I've got a feeling...

Wow, I can't believe I haven't blogged in a week. Certainly, not for a lack of blogworthy material, but I have so much and have been a little busy. I say a little busy, because I have not been busy running errands and taking care of people, but busy taking care of me! Anyway...here goes the last week...

Friday started with an event. There were tornadoes, hail, and all sorts of lovely, extreme weather. We moved the event indoors and weathered out the storm. I was very proud of my volunteers! When the weather is that bad or there is any chance of injury, I just cannot sleep. So, I stayed awake a full 24 hours. I drove the hour and a half trip home. I talked to my friend H on the phone part of the way to stay awake. She was up very early because she was boarding flights to come visit!!!

I got home and slept for about 2 hours. I woke up and J drove to the airport. We were looking at the arriving planes and I noticed the man across from me looked very familiar. I leaned over to J and said, "That man looks incredibly familiar, do you know him?" and J said, "That's the man from Ghost Hunters!" We should've just said hello and talked to him briefly, but instead we used our crackberries to verify his existence and the fact he was in Colorado! After stalking him and watching him for a little bit, my dear friend got off the plane!! We were all pretty hungry and decided to go this place called Cinzetti's. It's a wonderful Italian Market style buffet. It's not like Golden Corral. It's actually really nice inside and the food is incredible! No offense GC...there is a time and place for you too!

After a delicious lunch we headed toward home. Heidi and I had both had very long days and needed to take a nap and plan out her vacation time!! My back ached. It had started aching in Sterling and just continued. I took some Ibuprofen. The pain wasn't getting better so I had the dear hubby try to pop my back. When he wasn't successful, my friend H offered to help me out. Neither of them could get my back to pop. In pain, I curled up on the couch. You know me and company- I don't want to miss a moment!!! I love being with people, retreating to my room was not an option. I felt pretty nauseated laying on the couch. Sure enough, a few minutes later I got insanely sick.

A few months ago (I can't remember if I was blogging yet or not) I went to a brunch and had prime rib. I was sure I had food poisoning when a little after eating I got really sick and I had the exact same back pain. I was so sure I had food poisoning all over again!!! I told my friend H I had food poisoning and was going upstairs to shower. After I got cleaned up, the pain and nausea was still there. I was miserable. I debated what to do, by now it was too late for Urgent Care to be open, so my only option was the ER. My ER copay is $150. I really did not want to spend the money to hear I needed to toughen up and ride it out. H suggested I call my insurance and talk to an on-call nurse. I called the nurse and she asked me a series of obnoxious questions. At the end she said based on my answers I should go see a doctor within an hour. I hung up the phone and still debated. Finally, with some encouragement, I decided to go to the ER.

My brother-in-law had a TERRIBLE experience at the ER in town. When that happened, we vowed to go to the neighboring town, a 20 minute trip, in case of emergency. While this is a great plan, it doesn't work out in real life. I didn't even make it 5 minutes and had to request the car be pulled over (on a major highway!). After getting sick again, we decided to turn around and go to the local ER. Fortunately, they were not as full as I have seen them on past Saturday nights. I checked in at 9:12pm.

They asked me a number of questions and before long took me back to an exam room. After a while they did an ultrasound. The ultrasound showed I had gall stones. One of them was in the neck of my gall bladder and blocking the bile duct. Later, the surgeon would draw me a nice diagram and tell me this caused intense pain. Until then, I just waited in pain and held back nausea. They took a urine sample and started some blood work. Almost like second nature, they started my IV as soon as I got there. It seemed like forever before they gave me morphine and some nausea medicine. At this point they were still saying if they could get the pain under control they would send me home and I could follow up with my primary care provider. I kept waiting for this magical moment when all of a sudden the pain and nausea would go away. Instead, I laid there miserable. H and J kept me company. My in-laws even came to keep my company. I told them we would call when we heard from the doctor (keep in mind until I heard I had gall stones, I thought for sure it could just be food poisoning). They couldn't wait, so they came to keep us company.

It was later in the evening when they told me a few of the results from my urine test and blood test. They said my liver enzymes, function, or something was off. They also said my white blood cell count was way off indicating infection. They didn't get a clear urine sample, so needed to do another one to rule out any type of urinary tract infection. The nurse came to get another urine sample. To get a clean one she said I could do a catheter or use a cup again. With a cup they might not get a clean sample. I told her I HATE CATHETERS. She said she wouldn't make me do anything I didn't want to, but that a catheter would be quick and easy. In my brain this somehow translated to not painful. I agreed to the catheter. This experience was the worst part of having my gall bladder removed. It hurt so bad. She didn't use any general anaesthetic and I was wide awake for the whole experience. Fortunately, they got a clean sample and I didn't have any urinary tract infections. It wasn't long after this that they decided to admit me to the hospital and do surgery the next day.

At almost 2 in the morning I was in my bed and having the next set of tests run. I answered questions like whether I had indoor plumbing and gave some more blood. Finally, a little after 3, I was able to go to sleep!! Five hours of interrupted sleep and it was surgery day. I had surgery just a little after 1pm on Sunday with 7 hours of sleep between Friday and Sunday. They gave me this handily silver hat to wear. Apparently, right after they gave me anesthesia to knock me out, I put both hands up to my mouth and made a funny face. I have no recollection of this silliness. I did really well through surgery and had awesome nurses. I was discharged the next day!

My friend H and J took excellent care of me. I was so fortunate to have 24 hour care when I came home. H kept track of my meds, when I should eat, lifted things for me, took me to my post-op appointment and just took general great care of me while J was at work. We didn't get to do all of our touristy things together, but I think we still had fun. We got manicures and pedicures, sat out in the sun, walked through a store or two, and even celebrated her birthday!!! Thanks H for everything. You are a God send and I am incredibly fortunate to have you in my life. J, thank you too. You are an amazing husband and I love you to pieces.