My Gallbladder Experience

Wow- I can't believe May is here all ready. April wasn't the greatest month for our family. Noah got RSV from his brothers and had to do breathing treatments. And while we were running him back and forth to the doctors, I had to go and have my gall bladder removed. Did someone say it was supposed to be an easy operation??? Then why did I have to stay 5 days in the hospital. And boy do I have some tales to tell.

I started having pain in my side the first weekend of April. Thank you Mom and Jennie for coming over so often to watch the boys. Ma'a came home on Saturday and I was laying in pain on the floor. We went to North Davis hospital where we had a lovely experience in the ER. The lady who was giving me my IV had a little problem with her pants. Everytime she bent over to work on my arm, she put her buttcrack in my face. Well then she had to switch arms and check my blood pressure. Ma'a was sitting in the chair and had a very lovely view too!!! That was the best part of that hospital. The on call doctor told me it was my gall bladder and that I should make an appointment with a surgeon to have it removed. He then wrote up a prescriptiono for some drugs and told me to go home. The nurse then came in and told me that they would not be giving me a diagnosis I was just to go home.

Well the drugs worked for a day, and on Monday I decided I was about ready to die. I called up Ginger (my awesome sister in law) and asked her what surgeon she recommended as I was not going back to North Davis. After many phone calls we ended up at the new Intermountain Medical Center hospital in Murray.

Finally- after a long wait- made it back to see the doctor. Took forever! But the doctor was really nice. He said he was going to run tests to make sure that it really was my gallbladder causing all of the trouble. We waited in the ER for awhile and then Ma'a left to get some dinner and find a phone to call home. Grandma and Jennie had come over to watch the boys and it was about 9:00pm at this time. After Ma'a left the tech came and took me down to ultrasound to take a few pictures. When she was done she said she had to let the Radiologist look at my pictures and then she would be back to take me back to my room. I waited, and waited, and waited...

Finally thinking that Ma'a was back from dinner by now and wondering where I was, I pushed the call button so that the tech could at least bring him to me while we waited. But noone came. So I waited, and waited, and waited... still in tremendous pain wondering what was happening. Finally my nurse from ER came in the room. She had found her lost patient. I guess my tech had clocked out and gone home and forgotten all about me. I was lost for over an hour. I guess Ma'a had come and gone and come back again and noone still knew where I was. Finallly the nurse started a major search for me and found me down in ultrasoun.

Finally found, the doctor said that my gallbladder looked fine from ultrasound but he wanted to schedule a HIDA scan for the next day to see how well it was functioning. They hadn't found any stones in my gallbladder, they just didn't know how well it was working. By the way- did you know that 6 months after having a baby it is common for a woman to have problems with her gallbladder?

We went home that next day, and Mom said she would be back over so that we could go in the afternoon for the scan. Meanwhile, I had to fast for at least 8 hours before the test was done. Mom came over and we decided it was Ma'a's turn to stay home with the boys. Mom took me over for the scan, which lasted over 2 hours. Not a worry- Mom made friends with my tech Kenny. He's a great guy who finally let me have some orange juice. The results of the scan were this: My gallbladder wasn't working. We were supposed to see it light up on the screen because of the injection he gave me in the IV. Instead we watched as it completely bypassed my gallbladder.

After the scan we went back to the ER to get the results. My gallbladder needed to be taken out. Mom and I got to meet with the surgeon who suggested I have it out that night. Dr Van Boerum had another gallbladder scheduled that night and could do me afterwards. I called Ginger first to find out what she thought about my surgeon. He was fine~! Then called Ma'a to see what he thought. It was supposed to be an easy surgery- I shouldn't have to stay long at all. So Ma'a said get it done right away.

Surgery scheduled, Mom left so that Ma'a could come to the hospital and be with me during surgery. While I was waiting my brother Neil came over for a visit. He and Ma'a were going to give me a blessing before surgery. (ASK NEIL ABOUT HIS BREASTPUMP ADVENTURES!!!) We moved from the ER up to the eleventh floor into my room. He went down to find Ma'a who hadn't arrived yet. My nurse and aide were talking in my room about how they didn't think I was scheduled for surgery until the morning. I told them no I was supposed to be in surgery tonight at about 10: 00. The nurse started freaking out! In a half hour? I said it was an approximate time, but I knew that it would be tonight. I guess no one had told her anything and she was angry! Stomping away but that's all right.

It was about 11:00 that night when I was operated on. Ma'a said it hadn't taken very long about 45 minutes, but that Dr. Van Boerum had told him that the gallbladder looked worse than he thought it would. It was quite black and very dead! (Dr Van Boerum is Awesome! If you need a surgeon, I recommend him!)

As most of you know all ready- the surgery went fine, but the recovery didn't. I had so many issues that I couldn't get out of hospital for 5 days. I had trouble breathing- I could barely reach 500 on the breath test they gave me. I guess I was supposed to get up past 2000. I had numerous asthma treatments and other stuff done. The other major problem was that when you have surgery the anesthesia causes your organs to go to sleep. My bowels wouldn't wake up. I couldn't pass gas or anything else for that matter. Ginger and I kept talking about how I needed to channel my inner David (my big brother- her husband) and let her blow... I would feel much better afterwards. Finally after all sorts of humiliating and embarrassing things that helped me to clear my bowels. I finally got to go home! It was the Saturday before Easter. Mom took the boys to her house to dye easter eggs and the people in our ward dropped by some easter stuff for the kids as well. Ma'a picked me up from hospital and took me home and then went over to pick up the boys. It was nice to be home!

I have to say that one of the things I really enjoyed about the IMC hospital was that there were elderly couples from the Murray Stake assigned to the hospital to come and visit with those LDS members that were there. Each day they really cheered me up, especially after some long nights in pain.

I am really blessed to have Ginger for my sister in law. She did a lot to help me during those difficult days. Thank you for tracking down surgeons, questioning everyone, and helping me to breathe deeply!And especially for letting me call you at all times, especially when doubled over in pain and Ma'a didn't know what to do on Easter! I truly appreciate it!(Dave you did a great thing by marrying this woman and making her a part of our family.) A wonderful thanks goes to my Mom and sister Jennie. Thank you for looking after my boys and helping out so much, and having Ethan call you all the time to ask if dinner is ready! I must thank everyone in my ward- especially Bishop Thornock. I think we had been in the ward a couple of weeks before this all took place. The ward didn't really know our family, but they looked after us and brought us food. And Bishop called the hospital to make sure I was fine and ask when I was coming home!

I have to say that the biggest Thanks of all goes to my wonderful husband Ma'a. Who took 2 weeks off of work to look after the boys. And they are all fine!!! It was a great time for Ma'a and the boys to really bond together. Thanks Ma'a! I love you tons! I am so lucky to have you!!!