Exactly three weeks after having the caesarean I had another health problem show up- this time it was my gall bladder. Not the best news but at least it wasn't a clot in my lungs.. They did several tests to rule that out. Pulmonary embolisms are a possible side effect of having surgery.
What does the gallbladder do? It stores bile, a fluid that the liver makes to break down fats in the food we eat. Once food is ingested the gallbladder secretes the bile into the digestive tract- to do that it has to expand and contract like muscles do. It's a common thing to have gallstones or "sludge" in the gallbladder- if one of these stones get lodged in the bile duct it rsults in excruciating pain and it's actually known as "biliary colic" or a gallbladder "attack".
The first attack was at 8pm on Thursday 18/3/11 and it lasted an hour or so and then mysteriously stopped. The pain was sooo bad it made me sob :( I thought it may have been a muscle spasm and that the panadol into had kicked in.
I had to see the doctor the next day and he checked me over for a Blood clot, the chest sounded clear so he sent me for an Xray just to be sure. It was all clear.. GP said to let him know if it happened again.
And it did- in the wee hours of Tuesday morning- this time the pain didn't stop and it got so bad I got hubby to ring an ambulance- I was writhing and moaning in agony! After trying to get an IV set up with no success they gave me a morpheine injection and carted me off to the emergency dept at the Base hospital.
I had to leave baby behind with hubby, she was hungry and crying- thankfully my husband listened to me and bought formula and bottles as a stand by the last attack- I was close to going to hospital last time and I was in no shape to feed her with that pain! Hubby rang his Mum to come over and stay with our three other children- Again the Lord provides- we are very blessed to have such a caring Mum.
So, I was in the ER at 2am, had to wait until later in the morning for staff to do scans etc which meant I was in for a long wait. Thankfully the pain relief set in and I could catch a few zzz's while bubs slept. Hubby had bought her with him in the capsule so I could still feed her and not stuff up my milk supply. Long story short I was sent home at 4pm that day after being cleared of having clots in the lungs. Still no clue what was causing the pain- I asked what the next step would be if the pain happened again- the doctor said to get them to do an ultrasound just to check the gallbladder.
We got home and then just as Hubby was about to get tea on the table the pain started to come back- we had to scramble to get Hubby's lovely cousin Lois to come over this time because his Mum was in Brisbane that night.. all before the pain got too unbearable to move.
We went back to the hospital again and we suggested they check the gallbladder like the last doctor told us earlier. Sure enough, there was "sludge" (small stones etc) in there and that meant my pain was from "biliary colic". They dosed me up on pain relief and I was sent home and told to make an appointment to have a full ultrasound.
The next available appointment wasn't until two days away so I had to be very careful of what I ate- fatty foods and even dairy can set off an attack :(
It didn't wait that long- u had another attack on Wednesday evening. Back we go, AGAIN! unfortunately I landed a crusty old relief nurse who left me there in pain and didn't do anything to help- she only filled out paperwork and took obs. At last my actual nurse came back and she tried to set me up on an IV - after several attempts they got one in- the medicines could go in but they couldn't take blood samples out :( nonetheless by the time all this mucking around took place the gallbladder attack actually stopped, just as the nurse was about to inject morphine into the drip!
In the midst of all this the registrar had re read my file and noticed that we had private health cover- he then arranged to transfer me to a private hospital for the night and contacted a specialist who would see me in the morning.
Ok- we get to the private hospital and then I find out the specialist had ordered me to have no food or drink from midnight cos I was most likely going to have surgery the next day- I'm like "what the!?!" But, I did what I was told and Cara and I spent the night together in hospital- Daddy went home to try and get some much needed sleep- he had been running around ragged the last few weeks with me in hospital only three weeks earlier and here we were again!
Morning came and the Doctor ame to chat- said that because I'd had three attacks so close together the only way to fix it was to remove it laparoscopically *gulp* Bright side is it wasn't going to be as invasive as the caesarean BUT I had to have general anesthetic.. For the first time.. Eek!
Long story short it was over and done with and next thing I knew I woke up in recovery- all went well- and there were definitely stones in there blocking the duct. Thank the Lird yet again I had no where near the amount of pain like the c section and I only felt a little nauseated by the anaesthetic- managed to avoid chucking by asking the nurse for that fantastic stuff, maxolon!! Had some aches under the collar bones from the gas they pump you up with but that was easy enough to deal with. The discomfort of where they put the tubes into the abdomen didn't really start until the next day- had to lie flat on my back again cos side sleeping hurt. That sucked cos I am normally a side or tummy sleeper- strewth I haven't slept on my tummy for nearly a year! Still won't once the healing is done cos I am breastfeeding and the old mammaries won't take kindly to being squished - sigh!
So, I'm back on the mending path now- still two weeks left before I can drive due to the c section- still not 100% strong again either. Hope everything comes good again soon- I have to go back to work again in four weeks- I love my job but I'd much rather be at home with the little ones... That story I shall leave for another time.
TGBTG
Anje
No comments:
Post a Comment