Gallbladder Surgery & Emergency Surgery

So I am pretty sure at this point ya’ll know about our past week, or month for that matter, regarding my health situation. And since I do this blog as much for myself (my life journal) as I do to keep family and friends up to date with us, I am going to write it all out. You know me, when I say all, I mean A-L-L, so it will most likely be a small chapter book by the end. I will probably go way more in detail than necessary and I am going to post some really nasty pictures of myself, but I like to document things so I can look back. Helps me remain thankful to look back at really tough times and see what all God has helped us through. With all that said, here we go.

Friday- January 11, 2013:

Friday the 11th I went to my primary care doctor for a follow up to my 4 day hospital stay (January 2-6) where I was diagnosed with Pancreatitis. After he reviewed and re-reviewed my hospital files, he told me I had been misdiagnosed with pancreatitis when I was really having gallbladder issues. Long story, if you want the whole story you can refer back to my post following my hospital stay. Anyway, he referred me to a General Surgeon to get a second opinion to what he was thinking. 

Tuesday- January 22, 2013:

Went in to meet with the surgeon to get a second opinion. After he reviewed my files and got caught up on my week following my hospital stay(I was really sick and basically wasn’t able to eat anything at that point) he officially diagnosed me with Gallbladder Disease. He said I was actually a textbook definition for it. Yay (sarcasm). Any who, since it had gotten really bad really fast since my hospital stay he said I needed to have surgery on Friday to remove my gallbladder. I wasn’t very excited about having my gallbladder removed or surgery for that matter, but I was really relieved that there was a solution to the constant pain and discomfort I had been in for the past 3 weeks and years of misdiagnoses regarding my gastrointestinal issues. So I left the office with all my surgery info and paper work and we were all set for me to go in on Friday, January 25th at 10:30am for general surgery. The Surgery is a very routine laparoscopic surgery (4 small incisions) and takes anywhere from 1-2 hours. Then you go to recovery for a couple hours and they send you home. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous, but for as much research as I did, it did seem like a pretty simple surgery with a pretty easy recovery so that did help put my mind at ease. The doctor said since I am young and in otherwise in good health that I should make a full recovery in 5-7 days. We had it all planned out; Brandon took Friday & Saturday off, his Mom was going to babysit while he was at work on Sunday and then Brandon’s normal days off are Monday & Tuesday and then I should be back on my feet by Wednesday.

Friday- January 25, 2013:

Although we had offers, we didn’t really want to have anyone have to take off work on Friday to babysit, so we decided to just have Brandon drop me off at the Surgery Center that morning and then he would just come pick me up after I came out of surgery. We arrived to the surgery center at 9:30am. Brandon and the kids stayed with me until they called me back around 9:50am. Once they got me all set up with my IV, things went pretty quick. They took me back to the OR, put me under and got to work at 10:45am. I woke up around noon to some very nice nurses and my Doctor who told me everything went great. He confirmed that I indeed needed the surgery. I didn’t currently have gallstones, but I had scar tissue on the valve of my gallbladder which is due to passing gallstones in the past. When I woke up, I honestly felt pretty good. Not too much pain at all. At about 2pm, Brandon and the kids came to pick me up and we headed home with my pain meds. When I got home, I basically went to bed to nap off the anesthesia. Woke up about 4pm, my Mother in law came over, Brandon and the kids headed to go play with my Sister-In-Law & niece Bailey at a fun little indoor play area. Things were going pretty good, just a little pain. My Mother In Law came over and watched a movie with me while Brandon and the kids were gone. Honestly things were going great. By about 6pm, I was starting to have some really bad pain. I took my pain meds and it was not even coming close to touching the amount of pain I was in. When Brandon got home, I was in excruciating pain. I got up to go pee and I could hardly stand up. I was faint, pale, my ears were ringing and I was breaking out in cold sweats. After nearly fainting on the way to and from the bathroom, I finally closed my eyes and tried to sleep it off. It happened two times after that each time getting a little worse each time I would get up to go to the bathroom.

