Gall Bladder Blues Part III: Bye Bye Gall Bladder

I thought I would have trouble falling asleep the night before my surgery but after a nice hot shower I fell asleep as my head hit the pillow.  I was dreaming about walking across a dirt bridge, I was looking for a hut, I never found out why because I suddenly woke up.  It was 5:15 and I had forgot to set my alarm.  I had planned to be up at 5 so I could take another shower, relax and get First Born awake, showered and medicated before we left.  I had to shorten my shower but First Born was eating breakfast as we headed out to the surgery center.  Pops (The Husband’s Father) was in visiting from England so we didn’t have to arrange for babysitting.  Pops was elected by default to stay with the kids until The Husband came back.

We got to the Surgery Center five minutes before I was scheduled.  The Husband filled all the paperwork out.  The receptionist made notes, made me sign papers and gave me a copy of the patient privacy regulations (don’t know about you but I am sick of getting those).  She then lead us upstairs.  The Husband waited until I was in the bed waiting for my IV and then headed out to take over the kids from Pops.

For some reason I was really calm.  I read People magazine and started falling asleep.  The nurse came in put the IV in my arm and made a mess.  I wasn’t wearing my own clothes so no big deal for me.  The anesthesiologist explained everything to me. He said he would give me  shot in the pre-op room (where I was), I would then scoot off that bed onto the operating table.  Then he would give me more drugs and put me to sleep.  I don’t ever remember scooting onto the operating table but I guess they got me there somehow.

In recovery one I remember wanting my oxygen mask off then I must have fallen asleep again.    In recovery two I heard the nurses telling The Husband that they would call after they gave me my pain medication.   The nurse gave me my medication, called The Husband and told him 20 mins.  She came back 15 mins later, helped me get dressed when I heard the phone, The Husband was waiting down at the car.  I got into a wheel chair and headed home.

I spent the first day in bed, sleeping.  I had really, really, really dry mouth.  Did I mention I had no wetness in my mouth?  I tried to eat toast but it stuck so bad I had to swallow water with it, like taking a pill.  That lasted about two days. 

The second day after the surgery I was sore.  I didn’t lift the kids and tried to take it easy.  The third day I would lift the kids if Pops wasn’t watching (he would get grumpy with me if he saw it).  The week after surgery things were back to normal.  I went to playgroup, took care of the kids and the house.

Right now I have a rash where the Band-Aids were and my belly button hurts every so often.  Nothing in my eating has changed.  I haven’t had any side effects from having my gall bladder out.  Well, there is one side effect, I’m not in excruciating pain in more.

The End

Gall Bladder Blues Part II: Meeting the Surgeon(s)

I made an appointment to see a surgeon.  He seemed nice enough.  He asked me questions.  He said that I do need my gall bladder out.  He then went through a spiel about what to expect, using hand drawn graphics.  The Dr. explained that he would make 4 incisions, one under the belly button and the other three around my gall bladder.  If he goofs then he will cut me open and fix the goof up (not his exact words, but details aren’t really that interesting and kind of gross).  I said great, when can we do it?  He said lets try before Thanksgiving.  I guess Thanksgiving is a big gall bladder holiday where they take out a lot of them so better to get it over with.

The nurse calls me back and tells me that I am scheduled for the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and she needs $250.  I was shocked, for what do you need my money right before my daughter’s birthday and Christmas??  It is for the assistant . Dr.  “Extortion” feels everyone should be paid for doing their job.  Yes, I agreed everyone should get paid but I pointed out that I have great insurance and it should cover it.  If not I would pay the difference.  Nope, not good enough for them so I told them to shove it. 

