off the heads of random strangers in a hospital who are touching my baby, and I practice the breathing techniques I learned in my birth class. (they worked!) Finally I am called in and placed in a small room. I am asked a lot of questions, over and over. (why don't they read each other's notes?) Finally after a lot of breathing exercises, a couple tears and many doctors and nurses I have more blood drawn and am promised pain killers. The Big Burly Nurse comes in and he prepares an IV, (in my elbow!) and prepares to give me morphine, which I'm allergic to. (seriously, read the notes....) So he bustles off to find some other narcotic to inject me with, and comes back. It goes like this: inject, me freak out because I am immediately dizzy, BBN says it will pass in a minute and to breathe, I have no pain, but still dizzy. (and was until today)
The first doctor who I saw in the hospital comes in again and I can talk normally and not be gasping in pain, she tells me that I have the classic, albeit more intense, symptoms of passing a gall stone. She asks if I've ever been checked for gall stones -no. Ever had an abdominal ultrasound (not baby ultrasound) -no. Ever had blood tests to check for gall stones -no. So apparently my regular doctor who wanted to prescribe antacids is an idiot, and this isn't the first time she's totally screwed up... not the 2nd either. (new doc search commences when I get back from New Zealand) Anyhow the hospital doc says that she'll come back with the blood test results. Then BBN comes in and says I need to pee in a cup, which I hate. I do though, and one would guess I am so dehydrated that my pee would be consistency of syrup. (it wasn't) I later mention this to the doctor and she is convinced it's my gall bladder since dark urine is a classic symptom. The doctor comes back and tells me that my liver is behaving like the liver of someone who is a heavy drinker, except I don't drink, so it's a surefire sign that I have gall bladder issues. I am told that they are keeping me over night and I will get an ultrasound in the morning. If my gall bladder is infected or inflamed they will remove it. Which would mean that I would have to postpone our trip to New Zealand. Adam and Trixie go home since it's 2 in the morning, Adam was dead tired and Trixie was sleeping on me after having charmed the pants off of everyone until 1 am. I am left alone in the small ER room, listening to the chaos that is an ER. Adam and Trixie come back at 8:30 am, Adam's eyes are all red and Trixie launches herself at me, in the cute way that she does. (Trixie woke up several times, so Adam didn't get much sleep.) We sit around and wait and wait and wait. Then I am moved to the part of the ER where they keep people who have to stay over night. "It has a TV!" woo. Finally I am taken for an ultrasound. We come back to my new room. We wait, again, a lot. A new doctor comes in and... wait for it... I have gall stones! My gall bladder isn't inflamed or infected so I will have to make appointments with surgery and book an appointment to have it removed.
So YAY I get to go to New Zealand on time, but it looks like we might have to postpone trying to get pregnant, and hopefully we won't have to postpone it so much that I will have to redo the other surgeries I had earlier this summer.
Oh I was also prescribed vicodine... in case "the pain" returns.
So how was your night?

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1 Comments:

At 11/18/2008 2:53 PM, Blogger Christina said...

You poor woman! You just can't seem to get a break from hospitals these days. I hope that your vacation revives you and the fam. We'll have craft night when you get back and I hope to hear all about New Zealand. It is Mike and my dream to take a second honeymoon there to backpack when the kids are grown.

 

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