Bye Bye Gallbladder

For those of you who didn't hear, I had surgery yesterday to remove my gallbladder. After almost four months of dealing with doctors who kept telling me that it was just heartburn, I finally found a doctor who did more testing. I was on my way to Columbus on Friday (a week ago) when I got a pain attack in the car. When this happens, I am totally wiped out. It's the worst pain I've ever had (far worse than contractions). We drove straight into town and to the Dublin Methodist Hospital. They got me in fairly quickly and ran some blood work. The test came back and showed that several enzymes were elevated and that it indicated that I had gallbladder disease. They had me do a CAT scan to make sure that my pancreas wasn't inflamed (a side effect of gallbladder disease) and that I wasn't in danger of getting very sick. The scan came back clean and they had me schedule an ultrasound on Saturday at Riverside.

On Monday I called the surgeon that I was referred to and set up a consultation for Tuesday and then surgery on Wednesday. I was a little nervous about the anesthesia, but mostly just happy that having my gallbladder removed was going to make all of the pain and crazy diet restrictions go away. Once I got to meet my surgeon (Dr. Fisher) I was even less nervous. He seemed like a great doctor. He told me that my gallbladder was full of stones and that I had the stones before I ever got pregnant with Henry. Giving birth just makes the problem appear more evident because of all the hormonal changes. He also said that my attacks were so bad that they were causing my liver to become inflamed.

I went to Doctor's West to have the outpatient surgery on Wednesday. We ended up waiting a little longer than expected because Dr. Fisher was called to an emergency surgery at another hospital. When it was finally my turn, it went much smoother than I thought. I honestly don't remember anything after laying down on the operating table and having this lady put a warm blanket over me. I woke up from the anesthesia and immediately needed a breathing treatment because I felt like I was having an asthma attack. They gave me some Albuterol through my oxygen mask and I was good to go. My belly button hurt a lot, but they gave me some IV drugs to help with the pain. (I had four incisions... the largest one was in my belly button and three across the right side of my abdomen. I stayed in the hospital for about 35 minutes after the surgery and then they said I could leave. I had some apple juice and graham crackers and I was out the door.

Today I felt pretty good. My throat hurts a bunch from the tube they put down there and my belly is just sore, but nothing unbearable. I'm not allowed to drive for a week and I'm not allowed to hold my chubby baby (or anything heavier than a gallon of milk) for a week or two. I had my first sip of coffee today since Henry was born and I wasn't scared to have some banana peppers on my sub for dinner-- this is a major improvement. I'm going to add back in foods slowly so that my liver and bile duct system can get to know each other without their little friend Mr. Gallbladder. 

I'm a bit pissed at my family doctor in Lansing for not listening to me when I suggested that it was my gallbladder. I'm also irritated that the first time I went to the ER for these attacks that my liver enzyme was elevated and he didn't figure out that it was my gallbladder. He just told me it was heartburn and sent me on my way with a handful of prescriptions. Since I'm paying for 20% of all these tests and the surgery itself, this is going to set us back several thousand dollars -- and if they had listened to me sooner I wouldn't have had to pay for as many of these ER visits and all the unnecessary tests. 

Oh well, at least it's over with and I'm going to be able to enjoy myself again instead of constantly worrying about going out in public in case I get an attack.