Not Me Monday 1/26/09

Well, its time for another "Not Me Monday" posting and I thought I better get a posting made for you all to enjoy! MckMama is on vacation this week, but still posting, so check her blog after you read mine and all the rest of us crazy people!

I did not have a smile that lit up the whole of Mayo when I walked away from my hospital room with a waiver for six weeks off of work. I didn't!

I did not order twice from the kitchen in one meal while in the hospital. Nope, my appetite sucked!!

I did not talk my doctor into an extra night in the hospital when he suggested I go home the same day as surgery. Nope, I wanted out of there!

I did not get picked up by my grandparents and promptly fall asleep on the three hour car ride to their house. What could possibly make me that tired!?

The doctors put me on a 10 pound weight restriction for pushing, pulling or lifting and I certainly haven't been ignoring that! Nope, not me!

One week after surgery, I did not drive two 5-hour trip days to be with my family. Nope, I was resting comfortably at home!

I also did not load my car for said trip by taking things out in pieces to stick to my weight limit. Nope, it didn't take me an hour to load the car! And it certainly didn't take me three hours to pack!

I did not jump with joy that two of three babies I am expecting to make an appearance on the planet decided to do just that! Baby Elijah, you are next!!

I did not convince my mom I needed a turkey dinner just weeks after the holidays and suceed in getting one. Nope, not me. I didn't gain a pound either!

I have not spent a small fortune on vitamins and minerals since having gastric bypass and now gallbladder removal surgeries. Nope, I am healthy all by myself!

Well, I think this is enough for you to chew on for this week!

Head on over to MckMama's blog for over 400 other participating "Not Me" postings. Free therapy indeed!

Happy "Not Me" Monday!

Emergency Surgery

***WARNING: Some content may be too graphic as I discuss sickness and medical stuff.

Well, I posted last Saturday about my disappointment in my doctor to figure me out. Well, let's just say, this Saturday, things are different. No thanks to him however!

