Gallbladder; who needs it??

So I got my gallbladder removed on Sunday February 10th.  I wrote the story in an email to my sister-in-law, Maggie and I've cut and pasted it for your reading "pleasure".



Sunday morning at 1:30am I woke up with a strong pressure in my upper abdomen, between the ribs.  This same pressure was felt about two months ago and went away with a blessing from Ammon.  After 2 hours of pain and throwing up, I woke Ammon up (I was amazed he was still asleep) and asked for a blessing.  In the blessing I was told that I would know when to seek medical attention.  The pain lessened a little, so I thought I would go back to sleep and see how the night went.  About 10 minutes later I was still in pain and felt that we needed to go to the ER.  We called the 24-hr nurse hotline for our insurance who recommended that we call my OB, since he was the most recent doctor I've seen.  Ammon called his office (this is 3:30am) and was led to the on-call doctor for the night, who was MY doctor! Yeah! I was able to describe my pain and where it was at.  I told him this had happened before and he told me I should go to the ER.  I wasn't surprised by this.  While Ammon was giving me the blessing, the image of us packing up Glen in his car seat came into my mind.  I thought we would just take him with us, but Ammon was more aware and decided to call his sister, Alene.  She tends him one day a week for us while I'm at work, so she knows him and his routines.  We dropped Glen off and went to the ER at 4:30am.  We were quickly through triage and in a bed, but it took a few hours before a doctor came to check on me.  We saw him at 7:30am.  He had just come on shift and was frustrated that I had not been seen by the previous shift.  Once he got my story, he quickly got me on an IV and some pain meds in my system.  A nurse named Scott was my nurse and was great about checking on me and making sure that I was comfortable.  At about 9:30am I had an ultra sound. The tech is not to give diagnosis, but I asked her if she saw anything.  She said that I had reason to be in pain.  Ok, so she found something.  The doctor came by later and told me I would need to have my gallbladder removed.  He explained that the gallbladder deals with fats and mine had stones in it as well as one blocking the opening, which is why mine was not currently working.  They set the surgery time for noon.  My sister and brother-in-law brought Glen by so I could see him before surgery.  They also gave me another blessing.  I am so grateful for the priesthood in my life!  I knew that I would recover and that all would be well.  I also knew that Glen would be well cared for between his aunt and grandma.  I am so grateful for their willingness to help us get through this!


After the surgery we found out that less than 2% of gallbladders that are taken out look as bad as mine did!  The doctor said it was either very sudden or I have a very high tolerance of pain.  Wow! Ammon went home to sleep a while and auntie Alene took Glen and I tried to rest.  I called two of my friends at work and got them to help the sub in my room.  My department head even called a retired math teacher and he is covering my class this week.  Thankfully I already had my lesson plans made, they just needed to be copied.  




Today is Tuesday, which means I have been off of work again for 6 school days.  I'm worried about the attitude of my students when I return.  I'm pretty sure they are going to claim that the subs taught them nothing and need me to reteach them EVERYTHING!  Teenagers can be big babies sometimes! 

I have my follow-up appointment with my surgeon tomorrow morning.  He should let me go back to work on Thursday.  My parents had already planned on coming into town and they are going to watch him on Thursday.  I'm so grateful for all their help! My mom whips my kitchen into shape and my dad helped us get out of Christmas decorations, which have been up since October! Love you guys!

I'm also VERY grateful for Ammon's family! Ammon's mom took Glen on Sunday night after my surgery so Ammon could get some sleep.  I was still at the hospital.  Then, she took him again on Wednesday night!  Monday and Tuesday nights were both very difficult.  Glen did not sleep well at all!  So I got some sleep on Wednesday night and then we took Glen to the doctor on Thursday morning. Turns out he had a double ear infection!!  My poor baby! No wonder he wasn't sleeping well!  He's been on strong antibiotics since then and is a very happy baby! His laugh is the best!