Update on me!

Well, for those of you who haven't heard or that we haven't been able to contact, this weekend has been a busy one. For two weeks now my gallbladder attacks have been increasing in frequency and intensity. Finally on Friday, I was hit with one during my last class at school. I tried to tough it out till the end of school (I don't have students last hour) but couldn't. Cale luckily got home early and came right to get me. Our OB sent us straight to the hospital to meet him there due to elevated liver enzymes from the blood work ordered the day prior. Upon arrival we were sent to get an ultrasound of my gallbladder which was very difficult due to the excrutiating pain I was in. Finally the ultrasound was done and I was sent to the ER to be admitted and given pain killers. However, it had now been 2 hours in addition to the pain at school and I had to wait in ER to be admitted. An hour later, they admitted me but of course questioned and poked me first, then gave me Morphine. FYI, morphine increases the pain of pancreitis (which is what I was later diagnosed with) and thus did not help. Finally after yet another hour, they gave me Diladid (sp?). Wow, great stuff! I finally found relief and started to sleep while they prepped me for my helicopter flight to the valley. I was being sent to Mesa to a high risk hospital in case surgery was required and because I was 30 weeks pregnant.



Upon arrival, I becam a low priority at a high priority hospital and things moved very slowly. Cale had to drive down and his dad came with them. It's only a 3 hour drive and were supposed to arrive by midnight. Cale was too sleepy though and had to keep taking breaks. They arrived at 3am. I had had another gallbladder ultrasound at 1am which showed the stone blocking my common bile duct had been passed. However, enzyme levels were still not good. Saturday morning they had all come down into better levels for except my Biliruben levels which were still increasing. Thus, more waiting and observing. We were also waiting to hear what the surgeon thinks but he was in surgery all day.



So long story short, we talked to both the GI doc and surgeon last night and this morning. Consensus: The labs all came down today and are continually falling. Good news. Thus, the stone has passed and infection is low. No need for risking suregery at this point. Surgery at this point would not be laproscopic but rather a large incision with weeks of recovery and drain tubes hanging out of me plus general aneasthesia could put me into labor. So once the OB releases me, I can go home (hopefully today).



Best case plan at this point: Stick with scheduled c-section in 9 weeks or as close to as possible. 2-3 weeks later, have my gallbladder out. In the mean time, eat a no fat/low fat diet to avoid passing another stone and use pain killer for gallbladder pain as needed. However, gallbladder pain is intense heart burn not what I went throug the last two weeks. That was gallstone pain combined with pancreititis.

Sorry so long. Just wanted to update you all and thank you for your love, prayers, support, and help; especially Cale's mother and sister for watching Emma and his Dad for coming down with Cale and helping with blessings. We love you all. Thanks!