A Tale of The Life and Death of my…gallbladder?

A Tale of The Life and Death of my…gallbladder?

Last week, on Saturday, I had a sudden onset of pretty severe stomach pain which radiated through my back, up over my shoulders and into my head. It knocked me flat…literally! Bob found me laying on the floor and helped me move to the bed. After about an hour or so, the pain stopped. Very weird! All I could think of was that the olives I had with dinner had been in the fridge longer than I thought!

Fast-forward to this Thursday night. I had been working on stuff for work for hours at the kitchen table. That pain started again. I got myself to the bathroom where I collapsed onto the floor in pain.. Bob and the kids were already in bed. I almost woke bob up to take me to the ER. I was worried it could be a heart attack, or something bad (had massive shortness of breath). Something was definitely wrong. I finally got myself into bed around 12 and tossed and turned literally all night because my stomach hurt so bad. By morning I was feeling better overall, but my stomach hurt. I still did my workout, went to work, etc. That night I still had massive stomach pain and by morning the pain was radiating up my back. I also had very dark urine (I KNOW…TMI!)

So, early Saturday morning I went to the walk-in clinic thinking they would tell me I had the flu and to go home (you KNOW I was hurting if I was up early on a Saturday morning!!) The doctor said it sounded like my gallbladder and that I needed to get an ultrasound and blood work. I asked when she wanted me to go and she said “You are going immediately! So, I drove down to the hospital and they did some tests. They found out that my gallbladder was definitely the culprit and I was so glad they found out what was casing the pain. It had many several stones in it, had thickened its walls and was starting to get a blockage. My liver levels from the blood test were 3 times what they were supposed to be. So, the doctor had me drive back up to her clinic so she could give me a prescription to manage the pain. As I drove home, she called the surgeon on call to explain what was going on and see when he wanted to see me.

I was only home for about 30 minutes when she called and said the surgeon wanted me in the ER immediately. So I drove down to the hospital AGAIN where they checked me in and put me in a room. I was in there about 45 minutes and partially fell asleep, but was hurting. Then a nurse came in and told me they were taking me to the OR. I must have looked COMPLETELY stunned because she said “Oh! Is this news to you?” Um...yes!!! She told me the doctor said it was bad enough that they needed to book an OR right away. So, they took me up and did all the pre-op while my head was spinning. Am I SERIOUSLY going in for a surgery right now?? Mind you, I have only had one major surgery when I got my tonsils at 18 years old and that was very long ago. The dr came in, explained the procedure and took time to answer all my frantic questions. I am sure I appeared a stressed out mess!! He said if they didn’t get it out that the stones would block it and I would end up with major problems.

When he left, they put in my IV and said they would give me some medicine to relax. I woke up, in what seemed only seconds later, in recovery. The surgery went well and I didn’t die (which, believe me, was a MAJOR fear!!! I know…I have issues…) He did it lapiroscopially (sp?) so the recovery will be quicker. I was thrilled that when I woke up, Bob was there!

They kept me over night. I was walking with some help within a few hours of surgery. I was doing so well that by 11:00 I had scrambled eggs and French toast which was HEAVENLY since I hadn’t eaten in over 24 hours. I did ok pain wise til they took me off the morphine through the IV and gave me oral pain meds. So, here it is, 4:30 AM, and I cant sleep cause I hurt. They will discharge me in the morning and I can recoup at home. The doctor said to give myself about 10-14 days to recoup, but to “feel like myself” again could take up to 6 weeks!! I’m sure that’s also one reason I am not sleeping right now. I need to find a sub, do sub plans, and I have a list about a mile long of stuff to do. Good thing all the new shows are on. It will make me hunker down and recoup.

A HUGE thanks to Bob, who I really think is Superman is disguise! I don’t know what I would ever do without him! He was up early and “held down the fort”. He and the kids cleaned the house and mopped the kitchen floor, he made homemade ketchup, did the grocery shopping, planned meals for the next 2 weeks, and made it to the hospital in time to be with me during recovery. A HUGE thanks to Angela who took Alayna to the Playstation with her kids for the afternoon and then to her house for the evening. Thank you!!! Thanks to Marisa and Kayla who sacrificed a day planned with friends to keep an eye on the younger guys and “hold down the fort” while Bob was with me at the hospital. And another giant thank you to Hal and Corey for dropping everything and driving out right away to help our family make it through this unexpected trial. Thank you!

No Braces (on top)

Braces are off!

