I'm Home!

Well, as Dave already hinted at, it has been a kind of crazy last few days for us. But, as always, we survived! And I am now home and hopefully will be my (hopefully painless) self soon!

On Sunday afternoon, as I sat in church, I was feeling somewhat uncomfortable. Oh no. My back. AGAIN. As many of you know, I often have lower back pain after certain periods of sitting in places that do not allow me to use the best posture. So I braced myself for an afternoon of spending lots of quality time with my la-z-boy, and my ibuprofen. But it did not get better. Oh, no, it got worse. Monday morning I was in pain. My entire back. I won't go into details, but lets just say my body was going through digestive and monthly issues as well, so I just figured that this was just part of the deal. But it had never been this bad. And never for this long. All day Monday I was in pain. Took a warm bath, which usually helps, but it didn't. Tuesday morning I awoke and actually felt somewhat decent. But it didn't last long. By the time Dave came home, we were discussing how I could get some better, (prescription-strength) pain relief. So off to the ER we went.

Ella was excited to go to the hospital with me. And excited when she saw the bed with wheels I was laying on. Excited to ask the question "what's this for?" at every new gadget she saw. And excited when she heard words like "x-ray" and "ultrasound" Excited to follow my bed down the hall and wait with us to get these tests done. Not at ALL excited when she couldn't go into the room with me. "I want to see your letter!" she said. I finally realized she meant my "bladder"

As the doctor examined me and asked questions, I realized that maybe it was more than just my back that may be the problem. As he prodded and poked, I felt pain high in my stomach - right where my gall bladder was. So further imaging tests had been ordered. And, sure enough, as the US tech moved the probe around my gallbladder, she said "well, I think we've found the problem" Yep, my gallbladder. Gallstones - but not just inside. Apparently one had "escaped" and was blocking the tube where all of the fluid would flow in and out. This was causing the painful convulsions that presented themselves as unbearable back pain to me. So with all of that explained, the doctors asked me "So, do you want your gallbladder taken out tonight? We've got nothing better to do!"

So, after entering the ER around 7pm, I was wheeled off to the OR around 11:30pm. They removed the entire gallbladder using laproscopic surgery - so I have about 5 cuts in my mid-section, but no large incision. I was in my room around 3:30am. I was out of surgery, but still in quite a bit of pain.

The doctor told me afterwards that the gallbladder was very infected and inflamed. So I must have been in lots of pain - and that I would be requiring lots of sympathy from my husband. There were several stones, and they were all too large to remove whole. They needed to dissolve them first, before the removal. So no stone souvenirs in a vial for me.

They were hoping I would be able to go home on Wednesday, but I was in quite a bit of pain and wasn't able to keep much down, so they kept me the next night also. Now I am home, and Dave is picking up Ella from our friend Naomi's house. She was very sweet and agreed to have her stay with them today, and tomorrow also, while Dave is at work.

Although I am not feeling the best, I can tell the pain is lessening, and my mobility is getting better. It sure does feel good to be able to breathe deeper and to reach my arms out a bit. Those 2 things weren't so easy-coming yesterday. Now the goal is to be able to eat a little something and keep it down. If only I had an appetite. Oh, one more goal: to be able to deal with all of the questions and comments sure to come out of an excited Ella's little mind. She is rather excited that my "gallblat" is gone. And that there are bandaids on my stomach. So pray that I have the energy to be able to handle whatever may come out of her!