My gall bladder fun - NOT
By ElicBxn
@ElicBxn (63594)
United States
September 1, 2008 11:22pm CST
Okay - I guess I need to do an indepth telling of my little excitement. I'm leaving it mostly as I sent it to one of my friends - the names have been extracted to protect the guilty....
I'm doing great - now! Last 2 weekends I've had a stomach ache that didn't quit and slept most the weekends. But was fine the rest of the time - maybe this going from breakfast to dinner for most of the last year and a half did it (haven't lost any weight I might add.)
I went to work on Monday, but Monday night the head hurt so bad that I asked the roomie who drives - who was off work that day - to take me to the hospital.
They took blood, they took a urine sample. They had me sit around with an IV drip - came and asked if they had done the x-rays - no - took me to x-ray, then had me sit around some more. Then asked if I had gotten the ultrasound on my gall bladder - no - and oh - the roommate is waiting in the waiting room and kind of wanting to go home. I said that it was fine, I'd call a cab when they released me - am I sure, yes I'm sure.
Poke me with their ultrasound - ouch! Ya know, those ribs hurt - darn it!
The doctor comes in and says - I'm admitting you, you are going to have to have your gall bladder out.
WHAT?!?!? I'm thinking. I CAME IN FOR A F*CKING HEADACHE!!!!!!
They take me to the room and oh - nothing is to cross my lips not even water until the pancreatius gets better, so the surgery won't be today (Tuesday at this point) but Wednesday or Thursday.
I spent Tuesday in bed, with an IV drip and regular doses of morphine to keep the head under control! About 11 p.m. I feel better enough to take a shower and then at 2, more morphine.
They took me about 1 p.m. down to the surgical pre-op on Wednesday and there is like 1 little room that is available, the rest are used for storage - it seems that most of their surgeries are out patient - I'm the odd man coming from being admitted to the hospital.
I'm back in my room at 4 with major groggies, doctor came in and said I did well, but they had to make a 5th cut instead of the normal 4 because of my size. Fine, they got it, I woke up with no adverse affects from the meds - I'm happy! Note the 3 things I've bolded - I'm awake with no bad after affects and they got the guilty organ....
That night I got a glass of apple juice - boy was that YUMMY!!! First thing to pass my lips since some saltines on Monday!
I had jello and apple juice for breakfast and lunch.
Now, I kept telling the roomie that so long as they let me out on Thursday or Friday, I knew a friend would give me a ride home from the hospital.
Only problem is... her folks took my phone and cards before I had surgery, and I don't know this friend's number.
So, I told the roomie to call her and ask her - since I can't do it.
She calls and says - can you pick Elic up at the hospital when they release her?
Our friend had just arrived at the store to do a little shopping is blindsided by this!
"WHAT IS ELIC DOING IN THE HOSPITAL?" she asks.
You didn't know? But Elic said you'd pick her up.... the roomie said.
Of course I'll pick her up, but what is she doing in the hospital?
So I went in for the headache Monday night - 8ish, got out at 1ish on Thursday, we ran out to her folks for my phone and cards before we went home - that gave me time to tell the friend all the story.
I'm on the mend, but my car's in the shop - might as well get that transmission overhauled while I'm outta service!
The doctor told me there were several lesions on the gall bladder so I had been having trouble for a while - I guess so, how was I to know that stomach ache was really a gall stone attack?
4 people like this
19 responses
@Angelwhispers (8978)
• United States
2 Sep 08
Good grief Elic, sounds like you have had an adventure in health! So glad you are doing well. Those gall bladder symptoms can be tricky I had taken out years ago. Man glad you are better. The pancreatic infection sounds scary as well.
4 people like this
@GardenGerty (160665)
• United States
2 Sep 08
About as much fun as a sharp poke in the eye. I never realized a headache could be a symptom of gall bladder attack/pancreatitis. Thanks for the education Elic. Many members of my family have had their gall bladders removed, but I am seriously wanting to avoid that scenario. When I had my other surgery, they said my gall bladder looked fine. I hope it stays that way. Glad you had no adverse effects.
3 people like this
@GardenGerty (160665)
• United States
3 Sep 08
I have heard that that is very common if it is a rapid weight loss.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63594)
• United States
3 Sep 08
I think the headache was more due to low blood sugar then the gall bladder.
