Posted by C at 12:58pm Oct 7 '10Let me tell you, I feel so relieved. The first time that I went to the ER, the doc said it wasn't serious. He referred me to a general surgeon to see about getting it removed, that's where my last post about it left off.
I never made it to that surgeon consultation. She got called away that day for back to back emergency surgeries and didn't make it back to the office. We scheduled another appointment for the very next day at 1:30pm. I never made that appointment.
My pain (despite lots and lots of painkillers) gradually increased, the morning of the 1st, I was back at the ER. My white cell count(?) went from 8k from the first ER visit, to 15k the second visit, biliary levels for my liver were elevated, I was running a 100+ fever. I was fucking miserable. The same IV dosages of phengrine and 2mgs of dilaudid that totally wiped out the pain last time, this time barely touched it. The ER doc this time wasn't going to fuck around... he immediately had me admitted and before I even got to go up to my room was talking to a surgeon.
That night and until the next morning, they were dosing me hourly with dilaudid, and switched from phenegrine to Zofran for nausea. In the morning, I spoke with the first surgeon that talked to me in the ER and then the surgeon who I was originally referred to by the first ER visit doc. That surgeon was Dr Stephanie Miller, she seemed very smart, competent and had a very quirky sense of humor.
So on Oct, at approx 3pm, they wheeled me downstairs to the pre-op room. The surgical team and the [private]sthesiologist came out to meet me. Everyone seemed to be chipper and upbeat. I was writhing in pain, doped up and barely gave a shit who was what and everything. My surgeon's jokes were pretty funny and after the [private]sthesiologist left, the entire surgical team was there which consisted of women, and I made a really funny bashful bladder/sexual fantasy joke that really lit the room upâthey all had great sense of humor. Hey, afterall, I could just blame the pain meds. Thankfully Brandi wasn't there, she would have beat my ass for that one ;-).
They wheel me into the OR, have me scoot over to the OR table, which is hard and cold. The [private]sthesiologist, gave me an IV drug to relax, put some pure oxygen on my face to breath in and that was the last thing I remember about the actual surgeryâthankfully.
I woke up on the post-op room. I was in so much fucking pain, it made the pain before the operation feel like a stubbed toe in comparison. It felt like I got run over by a truck. My guts were sore and tender and breathing hurt. My lip was cut on the inside, I assume form the tubing they insert during surgery, my mouth was hella dry and, oh did I mention that my guts felt like they were on fire and put through a meat grinder? So. Much. Pain.
They finally wheeled me back upstairs, where I had friends waiting in my room. I was out of it. They switched me to morphine which honestly, was not nearly as effective as dilaudid that I'd been on the past day. They kept me overnight. I was unable to take a deep breath (like >50%) because I was in so much pain. I couldn't move using anything that required muscles anywhere in my core. They kept me there until sometime in the afternoon, from there I went home. I could barely walk, every single bump or vibration sent pain everywhere. I got a good discharge doc, she listened to me. I specifically asked for dilaudid when they started talking about percoset and vicodin for pain relief. I spent the next 2.5-3 days zonked out on pain meds, Brandi being a good nurse. I'm not walking and out and about. Haven't taken a narcotic pain med in 3 days, I take Advil if/when I need it and I'm healing up quite nicely. I basically spent a week in a narcotic haze of pain and miserableness. But mentally, I needed to get out of that fog, fun as it was, lol. I suggest anyone taking powerful narcotic pain meds, not stopping cold turkey. I can do it because I'm so fucking awesome, side affect of withdrawal are not pleasant though :P
So, since the day that I stopped taking narcotics, I eaten normally. Not as much but really restrictive either. What this means is anything that I eat that is greasy or fatty, comes out in liquid form. I've been told that this can be permanent but the gastro doc (oh, that's another story =/) I had an appointment with yesterday, assured me that my body will adjust but there's a 5% chance that is a permanent side-effect of having my gallbladder removed.
So yeah... speaking of the gastro doc. My surgeon was concerned about certain numbers in my bloodwork pre and post-op. She think there might be something wrong with my pancreas and/or there might be a slight bile leak at the surgery site. Obviously both things are important, so she referred me to a gastroenterologist because I might need a procedure to snip a valve in at the end of my bile duct to lower pressure. Or it could be something chronically wrong with my pancreas. So I'm having a 3-Phase CT Scan on this Friday and additional bloodwork to check those levels they were concerned about next Monday.
Hopefully, my surgeon is just being overly cautious and everything will simmer down now that my gallbladder is out and the impact from surgery heals. The gastro doc seems to think optimistically, and feels that the entire area was inflamed and that in a week of two, things are going to be fine and that there's nothing wrong with my pancreas (looking at other blood levels) to warrant much concern but alas, we're going to go through and test for things anyway.
