GALLSTONES!!!

I landed in the hospital again 3 days ago (Friday early AM).  My back was hurting before I went to sleep.  I woke up around 1:30am (an hour later) with pretty severe pain.  I tried to "tough it out" so that I didn't have another ER bill.  But boy was that a big mistake.  I had taken a Benedryl that night so that I could sleep hard since I hadn't been sleeping that well.  Staying up really late again.

I tried to be tough.  My husband had got me a heating pad for my back & it seemed to help a tiny bit.  He kept telling me to take an ibuprofen.  That irritated the crap out of me since he knows when it comes to pain from Lyme Disease, NOTHING TOUCHES IT.  Well, except Ketamine.  But I'm all out....

Since I thought maybe I was herxing, I took a couple of activated charcoals & my husband made me lemon water.  The lemon water made my stomach HURT!  It started to burn.  I was burping a lot.  I told him it felt like I was being squeezed around my middle or a car was sitting on me.  I laid there until about 4am in pain, sometimes the pain was so bad I was writhing.  I couldn't get comfortable, I was literally squirming & moaning.  I went & reheated it in the microwave then I kind of dozed off for about an hour.  I was thinking I was having a herx & it was subsiding.  I awoke an hour later in pain again, so I went & reheated my heating pad.  While I was downstairs waiting for it I was in agony.  I came upstairs & tried to get it to work.  I noticed my right side & abdomen hurting then & I started to think, "Could this be my gallbladder?  I am on IV Rocephin..."


I got on my phone & looked online for gallbladder symptoms & SURE ENOUGH.  Oh crap!  I had been in pain for 6 hours!!  Trying to "tough it out".  I don't want to create any more financial stress on my family than I already have.  But this wasn't going to go away on it's own & it got to the point where I felt like I could pass out from the pain.  I woke my husband up & said, "Uh, we're going to the hospital again, I think it's my gallbladder."  The pain was intensifying with every minute.  Getting worse & worse to the point of my moaning turning into groaning!  I was outside standing by the car before my husband could even get out there.  I was begging & pleading with him to hurry.  I know he had no idea of how much pain I was in.

On the way there, I was in so much pain, I wondered if it was as painful to give birth.  If it was this bad, there was no way I could ever do it!  Not that I would EVER have a child now that I have Lyme.  I think it is so wrong to bring a child into this world of pain.  It is passed on through the placenta & through breast milk.  So I will never get to experience childbirth.  I hope to have a child one day though (surrogate or adoption).

Ok, I'm off subject.  So on the way to the hospital (good thing my husband new the route), I really thought I may pass out from the pain.  So I was going over the important things with him.... NO STEROIDS unless I am dying & it's life or death.  No Flagyl because I am allergic.  We get in (last time I was brought by ambulance so we had an issue finding the entrance).  It was obvious I was in severe pain so a security guard brought me a wheelchair.  My husband had to fill out some paper & there was someone in front of me being assessed by the nurse at the front desk.  They got her out of there & the nurse recognized me from being there nearly 2 weeks before.  She took my vitals, asked me the questions, etc.  The other lady working offered me a puke bag.  I said I wasn't really nauseous, but just in case....  Well good thing she gave it to me because right before they wheeled me off, I started vomiting.  OH JOY!  I'm getting wheeled around whilst puking my guts out!  I got a nice big private room.

The people there are SO nice.  My nurse was Juan.  I was telling him to get me some drugs & PRONTO!  He put in an IV & took some blood samples.  He went to find the doctor.  I was moaning so loud & saying "Oh GOD!"  Some guy came in & said, "Is someone in here looking for Jesus?"  It was pretty funny.  The crew of people working there were pretty sarcastic & kept things light hearted.  My husband wanted to leave & get coffee.  I begged him not to leave me until the pain was gone.  FINALLY I see Juan coming with some needles & vials!  YES!  He gave me a shot of  Zofran (for nausea that will be caused by the pain meds), Dilaudid for pain.  NOTHING.  I felt a tiny bit of floati-ness for a second & nothing.  He said, it'll work.......  Still groaning.  Think it may have taken a touch of the edge off.  I don't know how much longer I writhed in pain.  Could have been a half hour, but seemed like an eternity.  Doc came in & asked me a bunch of questions & left.  Here comes more needles & vials.  This time I got another shot of Dilaudid & some "heavy duty anti-inflammatory".  As he's injecting it, I thought, "oh God, not steroids!"  No.  PHEW!

The second shot of Dilauded took the edge off more.  I was no longer yelling for JESUS!  James came to get me to take me to CAT Scan.   He looked like my old friend Trent.  I didn't have my glasses on & I thought for sure it was him (at first).  Hubby went to get his coffee.

Getting a CAT Scan while on heavy opiates is kind of like a ride at an amusement park.  I closed my eyes because A. I was on drugs & felt a little loopy and B. It was kind of scary.  The computer voice would tell me to hold my breathe, let it out, etc.  It would move my bed around.  Weeeeeeee!!!!  Then Larry gave me an ultrasound.  I think within a couple of hours of the 2nd series of shots, the pain was gone & I was dozing in & out.

Hubby wanted to go home & I was okay being left if I wasn't going home any time soon, but I didn't want him to leave & then the doc say, we're releasing you & then I'm stuck feeling like crap, drugged out in the waiting room.  Doc came around & said I had STONES.  They don't know if any passed or not.  But that they're somewhere around 2 inches!  HOLY CRAPOLI!  I asked if it was like kidney stones.  And he said, ya, but way bigger & basically kidney stones are a walk in the park compared to gallstones.  YOU GOT THAT RIGHT!

So I think this gallbladder is coming out.  I see my doc on Tuesday.  Spoke with him Friday & he said NO MORE ROCEPHIN!  Even though I was on Actigall to prevent the gallstones, it didn't do it's job.  I am trying to eat good in the meantime to prevent this from happening again.  I was only sent home with Percocet. If this happens again, they said I'll probably need to come back.

So I vote for sucking the thing out.  I was all for saving my organs until this occurred.  Go through that once & you won't care if you keep that damn organ.  SUCK THAT BABY OUT!!   To be continued.......