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Posted 19 October 2007 - 09:01 AM
Part One (aka Karma Is A Bitch):
I'm having my gall bladder removed on Halloween. Trick or Treat. I've been SO sick all year with one thing after another (the main reason I haven't been posting), but finally having this diagnosed is a huge missing piece of my Health Puzzle. I really hope that once it's removed the pain and symptoms will be gone. I'm so tired of feeling sick.
I was in the ER (one of a gabillion trips this summer via Ambulance) with what they thought was a heart attack, when the doctor came in and gave us the good news that it wasn't, but the bad news that it was actually my gall bladder. My DH began giving me worst case scenarios about the surgery and other crap. The doctor was assuring me that it's almost always an easy out-patient surgery with only a few days for recovery. That didn't matter to my Dooms-Day-DH who went on and on about how I don't heal well and how bad this will be for my body. I warned him that he should be nice because Karma is a bitch.
A few days later his stomach began to hurt. He went to his doctor who put him on Beano and Prilosec, but told him it seemed almost like sympathy pain considering what I had been going through recently and he strongly doubted both spouses would have gall bladder problems at the exact same time. Beano did nothing, neither did Prilosec. A week later he began running a very high fever, plus they realized he's not the most sympathetic person, which would completely rule out sympathy pains (LOL), so they did further testing and it turned he had Gall Stones and needed emergency surgery!!
Karma truly is a bitch. The doctor said he's lucky to be alive. His Gall bladder was filled with 9 ounces of puss and was gangrous and literally fell apart as they were removing it. DH had to stay in the hospital for almost a week due to the severity and complications. He couldn't return to work for another week. He's fine now, but he's more careful about what he says to me regarding my health because he now knows it can bite him in the ass, or up higher as the case was a few weeks ago.
Strangly, our gall bladder problems are a result of completely different complications. While he had stones and infection, mine is simply dead. My neurologist wonders if it's related to the Parkinson's, since I have dystonia and dyskinsea on the right side from the PD and that's where the Gall bladder is located. My surgeon says there's no way to know the cause, they just know that when they did the HIDA scan on my gall bladder it was dorment, it did not empty the bile at all and did not even work when the medication that's supposed to make it empty was administered, plus there were polyps.
The surgeon says my DH's case was pretty extreme and hardly ever ends up that way. He anticipates my surgery will be easy and could even be done on an out-patient basis, but due to my blood pressure issues and parkinson's, they'll give me a night in the hospital for extra observation (and to give me a break from the family for the night so I can rest, lol). So glad insurance will cover it! I can't WAIT to get mine out now.
Part Two (aka the rest of the story):
So, in a nutshell, what else has contributed to my absence...basically life in general, a very full and overloaded life.
My oldest DD Bri (18) is in college now at James Madison University. She's having a blast, but still manages to get great grades with a very tough schedule. Sniff, Sniff. They grow up so fast. She's home this weekend for a Fall Break. Yesterday she had 11 inches of hair cut off to donate to Locks Of Love. She looks amazing.
My oldest DS Drew (17) has been in a Mental Health Behavioral Facility (which is locked) for 7 months now. He's made minimal progress. They say he suffers from a severe classic case of Bi-polar depression. Although he hasn't earned it, he's getting his first over night visit outside of the facility this weekend. I'll pick him up tomorrow and we'll all go stay at my parent's for the night to visit before I return him on Sunday. They're hoping that having a taste of an overnight will give him motivation in the weeks ahead to try to progress and earn another. I'm heartbroken. He's just so severely depressed. Sniff, Sniff. Time seems to be standing still for him.
My youngest DD Miranda (16) is a freshman in HS. She's having a blast and has great grades, too. Sniff, Sniff. They grow up so fast. She's on the JV Volleyball team, but was only able to play half of the season because a few weeks ago she broke her thumb during a game. Oh well. Hopefully it'll heal so she can play club volleyball through the winter.
My DS Joey (6) is in First grade now, Sniff, Sniff. They grow up so fast. He is a social butterfly who loves to talk from the minute he wakes until he goes to bed. He even talks in his sleep. He cracks me up. For example, while shopping for Bri for college stuff he stopped us in the store and said "couldn't we save time if we just went to Staples and bought an Easy Button". LOL. He's a riot. He loves Baseball, High School Musical and Spiderman, not always in that order. He'll be Spiderman for Halloween.
My baby Daniel turned 1 on August 3. He's walking, well Running, everyone now. He climbs on everything. He keeps me on my toes 24-7. Due to my extensive health issues, he had to wean this Summer, but he loves his cup and pasta and chicken and waffles and Brenda's Infamous Pumpkin Sheet cake (march mommy recipe) is his favorite thing in the entire world. He's saying words, but loves Baby Signing and it's so cute to see him do his sign words. He loves Veggie Tales. He'll be a pumpkin for Halloween. Sniff. Sniff. Time is flying. I'm trying to savor every moment.
As for myself...I'm hanging in there. My health, as mentioned, hasn't been great since Daniel's birth. In addition to the Gall Bladder issues, my Parkinson's is progressing (but responding well to PD meds), my Blood Pressure is awful (but taking 2 BP meds and Cholesterol Meds now in hopes to get it under control) and now I have a brand new diagnosis from my neurologist: Hemiplegic Migraines. I wouldn't wish these on my worst enemy. I seem to have them every 4 weeks now. They are debilitating and can take days, sometimes weeks, to get over. They've even brought on Seizures, which I've never had before in my life, but luckily my neurologist has completely ruled out epilepsy, so the seizures seem to be completely related to the migraines and extreme rises in BP during Hemiplegic attack.
Pilates is still my passion, but I haven't been able to do it much since August due to the pain in my gall bladder and general overall weakness. Hoping (praying) I'll be back on the wagon following my surgery on Halloween.
I have lost 50 pounds since Daniel was born. Pilates still rocks :-)
There's a gabillion other things going on (SIL's ongoing fight with breast cancer, FIL just diagnosed with Bladder cancer, more surgery in my future after gall bladder removed, and more)...but I won't burden you with the rest. I'm sorry I haven't been around lately, but hope you understand. Hopefully things will settle down soon and I'll be able to post more frequently. Until then, know I miss you guys and you're always in my thoughts.
Hugs
My DH's always are, LOL!
, P&PTs,