Also, I had an umbilical hernia that the surgeon also repaired on the way out from removing the gallbladder. I now have a bellybutton again :P
My range of motion improves everyday. I feel stronger everyday and there's almost no pain :-)
I never made it to that surgeon consultation. She got called away that day for back to back emergency surgeries and didn't make it back to the office. We scheduled another appointment for the very next day at 1:30pm. I never made that appointment.
My pain (despite lots and lots of painkillers) gradually increased, the morning of the 1st, I was back at the ER. My white cell count(?) went from 8k from the first ER visit, to 15k the second visit, biliary levels for my liver were elevated, I was running a 100+ fever. I was fucking miserable. The same IV dosages of phengrine and 2mgs of dilaudid that totally wiped out the pain last time, this time barely touched it. The ER doc this time wasn't going to fuck around... he immediately had me admitted and before I even got to go up to my room was talking to a surgeon.
That night and until the next morning, they were dosing me hourly with dilaudid, and switched from phenegrine to Zofran for nausea. In the morning, I spoke with the first surgeon that talked to me in the ER and then the surgeon who I was originally referred to by the first ER visit doc. That surgeon was Dr Stephanie Miller, she seemed very smart, competent and had a very quirky sense of humor.
So on Oct, at approx 3pm, they wheeled me downstairs to the pre-op room. The surgical team and the [private]sthesiologist came out to meet me. Everyone seemed to be chipper and upbeat. I was writhing in pain, doped up and barely gave a shit who was what and everything. My surgeon's jokes were pretty funny and after the [private]sthesiologist left, the entire surgical team was there which consisted of women, and I made a really funny bashful bladder/sexual fantasy joke that really lit the room upâthey all had great sense of humor. Hey, afterall, I could just blame the pain meds. Thankfully Brandi wasn't there, she would have beat my ass for that one ;-).
They wheel me into the OR, have me scoot over to the OR table, which is hard and cold. The [private]sthesiologist, gave me an IV drug to relax, put some pure oxygen on my face to breath in and that was the last thing I remember about the actual surgeryâthankfully.
I woke up on the post-op room. I was in so much fucking pain, it made the pain before the operation feel like a stubbed toe in comparison. It felt like I got run over by a truck. My guts were sore and tender and breathing hurt. My lip was cut on the inside, I assume form the tubing they insert during surgery, my mouth was hella dry and, oh did I mention that my guts felt like they were on fire and put through a meat grinder? So. Much. Pain.
They finally wheeled me back upstairs, where I had friends waiting in my room. I was out of it. They switched me to morphine which honestly, was not nearly as effective as dilaudid that I'd been on the past day. They kept me overnight. I was unable to take a deep breath (like >50%) because I was in so much pain. I couldn't move using anything that required muscles anywhere in my core. They kept me there until sometime in the afternoon, from there I went home. I could barely walk, every single bump or vibration sent pain everywhere. I got a good discharge doc, she listened to me. I specifically asked for dilaudid when they started talking about percoset and vicodin for pain relief. I spent the next 2.5-3 days zonked out on pain meds, Brandi being a good nurse. I'm not walking and out and about. Haven't taken a narcotic pain med in 3 days, I take Advil if/when I need it and I'm healing up quite nicely. I basically spent a week in a narcotic haze of pain and miserableness. But mentally, I needed to get out of that fog, fun as it was, lol. I suggest anyone taking powerful narcotic pain meds, not stopping cold turkey. I can do it because I'm so fucking awesome, side affect of withdrawal are not pleasant though :P
So, since the day that I stopped taking narcotics, I eaten normally. Not as much but really restrictive either. What this means is anything that I eat that is greasy or fatty, comes out in liquid form. I've been told that this can be permanent but the gastro doc (oh, that's another story =/) I had an appointment with yesterday, assured me that my body will adjust but there's a 5% chance that is a permanent side-effect of having my gallbladder removed.
So yeah... speaking of the gastro doc. My surgeon was concerned about certain numbers in my bloodwork pre and post-op. She think there might be something wrong with my pancreas and/or there might be a slight bile leak at the surgery site. Obviously both things are important, so she referred me to a gastroenterologist because I might need a procedure to snip a valve in at the end of my bile duct to lower pressure. Or it could be something chronically wrong with my pancreas. So I'm having a 3-Phase CT Scan on this Friday and additional bloodwork to check those levels they were concerned about next Monday.
Hopefully, my surgeon is just being overly cautious and everything will simmer down now that my gallbladder is out and the impact from surgery heals. The gastro doc seems to think optimistically, and feels that the entire area was inflamed and that in a week of two, things are going to be fine and that there's nothing wrong with my pancreas (looking at other blood levels) to warrant much concern but alas, we're going to go through and test for things anyway.
Also, I had an umbilical hernia that the surgeon also repaired on the way out from removing the gallbladder. I now have a bellybutton again :P
My range of motion improves everyday. I feel stronger everyday and there's almost no pain :-)
So my gallbladder is gone :) - C