I'm back. I haven't been able to post for the last two weeks due some pretty x-treme circumstances. I'll go over everything chronologically.
Monday, one week ago It was Labor Day, so I was off work. I went to my parents' house for dinner, where my dad grilled baby back ribs. I ate dinner and returned home. Around midnight, I started to feel some pain in my stomach. It felt like heartburn was coming on, but it wasn't bad. I decided to wait a bit longer, and the pain slowly got worse. I took my medicine, expecting the pain to improve in about 15 minutes. Instead, it got worse. The pain was different from normal - it hurt in both my esophagus and my stomach. I waited some more, and the pain got much worse. I took some more medicine and began to get worried. I tried to go to sleep, but there was no way it would happen. My stomach was really starting to hurt, so I wondered if I had food poisoning. I took some Pepto Bismol, which did nothing. I was really starting to worry, so I went to Kroger in search of something to make me vomit. They had nothing and told me to go to Walgreens, which has a 24-hour pharmacy. I drove there and they also had nothing. At this point, I began to panic and drove myself to the emergency room at 5:00 AM. I got in immediately and informed the nurse that I was in terrible pain and felt sick. I then proceeded to vomit into a nearby trash can about six times. That helped the nausea, but I was still in pain. The nurse started an IV in me (yuck) and also drew blood (yuck). However, she also gave me morphine through the IV, which helped with the pain slightly and caused me to break out into hives. I guess that's how you discover allergies. She gave me Dilaudid, which completely stopped the pain and really horked me up. I was then transported to Radiology for an x-ray and then back to the ER. I was instructed to drink some red junk so that they could take a CAT scan. Unfortunately, the container of contrast was basically a two liter bottle and filled to the top. My stomach was still horked, so I really tried to drink as much as I could, which ended up being about half. They took the CAT scan and I returned to the ER. Shortly after, a doctor approached me and told me my gallbladder was horked (in so many words). He said they would admit me to the hospital and surgically remove it tomorrow (Wednesday), after an ultrasound. I was then transported to my very own room.
Tuesday, one week ago The day was spent drifting in and out of consciousness in my bed. I was so tired from getting zero sleep throughout the night and also from the pain medicine. I was able to make a few phone calls to my parents and work informing them of what happened. I don't really remember much from that day, as I was basically somnolent the entire time. A nurse brought me some dinner, which was some fruit juice, jello, and some broth. I had to be on clear liquids, since I was scheduled for surgery the next day. My parents visited me that evening, which was very nice - the hospital room was really boring. Unfortunately, the broth really horked up my stomach that night, so I got more pain medication and finally got to sleep at some point.
Wednesday, one week ago I had more blood drawn in the morning (yuck) and went in for my ultrasound. I was taken back to a room somewhere in the depths of the hospital, where a doctor and very attractive student, Becky, did my ultrasound. Too bad I was out of it from the pain medicine. Unfortunately, my blood test came back with greatly elevated liver function. This indicated that a gallstone was probably stuck in the biliary duct, which would need to be fixed. They sent me down for an
MRCP. For this, I laid in a large metal tube which made loud booming noises. Good thing I'm not claustrophobic. Unfortunately, due to the possibility of gallstones blocking junk, my surgery was delayed. Day #2 of jello. That evening, my parents, Mike W., Bodmer, Andy and Amy Grant all visited. It was nice to see them and I was pleased to see that Mike W. had brought all of my necessities - laptop, DSi, cell phone charger, and some other things. Andy and Amy almost went back to my apartment to get Arrested Development DVDs for me to watch. I'll get around to watching them.
Thursday, one week ago I was woken up at 4-something for more blood tests (yuck). Today was pretty much a waste, as nothing really happened except I talked to a gastroenterologist and scheduled an
ERCP. I was pissed that I
still wasn't having my surgery, but at least it was scheduled to definitely happen tomorrow after the ERCP. Finally the end was in sight. Day #3 of jello. That evening, Eriq visited me and played Yahtzee with me. Soon after, my cousin Alex showed up with a decoration for my bed and an N64. Ryan also showed up, so it was a party. My friends definitely have my back. That night, I overheard one of the nurses going over all of the patients and she described me as a "super sweet awesome young guy." That doesn't sound too bad.
Friday, one week ago Again, I had more blood drawn very early in the morning (yuck). I don't see how people are supposed to sleep in a hospital. Right at noon, I was once again transported to the depths of the dungeon for my ERCP. I got all hooked up and the machine encountered a fatal error when they attempted to set it up. I'm not joking. This was very unsettling, but they tried again and it started up. Shortly thereafter, the doctor showed up and I got Fentanyl and Versed through my IV. They waited for a bit and I didn't crash. I'm not sure what was going on, but they decided to give me some more and then I was out. I woke up around 7:00 PM and was disoriented. Apparently, I was awake before then, but the drugs quite literally caused amnesia and this is the first thing I can remember. The nurse had somehow gotten ahold of my phone and decided to take a picture of me. What the hork? I was on more pain medication and still wasn't allowed to eat food. Day #4 of jello.
Saturday, one week ago Finally, the day had come. But first, more blood tests in the morning (yuck). My mom arrived to get me out of bed, which didn't go so well. I tried to get up on my right side, and felt a horrible stabbing pain in my abdomen. It was enough to make me collapse back onto the bed. My mom got pissed and seemed to think it didn't matter. I disagreed and very cautiously got up on my left side. I was able to walk around some, but I wasn't able to leave the prison until I tolerated actual food. Which means they
had to feed me. I got a lunch of meatloaf, corn, milk, pudding, and an apple. It was so good to get real food. I made it out of the prison by the late afternoon and my mom drove me back to the apartment to get some things. Mike W. also volunteered to go and get my car at the hospital. We went back to my parents' house and my mom picked up my prescription of pain medicine (Percocet). That evening was pretty rough. I laid down on the couch and wasn't really able to get up. If I moved in certain ways, I felt that horrible stabbing pain. Somehow I was able to sleep on the couch that night.
This past week This past week was spent in recovery. Each day, I got better, and the stabbing pain became more faint. I watched TV, played Diablo 2 with Eriq, and basically just horked around. I even got a fruit basket from work. Staying at my parents' house and being waited on was not bad at all. By Wednesday, I was off the pain medicine and walking around normally.
Epilogue I am now back at the apartment with a busy weekend planned. Hopefully things are back to normal. The surgery appears to have fixed my stomach problems, as I no longer get an upset stomach from eating and haven't had any heartburn yet. We'll see how things go from here.
