9/6/11: A Box From Grammie and an ER Visit

First of all, the box from Grammie is completely unrelated to the ER visit; they just happened on the same day. :o)

About three weeks ago we got a box in the mail from Grammie (my mom). It came at a perfect time since I'd been feeling pretty lonely for family. Jarett was thrilled to pieces with some new crayons and a box with his name on it to put them in, a notebook, and a little bag of Smartees and Dum-Dums. I just thought Grammie would like to be able to see his face when he opened it.











Other than that marvelous box, that day was pretty crummy. I was exhausted from trying to keep the boys happy, and made a proclamation that evening that we were going out to dinner. We took the kids to Applebee's where Camden and I ordered pasta with chicken and carbonara sauce. It was okay, especially since I hadn't had to cook it. Then we headed to WalMart to pick up a kitchen scale. That's when it happened. In the feminine hygiene aisle en route to the kitchen ware, I suddenly felt a giant anaconda wrap around my middle and constrict. I had immense pain in the middle of my back and was having some difficulty breathing. I couldn't imagine Applebee's chicken carbonara would cause such symptoms, especially since Camden had eaten the same thing, and we'd just left there ten minutes before it started. The shortness of breath had me wondering about a heart attack, but that didn't seem very likely. My annoyance at the total randomness of it all was not helped by the realization that something was very wrong and needed professional attention RIGHT THEN. I was terrified for my kids, especially three week-old Miles. What were we going to do?!

Camden called Jen, the same friend who watched Jarett while I delivered Miles. We love her dearly. She dropped everything to meet us at the hospital, where I waited and cried in the ER while she picked up the kids from Camden in the parking lot. Due to the breathing symptoms I was having, I was given high priority in a very busy emergency room, and was seen fairly quickly. On my way back to the first room that became available, the pain suddenly stopped. That was nice, but REEEALLY annoying. The doctor examined me and couldn't see anything wrong, but asked that I call a nurse if the pain came back. After quite a bit of waiting, the pain started again, but came on gradually this time. By the time the doctor FINALLY made it in to check on me, things had just about stopped again. She did some blood work and found my liver and gall bladder enzymes to be very elevated. After a chest x-ray and an ultrasound, they diagnosed me with cholelithiasis: gall stones. I'd had a gall bladder attack. The doctor recommended I just go ahead and have my gall bladder removed as soon as possible, but understood (because of having such a young baby) that I'd probably like to be able to plan for the surgery a little ahead of time. She discharged me and we got home around midnight.

Gall stones don't just dissolve; they have to pass through the ducts sometime. Once you have them, you have them. And you never know when you could have another attack. I decided I couldn't live my life in fear, especially since I have little ones in my care. So out it came. The surgery was done 6 days after the ER visit. Four 1/2 inch incisions in a laparoscopic procedure. Everything went fine, and I'm glad I opted to have it done. (Although I'm still a little miffed that four weeks of my tummy's progress toward pre-pregnancy shape was stolen away, and I had to start all over again.)

Our ward took care of us again, even though they'd just gotten us through the first couple weeks of having a baby. We had tons of help, and people still continue to volunteer to lighten our load. I am up to my neck in thank you cards to be written!! What a lovely problem to have.