September 20, 2009
This week’s entry will just be a very quick synopsis of the week:
Alayna was home sick for a couple of days from school.
Kayla got her top braces off, bottoms come off in a couple of weeks. Will post pics.
Got to see Kayla play in her volleyball game and she rocks.
Marisa is getting a new seminary teacher and now it will be closer to home. Whoo-hoo!

New baby puppies

New baby puppies, the end of the tomatoes, and another very busy week!

September 13, 2009

New baby puppies, the end of the tomatoes, and another very busy week!

Taylor, one of the dogs we regularly babysit, had her babies. She had two girls and one boy. I will post the pics because they are so adorable!

This week Marisa got results from two different violin auditions. She made it into chamber orchestra, which is an advanced group that meets before school and performs in a Masterworks concert with the school's top choir, a jazz music concert with the school's top jazz band, and is in the pit for the school's spring musical (They are doing Fiddler on the Roof this year!!) She also made 2nd chair of the 2nd violins in symphony orchestra (the top orchestra), which is her class during the day. This is really good for a sophomore so we are very proud =) Lastly, she made it through the local level of Iowa All-state orchestra auditions. She is really excited about this and this will be a very good opportunity for her. Please send her lots of money and candy and gifts to encourage her...=) (She inserted that sentence by the way) School is going pretty well for her. She's taking French 4 and Spanish 1 this year so she gets her languages messed up sometimes but it's getting better. She's friends with a lot of foreign exchange students which is really fun for her. She and Kayla were in an adorable little skit by the young women yesterday at our ward party. It was about facebook, those of us who have one thought it was hilarious. All the old (I mean elder) people sat with lost, blank stares on their faces. That was funny too.

We are DONE with the tomatoes. If I never see another tomato again until next summer, it will be too soon. We made the rest into this awesome spaghetti sauce. It will be so nice not to have all our Saturday filled with canning, but I think we have a good supply of garden goodness to last through the winter.

There is always a lot going on, but this week it was a lot of the same stuff. Kayla did have their first volleyball game this week in Iowa City, but they lost. She has two home games this week and I am excited to see her play. She was also sustained as the new beehive president and she is very excited about that. Alayna moved up to Level 2 in gymnastics which was exciting for her. I guess that’s it for the week. We sure miss hearing from everyone…hint, hint, HINT!!

Goof Balls

What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it. ~Charles Dudley Warner

September 6, 2009

What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it. ~Charles Dudley Warner

Who knew that such a mild-weathered summer would make our garden flourish? The tomatoes just keep on coming. Yesterday we canned 9 large jars (I think they are called quart size?) of spaghetti sauce. It was our first time trying this recipe and I admit I was a little nervous about trying something new. Bob found this GREAT recipe where you don’t even have to take the skins off! It just has to cook a long time to thicken. Our kitchen smelled heavenly! We still have more tomatoes. I will probably make more spaghetti sauce this week. Our raspberries have finally taken off too, but we are having to fight a major war with the Japanese Beetles.

Apparently there was some awesome football game last night? Bob had some friends over and I heard hours worth of hootin’ and hollerin’. I had to miss out because I was grading papers and doing lesson plans for hours. That’s all on top of making spaghetti sauce and the several hours we spent doing yard work. I look forward to the day when I can sit and say “Hmmm, I have nothing to do”! I dream that that day will be wonderful!

Once again, it was a busy week. It’s a good thing our family is color-coded or I would get everybody to the wrong place on the wrong day!

*Marisa received her academic letter she earned last year in an assembly this week. She has all-state auditions coming up this week. She is extra busy with homework and seminary which we found out will be starting 10 minutes earlier next month. Yikes!

*Kayla is super busy with the volleyball team. Games start this week. She is also taking French this year (Tyler is too in his world languages class) So I have 3 people speaking in a language I don’t understand. That could be bad. She also joined Jr.SODA(Students opposing drugs and alcohol) and is on the yearbook committee. She gets her braces off this month and couldn’t be more excited.

*Tyler is settling in well to middle school. He is in the band (playing trombone) He also joined Jr SODA and the fantasy book club. He has also been trying to put together a Battle of the Books team for the winter competition.

*Alayna is doing AWESOME this year and I think it might be because I am now home in the mornings. She is excited for school and loves that I can take her. She is enjoying gymnastics- she has a lot of talent, like Kayla. You wouldn’t ever want to see me do a cartwheel or try one of those flip thingy’s.

We have a VERY fun family Labor Day planned tomorrow. The weather has been GORGEOUS! We are going to go play tennis, have a BBQ, and have a Psych/Monk Marathon. We need to relax and have some family bonding time.