Gallstones. Ouch!

While some of you have been in the loop on my progressing pains..others have not so I thought I would start from the beginning.

A few weeks ago I began having stomach pains. Pain doesn't correctly identify it, it was more like labor w/o a baby. I passed it off as allergic reactions because that is how it felt when I eat eggs...only about 10x worse. So of course I just figured my allergy was getting worse. I experienced them about 4-5x in 2/3 weeks. Since the pain always felt the same..but lasted a variable mount of time (5-9 hours) I assumed it was all allergy related. When I went thru my diet and realized I hadn't eaten eggs, I figured my body was reacting to a new allergy. I would take Benadryl and, for the most part, my pain would subside.

Then Friday came. While at work I ate a granola bar and drank a cup of hot chocolate, these activities are normal. However I began having intense pain. I could feel it coming on and for the most part it felt like every other time however now I began having chills and cold sweats. I sat in the bathroom for a little bit, primarily to get away from people and let myself make faces and stomp my feet in pain in privacy. I got myself to a point where I could walk and I went over to the other building. Now when you are home, or at least when I am, I can deal with pain better because I am comfortable. I tried to lie to myself and say it was like every other time. Yet in my head I knew it wasn't. I couldn't sit still, knew that what I had eaten was a daily routine plus I felt beyond nauseous. After laying on my dads couch for a minute I admitted to myself that I needed to go to the dr. My dad was there and I asked him to bring me in. The downside of admitting I'm in pain is that I immediately feel worse. I begged him to drive faster. When we got to the ER I explained I thought I was having an allergic reaction to something new. After all, having had these pains for weeks I always assumed it was allergy related. They brought me in a room, got me lit on benadryl and took a bunch of tests. I began feeling better. I stayed there for about 2 hours and answered all their questions, assuming it was allergies. They asked if this pain was similar to other allergic reactions..of course I said yes.

The dr returned and wanted to do an ultrasound of my organs to be sure. Plus I kept pointing to my gallbladder and he wasn't buying my allergy excuse. He hardly put the scope on my skin and what showed their faces? Gallstones. A whole lot of them. In fact, I was full of these medium sized stones. He explained that when I get sharper pain it may because the stones are blocking things and/or trying to pass. This made sense. He went on to tell me that if I was having symptoms that they probably wouldn't go away without surgery. Some people live with these stones and never know because they are symptom free, however once you have symptoms they will keep coming back. Since I felt better I wanted to leave. He said tht was fine but wanted me to call my dr on Mon.

I went back to work to pick up Corey and we drove together to hutch to drop off the kids with my mom. I slept most of the way there and back. When we got home I did some research and found out I had almost every symptom of gallstones. I knew a couple people that had their gallbladders removed and they both agreed that I was feeling the same way they did and surgery was inevitable. Well guess what...I'm cheap...and I don't have great health insurance so I wanted to make it to Monday to avoid another ER charge. Saturday we woke up and hosted a garage sale. I pushed myself more than I should have but I had some vicadin to help me out. The rain came and poured on our sale. We left, ran errands and went home. I kept getting worse so I popped another pill and went to sleep. I didn't have an appetite but was set that I needed to make it to Mon. About midnight Corey stopped working on the race car and specifically asked if we should go in. I said no. I stuck with that answer until about 2 hours later when the vicaden wasn't touching the pain. We went to the ER in St Cloud. They told me to sit in the waiting room but after crying like a lady in labor they brought me back and hooked me up to pain killers. I was receiving a new dose every 30 min or so. A surgeon came in and said once my pain was managed they wanted to run some lab work to see how my other organs were doing.

From then to my surgery I got admitted and brought to the 4th floor. I received lots of pain meds and continued to be in pain. We found out that I had passed a stone and it was affecting my pancreas. S
Surgery was scheduled for an hour later.

First they removed my gallbladder then they put a camera down my throat to see where the stones that passed went to. Once found they cut the muscle, put in air, and removed them. Come to find out they were blocking other areas which caused more pain.

After surgery I was very tired and slept. I am on a liquid diet until things become semi~
normal.  I was hoping to get released today (Monday) but I am very sore nd don't see that happening. I am also getting shots in the stomach to prevent blood clots from forming. As of right now, I am going to listen to my body and not push it. I feel worse than I did after childbirth, which makes sense since that is natural. I won't be able to lift my kids for a couple weeks but at least I am still here.

Thank you everyone that provided an ear to listen and help thru this cruddy time. I appreciate it.