Friday, August 19, 2011

Surgery & Vicodin

The title probably tells it better than I can.
So just a bit of a disclaimer here, before I go on, if anything is misspelled or just doesn't make any sense, or you can mentally hear me slurring my words in this post, blame it on the Vicodin (ok, twice I've misspelled that word.........and fixed it).

Once again, this post is in "novel" form (meaning that I have no pictures, and after you read this, you will probably be glad that there aren't any).

Last weekend, was one of our normal weekends.   I went grocery shopping.  We ordered a pizza for dinner.  We just kind of took it easy on Saturday.  On Saturday evening, I went to church.  All normal things.  Then on the way home from church I started feeling sick, and then the sick feeling became painful.  By the time I arrived home, I just needed to get inside and lay down and was feeling badly enough that I didn't want anyone touching me.  No matter what position I was in, the sharp pains in my back and abdomen would not go away.   My husband kept asking if I needed to go to the doctor.  Well, when do you really know?  In the past, when I've felt that bad, as soon as I decide to go to the doctor, I start to feel better.  By midnight, the pain was still there and I was nauseas as well.  So at around midnight, I finally told my husband (just after he had taken some Benedryl and had gone to bed) that I thought that the ER sounded like a good idea.    And as soon as we were on our way, the pain started to subside.  However, once there, and after explaining my situation several times to ever new person who came to see me, and an ultrasound, and some poking around my abdomen, it was discovered that I was having gall bladder issues (if you've never had a gall bladder attack, it feels like the largest gas bubble that you've ever had).  After talking to the on call surgeon, the on duty doctor (who was very nice by the way) decided to admit me for observation.   

In the morning, the surgeon  came in and talked to my husband and I and it was determined that the best course of action was to remove the gall bladder, which should only be a day surgery.  So, I called my kids at home to see how they were.  I asked my daughter how her brother was and she offerred to give him the phone saying that "Mom was on the phone".  I heard him in the background ask her, in all seriousness, "She's still alive?".    Then later in the afternoon, my daughter called again, and said that she and her brother were outside because when she turned on the gas stove, it smelled like rotten eggs, and she remembered that in commercials for the gas company, the announcer tells you to do that.  So my husband went home to investigate and everything was fine (later on, I explained to her that if she smells the rotten eggs when the stove isn't on, is the time she should be leaving the house, and in the future, it might be a good idea to wait to start cooking until a time when a parent is home).

So Wednesday, was the day for the surgery.  I wound up having two separate procedures done (being under anesthesia makes the day go by faster!).  The first surgery was for the gall bladder and then the second procedure was to get a stone that was lodged in a duct that the surgeon couldn't get to.  The way to get that out was through an endoscopy (camera down my throat)  As I was feeling groggy and like someone kicked me in the belly, I was wheeled into a room for the second procedure and the nurse asked me, "Did they tell you what position you're going to need to be in?".  No I hadn't heard.  Then she tells me, "On your stomach".  So I had to scoot on to a table, and roll over onto my stomach with fresh incisions.  Fortunately, I was sedated soon after.

Needless to say, the powers that be felt that it was best that I spend the night in the hospital after all of that "fun".  

So now I'm home, and if I even move a toe, someone is ready to tell me to not move and they'll get me whatever I want.  Some time think this an easy thing to do, but it isn't.  I'm on pain meds too, which make me feel loopy (which of course makes me want to prove that I'm still coherent).   I've been told by several friends who have had this surgery before that I will feel so much better.  I hope so!

Ep 





No comments: