Wordless Wednesday Emergency Surgery (LINKY)

Last Wednesday night I was in pain and my belly was really bloated.  I thought I had food poisoning from a pot luck we had at work earlier in the day.  My belly, back, and shoulders hurt so much I had the boys beat on my back to make me feel better.  It didn’t work so I popped 3 or 4 gas pills hoping to pass the gas.  No poots ever came and Thursday my stomach was bloated still.  The pain wasn’t so bad and I went to work thinking I was getting better.  After lunch on Thursday my stomach again started bloating to the point of being uncomfortable.  I skipped dinner and settled for more gas medicine.

Friday I was still bloated and had a repeat of Thursday.  Sitting on the couch with my husband that night I told him I was kind of worried about whatever was going on.  If it had been food poisoning I would have had some other symptoms so I decided to call Ask-A-Nurse.  I gave her my symptoms including the uncomfortable feeling in my belly and sternum.  She put my husband on the phone and told him to call 9-1-1.  I think she thought I was having a heart attack.  I was pretty sure I wasn’t.  I was certain it was gas and blatantly refused to ride in an ambulance only to be told I needed to fart.  So I played a game of poker, went upstairs and put on comfortable clothing and within the hour we were on our way to the emergency room.

Of course they thought I was having a heart attack too, so I got back much faster than most people.  They put in an IV, did an EKG, and started drawing blood.  The doctor came in and I told him my symptoms and he ordered an ultra sounds and an x-ray of my abdomen.  Hubby brought his computer so we watched UFC while we waited.  About an hour later I was off to the ultra sound and x-ray.  Although my stomach was still swollen I wasn’t really in any pain and I was getting paranoid that there wasn’t really anything wrong with me.  However, when the tech did my ultra sound she hit a place that was really tender and I flinched.  I asked her what it was and she said it was my gallbladder.

Three hours later the doctor came back to see us.  He informed us that all my blood work came back fine.  There was no sign of an infections – no fever and no elevated blood count.  He was somewhat baffled though because the ultra sound revealed a bunch of gall stones and an inflamed gall bladder.  Since I had never had an issue with gallbladder problems I was as surprised as he was.  I showed no signs of a diseased gall bladder (other than the ultrasound) but because I haven’t been able to eat in 3 days and had a large amount of stones he wanted to consult with the surgeon.

The surgeon thought surgery was the only choice due to the x-ray even though the blood work didn’t support it.  It was 3 am and I was now waiting for my room to be prepared.  Not what I had expected.  I wasn’t prepared.  I didn’t even shave my legs.  I didn’t have anything ready for Christmas.  I was supposed to be going to my company Christmas party that night.  This sucked.

We finally got my room around 5 am and they pumped me with really good drugs – even though I wasn’t in a lot of pain.  The surgeon came in to see me a couple hours later and said they were working me into the schedule.  In the meantime hubby moved his torture chair/bed next to my hospital bed and we got some sleep…for the most part.  Every 30 minutes someone came in for something, either Heparin shots, blood work, or vitals.  My blood pressure was 177/98 – not too good…

I called my boys at home to tell them I was fine, but I was going to have surgery and their gramma went over to make sure they were okay.  The entire time my hubby stayed by my side.  I was starving.  I had not been able to eat decent meals since Tuesday.  I hate that about surgery – no food, no drink.  Finally, at about 5pm I was off to surgery.  The doctor told hubby it should be about an hour but depending on how things went could be up to 3 hours. The last thing I remembered was moving on to the operating table.

I heard someone yell at me.  I remember someone grabbing me warning me that I was pulling out my IV.  Apparently as they were waking me from the surgery 1.5 hours later I was fighting them like a mad woman trying to get out of the bed.  The nurse warned me that I would probably pay for it later.  She was right…the next day I was hurting.

The surgeon said he was really surprised at how “sick and abnormal” my gallbladder was when he got in there.  I’m still not sure what that means, but I’m glad I decided to follow up on my bloating.  I’m not a big fan of going to the doctor or the hospital, but something told me whatever was going on just wasn’t normal.  The recovery has been good.  I had to stay in the hospital longer than expected – 4 days to be exact – due to mucus in my lungs.

When I got home last night James was so worried about his mama.  He cried.  He asked me if I died and came back to life.  I did my best at reassuring him that I was fine but he is still a bit “shy” around me.  I love my family.

These are my war wounds…they don’t look too bad, but they sure do hurt.

Have you had your gallbladder removed?  How long did it take you to feel normal again?  Share your story with me…I would love to hear it.