Thursday, July 16, 2009

Catastrophic Surgical Misadventure

Well, we are assuming that it's not that. But I liked the sound of it so much that I wrote it down immediately when my surgeon said it.

Here I am, live blogging from the bed in room #21 of the Emergency Department. You'd think I was developing some sort of crush on the surgeon that yanked my gallbladder out -- given that I tortured myself with steri strips in order to talk to him again, and now camped out in the ED fresh off a consult with him.

Yesterday afternoon my stomach/abdomen started hurting. I am PMSing and had just crammed a quarter of a bag of potato chips down my gullet, so I figured that was the problem. But it kept hurting all evening, which sucked. I took one of my 800mg Ibuprofens and was able to at least get to sleep.

When I woke up, it still hurt but not too badly. I still wasn't going to chance eating anything. By lunchtime, I was starving. To death. So I got a salad, and man was it good. Twenty minutes later, all hell broke loose.

The pain quickly went from "ow, that kinda hurts" to "holyfuckingshitohmygodsweetmamahelpme" accompanied with literally writhing around on the floor (the dirty, nasty carpeted floor of my office), sweating and moaning. It lasted about 10 minutes -- basically an eternity -- and then was gone. Poof! Like nothing ever happened. Except that I was completely soaked in sweat, shaking, panting, and chalk white.

My co-workers had already procured a wheelchair to take me to the ED (perk of working in a hospital), but I tried to tell them that I was okay now. Which I was. Only it didn't last long. A few minutes later, it started all over again. Gawd, it's awful pain.

Fast forward to now. I am lying on a bed, getting Dilaudid in an IV drip. I've just had my 4th cup of apple juice with contrast dye in it as preparation for the CT scan I've got in 20 minutes. Good times.

The good news is that my bloodwork just got back and since my liver enzymes are jacked up, it just about confirms what my surgeon suspected which is a stone in the bile duct. It snuck in there before they got my gallbladder out and has been just hanging around, waiting to torture me.

So I'll get the CT scan in a bit, it will show that nothing else major is wrong, and I'll have an endoscopy tomorrow to remove the stone. I moaned and pissed and whined about needed to go home and see my kids, so they are actually releasing me (pending good CT scan results) with instructions to come back at 9:30 tomorrow morning for the endoscopy.

I am SO over myself and these medical woes. But at least I got another idea for my ficticious band names list: Catastrophic Surgical Misadventure. Rock on! Get it? Rock... stone... in my bile duct... Okay, that's not funny. Give me a break, I'm high on pain meds right now, okay?

11 comments:

Suzy, Not a Fertile Myrtle said...

You poor thing! The pain you described sounded like several of my gallbladder attacks. That stupid stone is trying to ruin your life still!

Take care!

Jendeis said...

Oh no! And here I was, thinking it was just pain from not seeing me for three days.

Hoping that the Dilaudid kicks in soon.

Let me know if there is anything I can do/bring you.

Delenn said...

Oh that so sucks! It so sounds like you need some TLC! Take care!

Meghan said...

Tell the truth...you know you needed something to blog about so you don't fall short of your July goal ;)

Kidding aside, that sounds horrible. Hope it all goes well tomorrow, I'll be thinkin g of you

Anonymous said...

Are you yellow yet? Is your pee brown?

I SO feel this pain with you. I had two bile duct obstructions after my surgery. The good news is that after the endoscopy, it is all good.

But yeah, worse than a gallbladder attack, huh?

I hope it will all be over soon.

astral said...

I'm wishing you have a quick recovery. The pain is unbearable (I also had my gallbladder out). I hope you feel better soon. {{hugs}}

Life in Eden said...

Oh God! Better you than me. Oh wait, did I say that out loud? Sorry.

Seriously, hoping all goes smoothly in the morning and that this is the LAST of those suckers.

Lollipop Goldstein said...

Oh sweetie, that is scary terrible. I'm sending good thoughts for tomorrow.

Shelby said...

Im' so sorry!! That actually happened to me too (I was in organic chem class when it was passing). But i tpassed on it's own. You have had the worst luck lately! Sending hugs.

Aunt Becky said...

Enjoy the pain meds and hope you feel better soon.

Anonymous said...

hey leah - just checking in to see if you are ok