The Saga of the Gallbladder

It was February 5th (a Friday) and I was feeding the baby (which I do a million times a day). All of the sudden I got this terrible pressure in my chest that radiated all the way to my back. Something was seriously wrong. I threw the baby to her daddy and made a run to the bathroom, thinking I was going to be sick. Nothing happened, so I staggered my way to the bed where my super husband rubbed my back to try to get the pain to go away. As soon as he finished I made another bathroom run-and decided I had the flu. Fast forward...no flu symptoms the next day or the day after that. Just a little icky/off feeling and still the weird pressure in my chest. That Sunday we had decided to stay home from church because Hannah had a cold with a fever. Since we were already going to be home Josh decided that I really should head to urgent care to be looked at. I hate going to the Dr. for little things like this, because for some odd reason Heavenly Father gave me a bummer body that "goes out" from time to time. This time was no exception. When I got to Urgent care they instantly thought I had suffered a heart attack. All the signs pointed that way, and the Dr. on call urged me to hop in an ambulance right away so I could be sent to the nearest hospital a half hour away. But I stood my ground and said "no way-do you know how expensive that is!?" So I signed out against his wishes and drove myself home, so Josh could instead take me to the hospital a half hour away. I felt awful about the diagnosis (and terrified), but I felt even more terrible as we herded our entire family into the ER. When they told me all the tests would likely take at least four hours I sent Josh home with the kids. There was no way I wanted them hanging out in a germ infested hospital-it was bad enough I had to be there! Luckily I knew it would be a long wait; so I brought a book, and a crossword puzzle (I've experienced this bummer body thing before). The ER doc was encouraging when he said he didn't think all of my symptoms said heart attack-and he sent me in to do an ultra-sound. Within an hour of having the ultrasound done he came in and told me that my gallbladder looked angry in the pictures and that I had some gallstones blocking a few places. He said surgery would be necessary-but since I wasn't really having any symptoms I could put it off until I had an office exam with a surgeon. Fabulous! He also told me to modify my diet and all would be well. So I called Josh and he and the kids came to pick me up.
The next day was Monday and it was life as usual. Hannah stayed home from school that day (the fever was still there), and we just hung out at home doing laundry, etc. That night after Josh came home from work I started to feel "off" again. Only this time it got worse and worse. By 8pm I knew Josh had to take me to the ER. I thought for sure that my gallbladder had exploded-I couldn't stand upright, and I couldn't stop throwing up. It was terrible. So I called my friend Jennie to take my kids (she is AMAZING), and Josh, the baby, and I headed back to my favorite place on earth. They once again did the time disclaimer, and I once again sent Josh home to rest with the baby (who wants a two month old in the hospital)? This time they did some blood tests, and although the results weren't good they weren't bad enough to warrant the on call surgeon coming in to take the gallbladder out. So they medicated me, and told me to call my original surgeon and have him get me in ASAP. We were grumpy to say the least. At this point it was 1AM so we left the two older kids and went home to sleep. At 9 the next morning I was on the phone with Dr. Clemens office-who squeezed me in an hour later. He took one look at the ultrasound and sent me back to the hospital (to check in for surgery that afternoon). This time Josh and the baby stayed with me-I was in a private room just waiting around anyway. My nurses were amazing-they knew I was a nursing mom and they made sure all of my medications were safe for Emily and I both. It wasn't fun by any means, but it was OK. That evening at 5:30 I went in for gallbladder removal surgery. Dr. Clemens did a fantastic job-I have some pretty cool new scars to prove it. He said the next day that it definitely needed to come out, and he was glad he got it done. Me too! That night was a rough one-for all of us. Due to some medications I was given I wasn't able to nurse for 12 hours (I had to pump and dump). Poor Josh and Emily had a really long night at home without me. Luckily I had a little breast milk stored, but Josh had to go get bottles as well. Emily had no idea what to do with the bottle-she'd cry, nurse a few minutes, sleep, and repeat. I too had a long night setting my phone alarm to go off so I could pump, and getting my vitals checked every few hours. YUCK! The next morning they came in around 9AM, and I was able to nurse Emily again. She stayed glued to me the rest of the day. If she wasn't nursing she was sleeping-it had been a traumatizing night for her as well. I was finally released to go home at 6:00PM on February 10th. We went to pick up our older kiddos, had a yummy dinner from my friends Mary and Diana, and slept very hard in our own beds.
So that's it for me...one more non-vital organ removed. I'm pretty much down to my two kidneys (since you only really need one). Let's just pray everything else in there stays good! It's pretty sad when everyone says: "of course that would happen to you!" Maybe I was given my sparkling personality to offset my faulty body (it's a thought)...