Logging the sick
Date: Jan 30th, 2008 11:03:35 pm - Subscribe
I have become complacent and overconfident. On the 29th I ate a #2 large combo from Wendy’s. That’s a double cheeseburger with large fries and large coke. Later I ate some cabbage, carrots, and jalapeno and bacon flavored beans.
Directly after eating the Wendy’s, I felt the discomfort with my gallbladder, but it wasn’t bad so I pretty much ignored it. Last night around 11pm, I started to notice a larger more spreading pain but still I ignored it. Around 12am, I decided to take the pills. The pain really wasn’t too bad and somewhere around 3am, I fell asleep. Around 5am I awoke with a great deal of pain, spreading from the gallbladder area, to below it and all the way to the left, below the sternum. This was a pain I kind of think as being extremely hungry multiplied, plus a twisting and burning feeling with cramps. Actually taking deep breaths and pushing down relieved some pain. It felt like I could feel bubbles moving around. I was also shivering. Considering this was perhaps the worst it has been for me and I was concerned I had a fever, I decided to drive to the ER. This time I went to a regular hospital. Actually, the drive was pretty tough. I had to bounce up and down and rock forward when stopped at the lights. I actually found myself driving much faster than normal. I probably shouldn’t have been driving at all.
I got to the ER and I was shivering and had very dry mouth and had a hard time actually talking, but I was the only one there and they told me not to drink anything. I went back pretty quick and I told them all the information about my condition, but instead of giving me pain relief, they decided to run the tests. Interestingly they kept telling me to relax, but unfortunately, my tenseness was actually helping me bear it. I had blood taken and then a sonogram. My blood is very dark. After awhile, 2 hours or so, the pain quickly started going away.
When the tests were done, the doctor explained to me that I had an 8mm stone lodged at the top of the gallbladder, but the common bile duct was clear and other things normal. So as my gall bladder stopped contracting, the stone slowly started falling back and the pain goes away. I also have other multiple gallstones in the 1cm range. I actually fell asleep in the ER a couple of times. It was a comfortable bed/stretcher.
Everybody was nice at this hospital and made a point of explaining everything they were doing. Compared to the teaching hospital, it was a nice change.
For future note, I am to go to the ER if the pain is unbearable for pain relief, or if the pain continues for 12 hours. I think the pain chart on the wall must be logarithmic, as 6 fells bad, but 7 is probably 10 times worse.
Comments: (0)