Accentuating the Positives of Emergency Surgery

Well, I got my first real test of my new "Enjoy the Sunlight" mantra. Emergency gallbladder surgery. You would think it would be hard to find positives about surgery, but I am actually really surprised at how grateful I am for how things played out. Don't get me wrong... the pain was horrendous; worse than appendicitis and on the same level as labor contractions that never end. After 5 hours at home, I finally called Jonathon and asked him to come home to take me to the ER. He had ridden the bus that morning and didn't have a way to get home, so someone in the lab volunteered to drive him home. What a wonderful blessing!

 After about an hour in the ER, they finally gave me a miracle drug that took away my pain in less than one minute. It was really wonderful stuff, but Jonathon said I was really acting funny. They performed an ultrasound and found that I had several gall stones and one had actually wedged itself in one of the ducts leading away from the gallbladder. They scheduled surgery for 5 P.M. that evening. During all of this I just kept thinking how lucky I was that we had people around to take care of the boys. My Visiting Teacher had them during the morning, and then Mom H. took them back to Provo for 2 nights while I recovered. My mom had a 4 day weekend from school, miraculously, so she was able to drive up Wednesday night and will be here to take care of me until Sunday.

The surgery went well. The surgeon said that one of the stones was wedged so tight that they couldn't remove it. Instead they just sealed it off and said it shouldn't cause any more problems. He was also shocked that I hadn't had more problems because the tissue in the gallbladder was so degraded that he believed the stones had been there for quite a long time. In fact, he thought the stones may have been causing some of my IBS symptoms that I have been battling for the last 5 years, so if I am lucky, maybe those symptoms will decrease as well. Only time will tell...

I have had my fair share of surgeries, and this recovery is worse than both an appendectomy and a cystectomy so far. It was done laproscopically, but the four cuts in my abdomen make it nearly impossible to move. I had a six hour window after having the surgery to leave the hospital. If I could make it home during that window, it could still be called an "outpatient surgery" and would save us some money. At the six hour mark, I was feeling nauseous and dizzy, but we really wanted to get home. The nurse wheeled me out of the hospital at midnight, and I threw up the whole way. It was quite the graceful exit. Luckily, I got my prescription filled on the way home, and was able to sleep for a few hours. My prescription was for one or two Percoset every 4 hours. I had been taking only one, but was in a lot of pain when I woke up, so I took two. It was a very bad thing. I was so dizzy and nauseous that I couldn't move for about 4 hours. I felt like I was going to go unconscious at any moment. It was scary, and so not worth it. I have been really holding back on the painkillers since then, and it has made all the difference. I would much rather be coherent with a little pain. Thank goodness for Mom and Jonathon who have been helping me do everything for the last few days. The Dr. said I should be completely healed in two weeks, so hopefully, that will come quickly.

And as a nice little perk, I came home from the hospital and found out that I won a giveaway for some free digital scrapbooking material from my favorite site. Seriously, if you are interested in digital scrapbooking, check out scrappingsisters.blogspot.com. Winning made my day and has made the recovery a little more exciting.

Jonathon took this lovely picture of me the day I got home from the hospital. Wow, I look good! At least I can look back and laugh now.