So as of earlier this week, I am gallbladder and gallstone free. This past Sunday I woke up with a severe pain around 4am. I just thought, oh crap another gallstone attack and I would have to wait it out for 4 to 6 hours as my previous attacks had been. Well I knew something was really wrong when this particular didn't go away, in fact it only became worse by noon time. By this time I was dealing with the attack for 8 hours but I kept thinking it will get better. Soooo then 3pm came around and I knew I was screwed. There was a family gathering going on and I was pretty sure I was not going and I told my mom to keep her phone nearby because there was a VERY STRONG chance that I was going to drive myself to the ER.
So eventually I come to the conclusion that there is a gallstone stuck someplace especially after my attempt to eat lunch ended up in disaster. Within 3o minutes of eating, it came right back up....not a pretty sight. I was in so much pain that I had forgotten that it was a Sunday and had tried to call the surgeon that had been recommended to me back in September to do the procedure. I then realized that offices would not be opened because it was a Sunday....duh.
So I take a shower and get dressed and make my way to St. Mary's Hospital's Emergency Room (ER). I check myself in and I let them know what is going on. Now the funny part of this is that I had an ultra sound back in September and I had gone to Metro Imaging shortly after and requested a CD with my pictures and info in regards to my gallstones. The nurses in the ER were impressed and happy that I had that info along with the other doctors during my visit there.
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| Please forgive my lost in the wood appearance. LOL |
So my mom texts me within 30 minute of me being at the ER informing me that my dad would be coming up there to sit with me. By the time he did arrive I was so much pain I was sitting there crying. Now there were a few funny moments before he arrived.
- Weedboy - There was young boy I dare say was in his mid teens who REEKED of marijuana. Not a little but a whole lot. It was so bad even some of the nurses were talking about. I just stared at him thinking you can't be this damn stupid. How in the HELL are you going to walk into a hospital that definitely has security guards and possibly even cops and just smell of of weed. I just shook my head at him because with the way he was smelling he made my stomach feel that much worse.
- Crazy ass black woman stuck in the 70's- Now this here topped Weedboy EASILY. A lady is brought into the ER via an ambulance and her outfit.......................her outfit......I can't even begin to describe this outfit. She looked polyester DOWN. The killer part was that I didn't know she was in the ER until she started to argue with the staff. When she was arguing with the staff she really let loose. She informed them they couldn't tell her a MF-ing thang and that they could go F--K themselves. Now the part that really had me rolling was when she told someone from the staff who was Caucasian, that he better take his Rick James looking ass somewhere and not put his hands on her. AGAIN I stress she called a white man, RICK JAMES!
- Now this incident happened once I was assigned a room and was lying down in my room back in the ER. I was speaking with a nurse when it out of nowhere we hear a loud crash coming from the left side of me. All the staff rush over to see what is going on. One of the patients who happened to be drunk, had fallen out of bed. So they had to assist him back into his bed.
Now after all that fun and a Cat Scan, I finally am taken to my room, 364 where another patient was already settled. So that evening I pretty much was on pain meds and fluids because I was not allowed to eat or drink anything. I will say this, that while I know my gallbladder pretty much was a done deal, my bladder functioned EXCELLENTLY during my hospital stay.
So my dad leaves later on Sunday night while I get settled in and thankful doze off into a drugged induced bliss.
Monday morning comes around and I have an ultrasound followed by a visit from a general surgeon by the name of Dr. Hammond comes in to see me. He will be the gentleman who will perform my gallbladder removal and he also informs me of the 2nd procedure I will have to have afterwards. Apparently a few gallstones were stuck and that was the crazy pain I was experiencing. Which I had already self-diagnosed back at home. Now the funny part is this was the same guy I was trying to contact on Sunday to schedule to see, so I took this as a good sign that he would actually be performing the surgery. He informs me that he is hoping to do the surgery later on around 5pm. I was quite happy and was keeping my fingers crossed as well.
After he leaves a few hours later a Gastroenterology specialist comes in and he introduces himself. Really cool black gentleman with a perky bow-tie:) He lets me know that he has been in contact with Dr. Hammond about my case and he reiterates the same thing that he is hoping surgery will be done later on that day.
By noon someone from the Anesthesia department comes through and lets me know the procedure. I told him that I was nervous because I had never gone "under the knife" before and asked him if there was some strange bright white light. He laughed and stated if I do just know it wasn't Jesus calling me home, it was just him knocking me out. LOL
So by this time my mom has made it there and we both are just waiting for what will happen next. Also one of my best friends, Amy came through to visit me and brought me some beautiful flowers. We chatted for a while and then an orderly comes through and lets me know it's time for my first surgery (remove gallbladder) I say my good byes to Amy and my mother and I make our way down to the surgery unit. We get settled into the receiving area and I meet with my surgeon and someone from the anesthesia department.
Shortly after I'm wheeled off to the operating room and they take me off of my bed and scoot me onto the operating table. I was nervous and they could tell. The Anesthesiologist gets me prepped and I don't recall a THING AFTER THAT! I tell ya by the time I started to wake up I was already in recovery. I couldn't believe it. My throat was sore and so was my tummy. They take me back up to my room and the drugs are working great. So I relaxed for the rest of the day.
Tuesday comes around and my pains are back and I can tell where the stones are and can't WAIT for the second surgery. Through out the day I was asking for morphine like it was going out of style. Around 1:30pm they finally are ready for me on my second procedure. I had an ECRP (Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangio-Pancreatography). By this time I was so tired from the pain that they had to help me from a wheel chair to the prep bed in the waiting area. The Anestheialogist for procedure wanted to put me on my stomach but I told her I was in too much pain and I just couldn't do it so she decided to put me under fully so I could stay on my back. When the surgeon was ready for me, and this was a different guy who did this procedure, he had me put on this weird table and I had to have my body turned a certain way.
Again I was knocked out before I realized what had happened and woke up again in the recovery room. I could tell an immediate difference. I know longer had the pain from the stones. So after that I was wheeled up back to my room and they tried to get me to eat solids but I just wasn't up to it yet since my throat was super sore. I had some vegetable bouillon soup and some grape juice and that was it. Yet I made sure I stayed on my pain meds because I starting to feel the full effects from my gallbladder removal surgery.
Next morning, Wednesday they bring me a big breakfast to see if they can entice my appetite.
It worked. lol
So after my breakfast, I make sure to keep up with my pain meds and I'm just wandering around my room like a crazy woman and also napping. I eventually get the call from my doctor that I am good to go and I'm being discharged. I was too happy and couldn't wait to leave. But I will say this, the staff was amazing and wonderful. I do plan on sending them a Thank you card and flowers. They just simply were extraordinary.
Also while I was there I had three different room mates and they were all wonderful. One lady was there for treatment of a blood clot, another lady had high blood pressure that they couldn't lower so they moved her to a different floor, my last roommate that I had was quite interesting. When she came in on Tuesday, she warned the nurses that they had better have psychiatric drugs on the premises because she was going to need them. Ah she was a fun one.
Oh well, I'm back home now and I'm happy. Still in some pain but working on getting myself back to normal. Would you believe I still have on my ID bracelet from the hospital? Yea I'll work on taking that off eventually, hopefully before I go back to work.
Update: Also, now that I think about at 6:45pm I wish I had been able to at least see what my gallbladder and the stones looked like. yea I weird like that and yea I more than likely would have put up a picture of them as well:)
Update, Update (11/15) - I received flowers from my job today and they are beautiful and also have a picture of the flowers that Amy gave to me as well;)
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| Flowers on the left from Amy, Flowers on the right from my BMS family |
Until the next episode....
All That MsJazz