Actually I found a new surgeon verified that they don’t want me to pay up front. They do expect co-insurance  up front but since we don’t have co-insurance because we pay huge bucks to the insurance company monthly for 100% coverage, I made an appointment for Tuesday. I then then called back up Dr. “Extortion” and  I told them sorry, you guys suck, I’m not paying for something that I know will be paid for, its not my fault other people don’t pay their doctor bills.  I can put that $250 to good use, it’s not like you are paying me interest to hold my money for two to three months so I’m talking my gall bladder elsewhere (I’m paraphrasing of course).  The poor nurse apologized and said she hoped that the doctor would change his policy if he lost a few more patients this way.  She did sound really embarrassed, I felt sorry for her. 

My new doctor was nice.  In fact I liked  him better, not so much like a used car salesman.  He actually felt around my stomach before agreeing with everyone else.  So I was scheduled the following Tuesday to have my gall bladder removed.

To be continued: Gall Bladder Blues Part III: Bye Bye Gall Bladder

Gall Bladder Blues Part I

 

On Halloween I was trick or treating with the kids and all of a sudden I was really nauseous and in pain.  I thought it was the pizza sitting wrong in my tummy.  I had to cancel the second half a trick or treating because of the pain.  After loosing my dinner, a hot shower and resting a bit I felt better. 

On Thursday it all came back, worse.  Five hours into the pain I gave up and went to the doctor office.  I was pretty pathetic sitting in the waiting room.  I kept on shifting positions, seats, walking, going to the bathroom, anything that would help alleviate the pain.  Nothing worked.  Luckily there was only one other person waiting for part of the time and she read a magazine, never made eye contact.

I have a great doctor.  Before she pokes and prods she always asks a lot of questions.  I suck at answering questions but at least she takes a through history.  So after the question and answer session she started poking and found the part that hurt and poked there a few extra times just to make sure I really hurt.  She says everything points to gall stones but I needed to get a sonogram of my stomach.

The next morning I went for the sonogram and again they found the part that hurt and pushed there a few extra times.  The whole sonogram took an hour! They were mumbling about me being positive with something.  Of course they never talked to me about it.

So, on Tuesday, Nov 7th I voted and that night went back to the doctor.  She was right, it was gall stones.  Not only gall stones but multiple gall stones.  Prognosis: it needs to come out.  One catch, my liver enzymes were high, as in 150 points high.  Now we had to pull me off the Welbutrin and see if that helps my liver, postponing any surgery.

Unfortunately I was stupid, really stupid, and ate pizza again.  A couple of hours later I landed up in the hospital in PAIN.  They gave me a shot of Demerol and the pain went away.  I saw my doctor again and since my blood test at the hospital had my enzymes just a little high she recommenced a surgeon.

Next Chapter: The visits to the surgeon.

Long, Long Time

I can’t remember the last time I posted an entry (don’t mention the fact that I could just look at my last entry, ruins the whole effect) It has been such a long since I have written  that it seemed weird to be writing.  It is like when you tell someone you will call them and a week goes by, you think about calling and make a note to do it but something comes up and next thing you know it it has been a month and you debate whether or not you waited too long to call and then another month goes by, next thing you know a year has gone by and then you know it would be weird to call? Sometimes I still make the call, so today I am starting to write again.  Is this weird for you? 😉  You can look forward to at least one post about my gall bladder removal and getting ready for Christmas but for now here are some pictures from Princess Girl’s third birthday.

Yummy Cake!

Grandkids and Grandparents

Posing for the camera

Waiting for her Happy Meal

Wacky Wednesday

 

At J-boy’s preschool they have a ‘wacky’ theme on Wednesday.  Some weeks it is wear a certain color others wear favorite sports team clothes.  This week is outrageous hat day.  J-boy owns two hats a chefs hat and a fireman hat, which would have worked just fine.  However, The Husband surprised the two oldest and took them to Krispy Kreme for breakfast so J-boy got to wear  his Krispy Kreme hat to school. (note: The Husband did NOT bring me a donut home, grounds for divorce I’m sure)

I think is smile is outrageous too:

Please note he is wearing his hat sideways like Admiral Lord Nelson. The Husband told he that Lord Nelson wore his hat sideways because it got into his way or something like that.  The point is I was listening (sort of) when he told me that tidbit.