Saturday- January 26, 2013:

By 11am the next day, I was SO sick. I could not even sit up and I was as white as a sheet of paper with a little yellowish hue. I looked like I had jaundice. I finally decided to call my surgeon because no one said recovery should be anything like that. After a pretty lengthy conversation, he said I needed to head to the ER. After going back and forth weather we needed to call an ambulance since I could barely move, we decided against it as I didn’t want to traumatize my children. Brandon basically carried me down the stairs and somehow got me into his car while I was basically screaming in pain. My Mother-In-Law rushed over to watch the kids at 11:45am and we were off to the ER. I was wheeled directly into the Emergency Room after a slight fainting episode upon arriving. I was immediately hooked up to IV fluids and they started an array of blood tests. I can not even describe the amount of pain I was in even after multiple doses of IV pain medication I was given. I felt as if I had been shot in the stomach. It was the scariest feeling. I was terrified. The blood tests showed that my blood count was declining. They took me back for a CT Scan at 3 after having to drink 30oz of this disgusting drink.

Here is an example of how pale I looked.

After about 1.5 hours of waiting for the CT Scan results, my surgeon came in to discuss what they found. I was bleeding internally from the surgery. There was a valve from my liver underneath where my gallbladder was that was continuing to leek blood inside me. Hints the low blood count and extreme pain I was in. He said I needed to go back to the OR for an emergency surgery to stop the bleeding. I was TERRIFIED and did NOT want another surgery. I immediately had a breakdown. I was taken to the OR at 6:15pm and was put back under to go in through the original four laparoscopic wounds to fix me. After another 1.5 long surgery I was awakened yet again to some more nurses as I was coming out of anesthesia, only this time I did not feel great and they would not let me go home as they needed to monitor me at least overnight to make sure I didn’t run into anymore complications. I was wheeled on a hospital bed to my hospital room at about 9:00pm where my amazing husband was waiting for me. It was a rough night as I felt like I had been ran over by a bus and I was in a ton of pain and was so so weak as I had lost a lot of blood. The second surgery went okay and they were able to stop the bleeding so I guess that was the positive thing from that day. Brandon headed home about 9:45pm to relive his Mom and so he could get some much needed rest.

Sunday- January 27, 2013:

Brandon ended up taking the day off instead of heading back to work as originally planned since I ended up being the 1% of people to have complications due to gallbladder surgery. It was in no way the Surgeons fault for what happened, it was just one of those very rare things that can happen. Sunday was a pretty rough day. I was in a ton of pain and I was still very weak and pale because my blood count was just not coming up. It was a different pain from before, but pain nonetheless. They ended up keeping me another day/night to monitor me, continually checking my blood count and trying to get me to eat some clear foods. I had no appetite but I really tried to swallow down what they brought me…

Basically I spent the whole day just trying to keep my pain level as low as they could and trying to gain some sort of strength back. Wasn’t a great day, but I had some wonderful visitors who came and watched Kung Fu Panda 2 with me which really helped lift my spirits.

It’s been hard for them seeing Mommy so very sick, but they have been wonderful all things considered :)

Monday- January 28, 2013:

Monday morning, my Mom flew in. My poor parents were a nervous wreck being 450miles away from me and they both insisted that my Mom needed to come out for a couple weeks to be with me through this rough recovery from not 1, but 2 surgeries. I could not agree more, I NEEDED my Mom and we would have been in a world of hurt without her here. Brandon, my Mom and the kids came strait to the hospital from the airport. Brandon and the kids didn’t stay long as it was close to lunch time, but my Mom spent the day with me. The doctor came in about 1pm to check in with me and go over my blood results for the day. He said my blood count wasn’t decreasing, but it wasn’t getting better either. He said it was time to try a blood transfusion to see if that would help. I was relieved to try something, anything at that point as I was still really pale and week two days after my 2nd surgery. After reading up on what would be going on and the thought of not knowing who’s blood was going into my body I got a bit queasy but was able to muster through it. They gave me some Benadryl before the transfusion just in case I had a weird allergic reaction so I was pretty lucky I got to basically sleep through the 2 hour process.

 

Eeeeewwwww!

That evening I was at least starting to have some hope. I was getting a tiny bit of color back in my face and hands and I was getting a little bit of energy. Hallelujah!!!! They kept me, yet again, another night for monitoring and blood testing following my transfusion. Did I mention it was Brandon’s Birthday that day?!?!?! Poor guy :( Good thing my husband is amazing and didn’t make me feel guilty once and he had lots of family come over to bring gifts and goodies to make up for my shortcomings. Happy Birthday Hunny, I promise to make it up to you soon.