I think my change in diet the last year and a half is what brought this on, it wasn't a weight lost diet, just the fact that during the middle of the day most days I don't have opportunity to eat until after 3 and at that point I might as well wait till dinner.
My sister and a friend both lost theirs when they started low fat diets to lose weight.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
2 Sep 08
Hehee...yup, just read your email to me about this. Were the stomach aches bad, as I've heard people with gallbladder problems be in real excruciating pain at times. Who would think such a small organ could do so much pain or damage. Was the headache somehow related to the gallbladder attack??? Did your kitties miss you? LOL..Are they glad you're back?
Glad to hear you're on the mend and getting better though
Gee, never a dull moment though, huh?
3 people like this
@ElicBxn (63594)
• United States
2 Sep 08
the stomach aches were bad, but not bad enough to send me to the hospital
it seems that the headaches were probably from low blood sugar because I was having trouble keeping things down
did the kitties miss me - Is the Pope Catholic?
Taj as been velcro kitty and Oliver wandered around with his worried meows. Scamp sulked on my bed until the roomie pet him, then he hid for a while.
3 people like this
@BarBaraPrz (47313)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
2 Sep 08
Kitties make great nurses, don't they?
3 people like this
@Phelyne (129)
• United States
2 Sep 08
Glad you're doing better.
I had my gall bladder out, about 16 years ago. I had pain in my right shoulder blade, off and on for around a year. I went to the hospital about it one time, and this doctor told me it was just arthritis, women my age get that sometimes. I was 36! Flippin' quack. I went again, a few months later, and had a proper doctor, that did a proper exam, and had my gall bladder removed the next morning, with a gall stone larger than the bladder itself. I would have liked to feed it to the quack that just said it was arthritis.
3 people like this
@Phelyne (129)
• United States
2 Sep 08
Sure would be nice if doctors would quit practicing and get it right, wouldn't it? I went for years with a cyst on each of my ovaries, that would probably have been caught when I was pregnant with my soon to be 20 year old son. I was on medicaid, and the doctors kept asking if I'd had an ultra sound. They thought they felt two heads, when they palpitated my stomach. They never did do an ultra sound, they did an x-ray. Of course cysts wouldn't have shown up on that. And it amazed me that they were doing an x-ray on a pregnant woman.
Anyway, if they'd of caught it then, I might have been able to have them removed by lapriscopy, rather than having to have actual surgery, during which that doctor also removed my uterus. :s
There are several reasons why I'm not a particularly big fan of doctors.
2 people like this
@showpup (232)
• United States
2 Sep 08
I feel your pain... or should I say I FELT your pain. I had my gallbladder removed just a few weeks ago. I had several gallbladder attacks first, though. Thank God you didn't have to go through that. WOW! Was that pain!! I've had three kids and a near fatal car accident. I know pain and I'd take all that at once before another gallbladder attack. They thought I was having a heart attack when I went in.
Glad you had it removed. Useless little pain kicker anyhow. Hope your on the mend and get better real quick. For me, I found I had a ton more energy and felt better than I had in years once the healing started. Hope you get the same great results.
@ElicBxn (63594)
• United States
3 Sep 08
I'm sorry to hear that the morphine doesn't work on you, I was kind of worried because codine bothers me. But the only other thing they were offering was tylenol and I know that doesn't work - might even make things feel worse.
I'm a naproxen fan myself.
@tyc415 (5706)
• United States
2 Sep 08
Good thing you went in for a headache and just had your gall bladder removed, just think if you had gone in for a broken arm, they might have removed a let. haha Really I am glad that you are feel better. Both of my daughters have had their gall bladders removed. Mine has flared up several times over the past few years and it is horrible pain. Mine would wake me up in the night hurting real bad and sometimes it would last maybe a few mintues then others a few hours. When it was daylight and the doctor's office was open of course I was feeling better then. My doctor was out of town and his back up said I had a urinary tract infection. Well in Dec. of 2006 I was in the hospital for double pneumonia and they saw then that I had several gall stones but they didn't do anything then. Since then it has bothered me just a couple of times but I feel that one day it might have to come out. Wishing you a speedy recovery.
