Hospitalization update

(The next few posts are going to be retro-dated to the days I would have posted them had I managed when I wanted to.)

I'm really sorry it's been so long since I've posted, it seems like no matter how little I seem to actually do I have no clue where my time during the day goes. No sooner am I waking up then it appears I'm exhausted, nothing has been done, and heading to bed.

The first thing I figure to let everyone know is that yes, I'm out of the hospital. I really did mean to post on here as soon as I was released, but as I mentioned, time just disappeared.

I was released on Sunday, May 31st, my older younger brother's birthday.

I know that the last post I wrote on Thursday, May 28th mentioned that I was feeling better and thought things would be getting better and going away. That turned out to NOT be the case. Thursday was a pretty good day when compared to the couple before it, but at the time that wasn't saying much.

My surgeon, Dr. Mourelo, wanted to keep me there until he was sure things had gotten better, despite my asking that Thursday if since I was feeling better, couldn't I go home? I'm really glad that he insisted I stay. Thursday night after a little walking around (thinking I was getting better) my pain level shot back out of control. Lets just say demerol shots every 2-4 hours as I needed it were my best friends. I felt bad harassing my nurses every couple of hours moaning from pain asking for pain medication (and a bit like a drug addict) but I really couldn't move or sleep without it. Even with me feeling like I was taking too much pain medication the nurses wanted me to take it more often because they don't like patient pain levels getting as high as I let mine get.

Thursday evening when Dr. Mourelo had come to do his nightly check in with me I'd mentioned the pain was getting worse again, and he told me I was going to have an EDG done Friday. The hope was that I had an ulcer or a tear in my stomach that had been worsened by my throwing up. Friday morning was another hellish morning as far as pain goes. My EDG (tube down the throat into the stomach with a camera to look around) didn't have a set time as I was being squeezed in when they could get me in, so I was staring at the clock waiting to be taken down. I kept hoping it was something as simple as an ulcer so I could get out of the hospital.

Finally, I can't tell you what time, they came to take me down for the EDG. I've had EDG's done before, and they weren't that big of a deal. The first one I remembered the beginning and the end of the EDG - and it's not nice gagging and choking on a tube in your throat. The second one I let them know how bad the first was and they made sure I was under enough not to remember any of it. This EDG was horrible. Because of Bean (the baby) they couldn't put me under too deeply - so I was "there" for the whole damn thing. Not fun, not fun at all. It's a good thing they don't allow you to ingest anything after midnight because I was choking and gagging on the tube the whole time. They kept telling me how good I was doing and all I could do was gag and thing very dirty thoughts about these people. The news at the end was they found nothing - so all of that for nothing.

Dr. Mourelo came down to where the EDG had been done to see what the results turned out to be. At this time I can honestly say I was beginning to wonder if I had lost my mind - "What if the pain is just in my head and there is really nothing wrong?" "What if they don't find what the problem is, or there just isn't a problem?" I mean you spend three days in the hospital and end up with no answers, it was getting scary for me. After consulting with the doc who did the EDG Dr. Mourelo came and let me know it was going to be a busy afternoon.

Within the next two hours I would be taken to have an MRCP (I think that's what he called it) done. I was told that the ultrasound they had done on Wednesday showed a slight enlargement of some duct having to do with my gallbladder - nothing that should be causing the pain I was in - but the MRCP would be a MRI specifically of my gallbladder to see if it was the problem. I guess the ultrasound would only show gallstones, and this was in case it was something else. IF the MRCP showed nothing they could pinpoint Dr. Mourelo would be going in laproscopically with a camera to look and see if he could find the problem. At this point the surgeon felt that if things were going to fix themselves they would have, or I would at least be significantly better. He also felt that it was getting to the point where the danger of leaving things unknown and up in the air were worse than the danger of going in and opening me up.

The MRCP showed nothing big, my gallbladder was slightly enlarged, but that shouldn't cause the pain I was in, so papers were sent up for me to sign to be operated on as soon as the room was ready. Basically they were thinking it could be my gallbladder was that irritated and it just wasn't showing up, and they would probably take it out. He would make a small hole into my stomach, put some air in, insert the camera and look around. If he felt that it was the gallbladder I'd be waking up without one. Kelley was to stay close by so that he could give consent if they needed to do anything big. The plan was to find the problem and fix it if they could. I have to admit it's pretty scary going into surgery and really having no clue exactly what's to happen while you are under.

In the recovery area my first question was if the baby was okay. Which I was told yes, baby was doing fine and hadn't shown any signs of stress during the surgery. The second question was if they found the problem, another yes. All I know was that great to hear, I really had been afraid they wouldn't find anything. The nurse later told me that I teared up talking about how "it wasn't just in my head" - and how apparantly I was the only one who thought I had gone insane.

After getting back to my room up in the OB ward - and finding a new best friend a pain pump I could press up to every ten minutes for pain relief - Dr. Mourelo came up. Basically what I was told happened was that this was a sort of complication from my stomach surgery in December 2007. when they did the surgery in 2007 a hole was created in my bowel area that normally things can move in and out of without problem, I, however had a LOT of scar tissue that had shrunk the opening to this hole. My bowels were going into this area and getting stuck there, getting kinked and twisted, and not being able to get back out. The surgeon had to go in, slowly pull things out of this hole, unkink/unwind them, repair them, and put them back where they should be. He then sutured up the hole that stuff was going into so that things couldn't get back in there. So yeah, my insides were a big mess. I was in pain from having my stomach screwed with, but the amazing thing was that it wasn't the pain I had been in, it was completely different - something that made Dr. Mourelo very happy. I also noticed that night that the really bad muscle spasms I'd been suffering from for about two or three months in my upper back had disappeared - and I was told that could have been from my insides being where they weren't supposed to be.

After that things went pretty smoothly. I was given the option Sunday of going home then, or waiting until Monday, and decided on Sunday night. I was really glad I made that choice as just going home felt better. Sure I missed my pain pump friend, but sleeping in my own bed, and being in my own house was even better than the pain pump. It wasn't an easy first week home, a lot of finding out that insides don't like being screwed around with, and finding out that kittens pouncing on your stomach after surgery don't feel good, but it was great to be home.

I'm feeling much better now. I still have stomach pain when I do certain things, and still have to be careful about over doing things. If I twist or bend too quickly it hurts, but this is so much better than it was, and I know that this is recovery pain and from surgery, not a mystery pain I don't have any clue where it's from or if it's going away.