A little earlier than planned...

I'm posting today from the hospital.  I've told my story a dozen times, and while I don't mind, I just thought maybe it would be easier to write it all here so people can read it themselves.

So we've known for 4 years that I've needed my gall bladder out.  We know that lack of insurance prevented that.  Finally getting insurance, my surgery was scheduled for February 20, 2013.

Monday of this week, I ate a spaghetti dinner, around 7pm.  Sometime around midnight, I started having another gall bladder attack.  I took 2 Norco and went to bed, "meditating" my way through the pain.  I was up and down all night in pain.  I finally fell asleep around 5am.  When I woke up at 6am, I felt pretty good.  I had a bowl of cereal, still fine.  Around 6:45am, I tried to take a sip of coffee and instantly got nauseous.  I took the kids to school, and had to pull over twice on the short drive home to vomit, and again in the driveway.  I spent pretty much the entire day vomiting  dry heaving, or being ridiculously nauseous.  I couldn't even stop long enough to hold down my anti-nausea medications or pain pills.  I finally broke down and called the surgeon.  At around 3pm, she instructed me to go to the ER, for fear of an "obstruction".

I arrived at the ER around 3:45.  My blood pressure was 170/110.  I was very yellow, so tired I couldn't keep my eyes open, and just overall felt like crap.  3 hours later, they were finally doing an ultrasound.  When they did my blood work, they noticed that my liver enzymes were extremely elevated, beyond that which you would expect to see from "gall bladder issues".  They made the decision to admit me and take my gall bladder out in the morning, sighting concerns with my blood work and liver.  They also thought it best to do a liver biopsy while in there.

Wednesday.  Surgery day.  Surgery time kept getting pushed back until finally 4pm seemed to be set in stone.  I spent most of the day with extreme nausea, and eventually, me throwing up green stomach bile, and blood.  I was sick.  Very sick, and I wasn't happy about it.  I was fortunate enough to have my parents and my friend Tim come sit with me until they took me back for surgery, so I didn't have to be alone.  I know I wasn't very good company, but just having them in the room with me was so very comforting for me.  I didn't feel good, and familiar faces eased my misery a bit.

I'm not sure what time I actually went back for surgery.  It was somewhere around 4:30.  I remember them having me move beds, not an easy task when you are in that much pain, in that many blankets, on that many monitors.  I remember them putting my arms out on boards, and then putting an oxygen mask on me, saying it would help me breathe.  I remember very distinctly thinking that the oxygen mask was going to suffocate me, because it was very heavy, and every time I breathed in, it suctioned onto my face.  I was terrified.

And then I remember waking up to the woman next to me crying for her mom.  Her mom had left, thinking she would be back before this woman got out of surgery, and she didn't.  The woman was SO upset.  I felt really bad for her, but I was thankful I was awake enough to comprehend things going on around me.  But it also meant I overheard her ask what time it was, and the nurse responded with "9PM".  What??  My surgery was only supposed to be an hour, hour and a half tops. Now I was worried.

Soon they brought my parents and Jei back to visit with me.  I was still pretty groggy, and my throat was on fire from the breathing tube.  My stomach HURT.  Turns out I gave them quite a few problems.  While running dye through me, they discovered a large stone blocking my bowel, and it was stuck.  They really had to dig around in there to get it.  They finally used a balloon to inflate the area and get it out.  A few got "lost" in my stomach, but she assured me that they would dissolve and while I'd have some pain, there would be no long term effects from them.  They also did the liver biopsy.

And so this morning, I look like I got stabbed 5 times in the stomach.  I hurt like all get out.  In the doctors words, she isn't surprised I hurt so bad, because there was nothing "normal" about my surgery.  They have decided to keep me until Friday, because of my liver enzymes.  I've been on oxygen overnight, because my pulse ox was very low.  They took that off, but now have me doing breathing treatments to prevent pneumonia. I managed to keep jello down last night, and oatmeal and yogurt down this morning.  So, I'm graduating to a low-fat lunch.  I haven't really eaten anything since Monday, so I'm kind of scared, but I know I need to eat to heal.

And so my saga continues.....at least one more night in the hospital.  Jei agreed to bring the kids up later so I could give them their Valentines stuff.  I miss them, and am excited to see them.  I'm looking forward to a few other visitors as well.

So if anything else "comes up",  I will update the blog.  Until then, I'm off to sleep....again.

Bionic Legs!  I've heard people talk about how horrible these are, but I LOVE them!

GRAPHIC PHOTO WARNING:

Incision in my belly button.

2 of 5 incisions.  Super glued shut, so no stitches, and I can shower today!