After seeing him Friday afternoon(10th) and leaving upset, Friday night I thought I was gonna die. I was cramping and I had both the puking and diarrhea thing activated. I thought I had gotten food poisoning somewhere, but wasn't quite sure what I had ate do it. I tried to recall my last 48 hours of food intake, and nothing seemed to really jive, so I couldn't figure it out. For about three hours I was just miserable and then the last time I puked, I immediately felt better. I went to bed that night feeling fine and woke up Saturday just fine as well.
Laurie and I went to Lolo's in late morning to do some scrapbooking and we then went to Rochester to do a little shopping. While in Rochester, I began to feel like something might be stuck in my stoma area(what is left of my stomach), but it had been awhile since eating, so I was a little confused about it, so I just drank some water, hoping to flush whatever it was out. By evening, we were back at the Peaslee's and I was making homemade pizza for everyone and just didn't feel myself. I did eat and did fine, but that fullness feeling still lingered. I went to bed taking some leftover Tramadol from my broken toe days and slept really well. I woke up and felt normal. During breakfast however, that fullness feeling came back.
We left for church and I did my nursery duties and should have gone up to service, but I didn't feel good, so I just relaxed in a chair and watched the babies play. After church we went home and I decided I was going to skip lunch and take a nap. A nap I took, I woke up around 3:30 and it felt worse. I went to the bathroom and my urine was an amber color. Now, I was beginning to worry about myself.
So I got online and googled my symptoms and there was a few possabilities. One was a urinary tract infection(and there are three different kinds) or the other was my gall bladder. Now, many of you know I had gastric bypass surgery in October of 2007 and having had this surgery meant that eventually, my gall bladder would become a problem. I was worried. I called the Ask Mayo Nurse and she told me to go to the ER. I really dreaded the ER, not because they aren't good doctors and nurses, but because it takes so long and it costs extra.
Well, I decided to go to the ER. I was at the Peaslee's, so it was going to be about a 45 minute drive. I parked in the long term ramp fully expecting to get admitted, but I wasn't sure. I had called both Sara and Susan to tell them about my going to the ER and Sara responded immediately by meeting me there and staying for the duration.
They check me in and a few minutes later I am sent to a room. Not too much time passes before a nurse comes in, and a doctor follows after that. I needed to give a blood sample and a urine sample and they wanted to start an IV of fluids. I gave them my good pumper vein for the IV, so it was up to the rest of my veins to stand the test. Urine, not so much. I had gone prior to coming into the ER and with the amount that I eat or drink, there is no on demand system in place. The IV got things moving eventually and I did get that done. The doctor felt my abdomen looking for the obvious to him I suppose, they wanted to tule out appendix in addition to my two theories and the best way to do that was a CT scan. So I had to drink two glasses of contrast in the next 1.5 hours and while the taste has improved over the years, it is still not my favorite beverage. By the time my CT appointment time rolled around, I had drank one and one-third glasses, which for me is good since I don't have the ability to drink as fast as I used to and with the IV, well, I was very full of fluid. So they roll me off to CT and if you have never had one, not only do you drink contrast, but they inject it too. The injection kind makes you have a warm rush from your head to your toes and I swear, it makes you feel like you are peeing your pants!
I go back to my room after the CT and the doctor is not far behind. He says that my pancreas and liver enzymes are very elevated, to the point they figure my pancreas is the problem, but the CT results didn't show anything wrong with my pancreas, liver or appendix. It was my gall bladder, and it was very distended. He ordered a surgical consult and an ultrasound to see if I still had stones floating around or blocking anything. The surgeon turns out to be someone who has been assissting Sara with her whole leg trauma the past few months, so she is super excited to "know" he will be my surgeon and that I'll be in good hands.
So after a bunch of phone calls, they wheel me off to ultrasound and yep, I have stones, they need to do surgery immediately. And, as it turns out, on Friday when I thought I had food poisoning, it was me passing a stone! Nice!
So a few more phone calls and off to surgery. I remember being wheeled in and them doing a bunch of prep work. I was calm and relaxed. I did cry before leaving for surgery, not because I was scared, but because sometimes, you just need your mommy and this was a time I wished she didn't live so far away.
The next thing I remember is waking up and being wheeled to my room. Sara was still hanging around, such a trouper she is! She stayed with me the rest of the night and went into work a bit late so she could be there when the surgeon did rounds and told us all the details of how things went. No complications, but my gall bladder was much larger than it should have been and they had to make a bigger incision to remove it, but aside from that, all went as planned.
I have four new scars for a total of ten on my abdomen. One is in my belly button, not sure if you'll be able to see that after it heals, it is still swollen at the moment, so can't really tell what you'll see. The big scar is in a fat crease that exists currently, so it should be hidden mostly and hopefully someday when I get to have plastic surgery, it and the others can mostly go away. I didn't have to have a drainage tube this time, so all the scars are relatively flat aside from the fact that they are healing right now, so I expect them to be minimal. The big scar is where my pain is. They cut through my chest muscle there and thus I have bruising and I can't use it very well.
I have six weeks to recover, I got an extension due to the fibromyalgia making it take me longer to heal. I just don't pop back like regular people.
I spent this first week at my grandparents, the Gardner side. They live about three hours from me and graciously came and picked me up and will return me home on Monday. I plan to spend one day with the Peaslee's and then am heading to my Mom's house, but in two segments instead of the whole trip. I'll have a stopover at my Uncle Bryan's or Aunt Karen's house and continue the following day. My Grama Booth is jealous of my time and thus, I will also spend two weeks out in California. She said its her turn to take care of me.

So that is my saga for the week..........I'll keep you posted on my recovery. Everyone has computers, but some are slower than others, so I can't promise to be faithful daily, but I'd like to get back to my previous level and have my "Not Me Monday", "Tuesday Funnies" and "Favorite Foto Friday" come back. I will do my best to keep you entertained.

Surgical Consult Update

So my doctor is a complete idiot. Why do people spend money on degrees?
I walk in there and he thinks my pain is not scar tissue. He thinks I am irregular in my bowel habits and that if I went daily, the pain would go away.
UHHHHHH, news flash. I wasn't regular prior to surgery, and now that I eat less food, do you really think I will be now??
That was the best he could come up with. I cried.

I have been living with this pain for nearly 15 months now. I have done an MRI, a CT scan and an ultrasound. If I were obstructed, don't you think one of them would have showed something?
So what good is the degree?
I mean, yeah, who WANTS to have surgery, but seriously, we have exhausted all the options and now he comes up with this crap? Excuse the pun.

So, I am going to give it two weeks. Two weeks is my limit. If it isn't better, am going for a second opinion. I really think it won't change anything. However, this is the hoop I have to jump through for now.

Surgery?

Has anyone ever had a laparotomy or laparoscopy?

I will be having one or the other, won't know until my consult on Friday.

I am just curious about what to expect and recovery time, etc.



Post a comment if you have an experience you can relate to me.


THANKS!

To be healthy or not?

My friend Rachel sent me an article about MSG and aspartame the other day. And while I know they are not healthy, it is really hard to find foods that do not contain these and other harmful products in them to eat.

There is no way I can possibly afford to be as healthy as I want, but I am trying, with baby steps, to be more healthy.

Please be vigilant in looking at product labels and consider the things you are putting in your body. The only person that can protect you is you. The government is certainly not looking out for our best interest.