3 people like this
@writersedge (22563)
• United States
2 Sep 08
Mine was a backache. Eventually it was a right side ache all the way around to my back. One time I hurt so much I rolled up into a ball. I was getting sick every time I smelled grease.
Each person is different. Mine probably started with a stomach ache here and there. some people only get suttle hints and others get a serious kick in the head.
Glad you're alrigh and what is more, you're getting your car done while you recouperate. Two birds at one time, good for you and I hope you get well soon!
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
3 Sep 08
hi elilcbxn boy you got some speedy sevrice I had towait ten
days to have my gallbladder surgery but it was a bandaid
type so I just spent overnight in the hospital.But I remember the liquid diets, and the stomach pain from hell, its not like
any other kind of pain, that the gallstones grinding in your gall bladder. to think I worked for ten days feeling like that til finally the next to last day I just stayed home.of course your having pancreatitis did prolong your stay.glad you are all well now.I was admitted last January for bleeding diverticulitis and all five days I was in I was on a liquid diet except for one day when I was on nothing while they did a zillion tests.Yes indeed the stomach from hell means gallstones.
@Maggiepie (7816)
• United States
2 Sep 08
Tisk. Tisk. You li'l LIAR, you. You said you'd been "fine" 'til that headache. You said YOURSELF you had a stomache ache that wouldn't quit, & were sleeping all weekend. Bald. Er. Dash. You were even napping HERE, at work, & you know it! Not that I MINDED, but I KNEW you were sick & TOLD you so!
Utter bilge. I told YOU to hie thee to a doc & get checked out. But noooooo...YOU hadda wait til you were GREYfaced with a MIGRAINE before you hung t up!
Next time, LISTEN to me. Dr. Maggiepie's orders!
Harrumph!
@ElicBxn (63594)
• United States
2 Sep 08
But I was trying to stay at work for YOU! I napped so I could do the work I needed to and I got most of the list done before I napped.
Besides, they don't really care what I do so long as you are happy.
And who was it trying to get ME back at work this week?
2 people like this
@tamarafireheart (15384)
•
2 Sep 08
Hi ElicBxn,
Gosh! that must have been awful for you, go in for one thing and come out with another, at least you got the gall bladder out, I can't imagine the pain you went through, are you alright now? just give yourself a good rest and hope you will be fine.
Tamara
2 people like this
@auntiedis (165)
• United States
2 Sep 08
Oh I sure hope you're feeling better!
It's funny the different ways that gall stones present themselves. You had a headache, I had a backache, like someone took a knife and stuck it straight in my spine, right around my bra strap line. It was so bad, I was going to go to a chiropractor! Finally, one weekend it got so bad, that it started shooting pain through the front of me (between my boobs) and down my left side, and I went to the ER. Thankfully I did, because the doc said my gall bladder was in horrid condition, and so inflamed that he didn't know if he could do laproscopic surgery, I may have to have the old fashioned kind! YIKES! Luckily he did manage to get it laproscopically.
3 people like this
@BarBaraPrz (47313)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
2 Sep 08
Hope you're feeling better now. If not, take two kitties and go to bed.
1 person likes this
@tomyrobertson34 (7)
•
26 Nov 11
Gallstones are usually "pebbles" inside of a gall bladder. The gall bladder is actually a pocket found below a liver that saves bile produced by your liver. For the period of a meal (particularly those which contain fat or protein), a gallbladder can develop shrinkage, offering bile by way of bile tubes to the digestive system to help food digestion. Unnatural structure of bile leads to creation of gallstones. Gallstone disease is often a widespread reason behind intestinal problems, irritation, and an infection of one's gall bladder and also the pancreas
read more: http://www.thegallbladdersymptoms.org/
1 person likes this
@tomyrobertson34 (7)
•
24 Nov 11
Gallstones influence roughly 10 pct of grownups over 40. They start to occur in practically 25 % of females throughout the U . s .. Approximately 20 pct of males have got gallstones as soon as they reach 75 yrs.http://www.thegallbladdersymptoms.org/
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63594)
• United States
24 Nov 11
I was really sick by the time I got to the hospital.
You see, I had pre-ulcers before and I thought my stomach aches were from that again. And I had a long history of migraines, and I thought that's what the headaches were.
Turned out I was passing stones into my pancreas and had pancreitus...
I've been much better since I had that gall bladder removed!
