Yes, I have gall stones. I don't know how many, how big, or how long I've had them, but at least one of them decided to make its existence known this past Sunday.
There I was, finishing up my traditional Sunday meal of spaghetti when my stomach started hurting. I tried to enjoy a slice of banana cream pie, but I was still uncomfortable. I cleared the dishes from the table, thinking the movement might help things settle down in there since I hardly ever have a hard time eating whatever I want. Well, that wasn't helping, so I thought I'd go lay down on the coach. Oooh, that's not comfortable either. Maybe I need to lie in my soft, comfy bed. Ummm, no. It's feeling worse. This is not right. I start pacing around thinking of things I could do to stop from thinking about my discomfort until it passed. I didn't feel nauseous or like I had to run to a bathroom, or anything like that. I was just really uncomfortable! A pain in my stomach, just under the bottom inch of my sternum, that went through to my back and radiated out some. After about 5 minutes of stirring and debating on what I should do, I woke Mike up from his Sunday nap (and felt guilty about it) to tell him something was wrong.
Now, Mike works in a hospital as a registered nurse in the Cardio-Vascular Stepdown Unit (CVSU) and immediately thinks of his excellent training on heart attack symptoms and that women often do not display standard symptoms when it comes to heart problems. Well, I suppose I could have over-worked my poor heart with all the cycling I've been doing (I didn't think about how strong it has become since losing weight and regularly exercizing). That was enough of a scare for me to say "Take me to the Emergency Room!". Bless his heart (which is also healthy) he made pretty good time to Christ Hospital, with me trying not to moan too much or loudly. If you ever want to be seen quickly in the ER, tell them you have chest pain! I was immediately taken back and prepped for an EKG. I was done with that test before Mike finished registering me! He was back just in time to see the print out (remember, he works with heart patients and knew the results were fine as soon as he saw the jagged line on that paper). Blood work had to be done to rule out other problems - something about liver enzymes and such. Of course, once it was determined my pain was not related to my perfectly healthy heart, the level of service dropped a notch. By the way, my heart rate was low to mid-60's, blood pressure 110/60 at it's highest, and oxygen level 100% - all while being totally stressed and in pain. That's pretty good!
OK, so they drew the blood (I have small veins, but they got the IV in on the first try - thank you!) and all the test came back normal/good. The doctor pushed around on my abdomen and sure enough, I was more tender under my right ribs, and a gall bladder attack was diagnosed. I had to drink a 'gastric cocktail' of mylanta and lidocain - yuck! But it did dull the pain for a little while. However, the pain started getting stronger again, and I wasn't having that! The doctor said he'd give me a little pain medication to 'take the edge off'. Let me tell you, that morphine really knocked me out! No pain. I was in a happy place.
I suppose the hospital is not really a hotel, so they wanted me to wake up so I could go home. But I was finally comfortable! Leave me alone! Let me sleep this off! Stop asking me to wake up! Ughh, OK, I'll wake up enough to get dressed and go home...but only if you insist. hummph.
I was given instructions to call for an ultrasound, blah, blah, blah (I don't really remember this part, but had paperwork to prove it). And the next thing I know, I'm home. I slept really well that night. I really didn't want to wake up Monday morning either.
I saw my regular doctor on Monday, had the ultrasound Tuesday, got the results on Wednesday (which has already been stated, I have gall stones), and met with my surgeon on Thursday. I'll have the operation in 2 weeks or so (6/22).
Idaho 2013
11 years ago
