Pain: Part Two

So the next morning we found out exactly what time my surgery was going to be at (10AM) and I called Josh and he left my parents house immediately to make it on time (it's an hour drive).

I was pretty nervous. They were telling me what was going to happen and then they said something about a breathing tube being placed down my throat and then I can say that at that point I started to freak out inside. I asked multiple times if I was going to be asleep for the breathing tube part. I did not want to be awake when it went in or when it came out! They assured me I would be out and very few people actually remember it being taken out even though you are starting to wake up when they do remove it. I still wasn't too excited about it. Most people may be nervous that their stomach is going to be cut in to, that complications may arise, or so on... I was nervous about a tube in my throat!

They took me down to prep me for surgery and Josh still hadn't arrived. The anesthesiologist went to look for him a couple of times and some of the nurses but no one ever found him. It turned out that he was there, but they had put him in the wrong waiting room so he didn't know when I was going in or when I was done. Anyway, so I was in the prep room and I was nervous so they gave me something to relax me and it made me fall asleep before I even got to the surgical room. Therefore, I don't remember anything about the surgery at all, even being put to sleep, so when I woke up almost three hours later I at first thought I didn't have the surgery yet. Then the cold hard truth hit me in the face, well, more like the stomach, as I felt all sorts of pain in my abdomen. And, I itched, everywhere!

It turns out I was allergic to something in the anesthesia and it was making me itchy. As in I kinda wanted to rip my skin off! They quickly gave me more pain meds and some Benadryl in my IV. I fell asleep again and my doctor came by to explain to me how the surgery went. He told me I probably wouldn't remember much of what he said and he couldn't find Josh yet (since he had been in the wrong waiting room). From what I remember, he told me it went well, something or other about another surgery the next morning being possible, and then I asked if I could see my gallbladder... he said no.

The next thing I remember is when I woke up in my room and Josh was finally there. I pretty much slept the rest of the day it seemed like. Every time I woke up I still was itchy and begged for more Benadryl and then fell back asleep.

The next day they drew blood, in the morning and tests came back that my liver was going back to normal so I didn't need to have another surgery. My kids came to visit me that morning. I was so excited to see them! They were a little overwhelmed by the whole hospital thing but it was so wonderful that they were there! We read books together and watched cartoons. I started to get really tired so Josh took the kids down to the gift shop to pick something out for me. They came back with a little curious george for me, it was so cute! The boys went home with my mom and Josh stayed with me in hopes that I would be able to go home.

I finally was able to get up and about and take a shower that day and my friend Melissa came to visit me from school. We were supposed to have our final exam that night, there was no way I was going to be able to make it though. I was so thankful for visitors!

I finally got to go home that night after I was able to hold down regular food without any pain. For the next few days at home I slept all the time. If I took pain meds, which I needed, I was usually out within 30 minutes of taking them. I was lucky to have stretches of being up for more then 2 hours. To me, it felt absolutely ridiculous. But at the same time I couldn't help it.

I thought my troubles were over. I had been home for three and a half days and things were getting better... or so I thought. And then Sunday afternoon came along...

Pain: Part One

Wow. It's been a very long week and a half 'round these parts. Where oh where to even begin?

So, two Monday's ago I landed in the ER in Duluth. I had gone to Duluth all by myself to go to a friends house and to run some errands. I made it to visit my friend Melissa and I wasn't feeling too good. My stomach felt off... not a sick off, like the flu, but it was semi painful and extremely uncomfortable. I wasn't sure what was going on. It was kind of a normal pain for me because it resembled the pain like I got from eating wheat, but the problem was, I didn't eat any wheat that morning and it wasn't extremely painful (yet) like when I would eat wheat... it was strange for me and I wasn't really sure what was going on.

I went from Melissa's home and headed to the mall to run some errands. I made it to the first store and life quickly started to turn on me. My stomach was feeling more and more painful and it was getting hard to walk, move, breath... anything. I made the foolish decision to continue shopping. I decided that things needed to 'get moving' in my stomach and walking would help that out. So I walked deeper into the mall and headed to Yonkers. Such a bad idea.

In Yonkers the situation went from really bad to worse in a matter of minutes. I was soon laying on the floor in a dressing room in excruciating pain trying to figure out how in the world I was going to get out to my car. I laid there for a good long while and things were not getting better. I finally got up and the world was a bit on the fuzzy, spinning side of things. I thought I was going to end up passed out in the middle of the aisle. A worker there asked me if I was feeling alright, apparently I looked like a sheet of paper.

I made the very long and beyond painful walk back to my car. A smart person may have had someone call 911 for her... I was not smart at that point.

I got out to my car and laid in the back seat for a bit but I knew something was not right. Something felt off (you know, besides the fact that it was excruciatingly painful). I decided to head down to urgent care at St. Mary's hospital which I found very hard to find and ended up accidentally parking over three blocks away in a parking ramp and had to ask for directions and then walk the rest of the way myself. Apparently, I looked like crap enough for someone to call ahead warning them that someone was looking for Urgent Care and was about to keel over because a police officer found me on my way asking if I was the 'the one' looking for Urgent Care and no matter how embarrassing at the point I may have looked I have never been so happy to see someone looking for me before.

By the way... if you are in extreme pain. DON'T drive yourself to the hospital. I think I almost caused a few accidents along the way. It was a dumb move.

I got down to Urgent Care, the doctor looked at me for maybe two minutes before telling me I needed to be transferred to the ER. At this point I finally started trying to call my family to tell them what was going on but no one answered. I left messages with a few people but failing to get ahold of anyone for quite some time.

In the ER I got looked over and they drew blood and got an IV going. They gave me something for the pain which made me loopy but I was ever so thankful. From the time I started to feel my stomach feeling off/painful to the time I got pain meds was over 7 hours... it was a long 7 hours!

Anyway, tests came back and it determined that my liver, gallbladder, and bile duct were infected due to stones in my gallbladder and things weren't working properly. So they kept me over night and scheduled me for surgery the next morning to remove my gallbladder.