Tuesday- January 29, 2013: 

After my morning blood results came in my Doctor came in to talk to me. He said my blood was still lower than it should be, but higher than it had been in weeks. Finally, some decent news. He said as long as I stayed on top of taking iron supplements for my blood count that I could go home that afternoon. Yay!!!!!!! Brandon, my Mom, and Autumn came by to keep my company in the morning after they dropped Owen off at pre-school.

Still pale, but getting better. Nothing like this sweet girl to cheer you up :)

Brandon came at 1pm to pick me up. I was beyond excited to be going home. I was SO over hospitals at this point. After being wheeled down to Brandon’s car, we were off. Stopped by the Pharmacy to pick up my pain meds and then we were home sweet home. I was a bit nervous to take off my beautiful hospital bracelets when I got home since I only made it home for 18 hours following my first surgery, but I was ready to break free.

Thanks to all my special flower deliveries my house smelt like a flower shop, such a sweet welcome home present.

Thank you SO much everyone who came by to visit me during my hospital stay, for everyone who sent me flowers, brought me special treats/magazines to keep me occupied during my 2nd-4 day hospital stay this month, and for all the meals that were given to us to help out during my recovery process. I am blown away by people’s thoughtfulness/generosity. It has made me feel so blessed and has really helped lift my spirits during this extremely trying time.

Recovery:

Instead of explaining my day by day recovery process since I have been home, I’ll try and just wrap it all up. Slow & Steady. Each day has been a little better than the day before which is definitely a positive. Tuesday and Wednesday I was mainly in bed or on the couch on pain meds every 4 hours. I was still really weak, low to no appetite, and still in a pretty decent amount of pain. By Thursday morning I was ready to push myself. I went with my Mom to take Owen to school, went to watch Autumn’s gymnastics, and then back to pick Owen up. That afternoon my tummy was really upset and bloated and my pain was really high again. I feel that was my ‘set back’ day that was really rough. By Friday I felt like a new person. I was able to move around more freely and I had energy, not a lot but at this point energy is energy, and an appetite. That night I had a movie night after the kids went to bed with My Mom, Brandon, and two of my friends (tammy and my BFF who is visiting from Nevada, she was supposed to stay with me, but since this unpredictable week she stayed with another friend). It was a very good and positive day. Yesterday, Saturday, was my best day to date. I even went 15 hours between pain meds which is a HUGE improvement to where I was just 2 days ago. We even made it to church last night and then I had another movie night with my Bestie(s)…

 

Tammy, Me & Candie.

Thank GOD for Mothers!!!!

All I can say at this point is Thank GOD for Mothers. I can not even imagine where we would be at this point without my mom here. Brandon would have had to take 1.5 weeks off of work the 1st month into the year and the poor guy would have been worked past his capacity trying to care for the kids and me! I am so humbled by my mothers generosity and how giving she is. She has completely taken over since arriving. My kids are also in high heaven having their Nana here which has helped distract them from worrying about ‘Mommy being sick’!

My Personal Summary:

As a person who likes to be in control and does not like having people have to do things for her, this whole month has been really really tough on me. I have had to sit in the passengers seat and literally watch people do the things I normally do and if I am being 100% honest, it’s rough. I am SO sick of telling my kids, “Mommy Can’t”! Don’t get me wrong, I am BEYOND blessed and grateful to have so many people willing to put their lives on hold to help me and my family out. I would honestly probably be in a mental institute without each and every person who has helped us out this month. Emotionally and Physically this has been one of the toughest months of my life. It’s been a really rough start to a new year for us, but we are looking forward to the next 11 months making up for a crappy start. I am SO grateful for a God who has been and will continue to be right by my side as we move forward from this. It is through His grace and mercy that I have prevailed through this and it has made me continually rely on him to pull me through. I can’t lie, I am battling some major depression and anxiety issues following my physically and emotionally exhausting month, but I know I will come through this. I have an amazing family, family-in-law, kids and most importantly a Husband who would do ANYTHING for me. He is truly an amazing husband and father who would give up anything and lay his life down for his family. As I continue to heal and strengthen each and every day, I am reminded of my heavenly Father who laid down his life to give me mine and I will be forever thankful and will NOT let this hold me down. I have my follow up appointment on Tuesday and will be sure to keep you all updated on my progress/recovery. Thank you SO SO SO much for all the prayers that have been sent up on my behalf, they have definitely been answered!!!!

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As I am a bit behind on blogging, I’ll be back soon with the couple weeks prior to my surgery, or surgeries should I say and a little recap of Brandon’s Birthday, or ruined Birthday should I say?