"A Sphincter Says What..."

For those of you who know me well, you know that I've been experiencing some terrible chest pain episodes throughout my pregnancy with Jaren. I started having them about month 5 and so I looked online on WebMD to see if I could find out what it could possibly be. The pain would come at night, often waking me up. It would come on strongly and spread from my chest to my back, eventually affecting my whole torso. It would be a horribly painful constricting pain in my chest. I would experience nausea and feel like I was burning up. Usually I would vomit and immediately feel better. Sometimes it would last for up to 2 1/2 hours of intense pain, never being able to find a comfortable position to be in. It would help to have a cold washcloth on my forehead or the back of my neck. It was just EXTREMELY PAINFUL! All signs pointed to gallstones. BUT, the only way to diagnose this problem was by ultrasound, and being pregnant meant that my innards were all squished together so chances were that I couldn't get a good reading by ultrasound.

Wednesday, July 25th - I had my first "episode" after having Jaren. I woke up at 4 am in extreme pain. I asked Ed to give me a blessing (a special prayer) for healing and comfort. I could not get comfortable and eventually vomited, but alas, I was still in a tremendous amount of pain. After a few hours I fell asleep. When I awoke later that morning I was still in some pain. (Usually I would be pain-free after the episode) Ed made an appointment for me to see the doctor and he thought I should get the long awaited ultrasound. He scheduled it for the next morning at 9:30. I had to fast and so I hadn't had anything to eat for what seemed like an eternity!

Thursday, July 26th - I went to Covenant Hospital to have the ultrasound, but had to wait until the next day to see the doctor to have him tell me the results and such. At this time I was pain free. At about 3 pm I was holding Jaren and I started having a horrible headache, one of the worst ones I'd ever had, so I called Ed and told him to skip working out and come home as soon as he could. Jaren was being fussy, which wasn't good for my headache and then the pain in my chest started again... I started to cry a little because my head was throbbing, my chest felt like it was going to explode and Jaren was inconsolable. SO... Oliver called Ed at work and told him to come home. He then took me to the E.R. and there I found out what I had suspected all along. I was FULL of gallstones! I was admitted and was getting ready for surgery the following day.

Friday, July 27th - At about 4:15 I had my surgery to remove the troublesome gallbladder. I woke up and was in LOTS OF PAIN, more than my recovery from having Jaren!!! They gave me morphine to control the pain, but it was not doing a whole lot. Dr. Gesme said that it wasn't over yet. I was like... "What?" I guess there was a renegade gallstone stuck in my duct that has to be taken out. (It just couldn't be easy... could it!?!)

Saturday, July 28th - Well, today I had to get a scope and get that stone out. I was nervous because the nurse said that I would have to lay down on my stomach for the procedure! OUCH! Yeah... that hurt. It was kind of crazy in there before they put me out. I don't know if it was a shift change or what, but people were all over the place. I actually saw the scope and it was long and thick (about as thick as my finger)! Yowzers! I must not have been out all the way because I felt them SHOVING it down my throat... I horrific feeling I must say... yes... SHOVING IT DOWN MY THROAT! UUUGGGGHHHH!!!! Yes... I do remember it! Anyways... Dr. Reedy performed the surgery and he had to cut my sphincter muscle to get out the stone that was lodged in there. Soooooo much fun!

Sunday, July 29th - Mom and Bry came to visit me in the hospital and Bry was making me laugh so hard... YEAH... Laughing after having your gallbladder out... not a good thing to do! Anyways... they let me go home today!