For those who weren't in the loop...

Surgery is a comin'.

Okay, so I've had pain in my abdomen for quite some time. Several months, if not a year now. Around the end of September I visited my GI Specialist to talk with him about my symptoms. He suspected my gall bladder based on my symptoms, tenderness, and family history. They ordered an ultrasound then, but it showed no gall stones or abnormalities. So, he prescribed a pill for me to take every 6 hours as needed. I finished the first bottle (100 pills) around the end of November and hadn't seen any real change in my pain/symptoms. Lately its been worse and keeping me awake most of the night. I called the doctor's office December 1 and explained all of this and suggested I may need a HIDA Scan if they still suspect my gall bladder. (I had done my research.) The doctor "obeyed" (or agreed I suppose) and ordered the HIDA Scan with Ejection Fraction for the Friday (Dec 5). That would tell us if my gall bladder was functioning correctly. Many people who don't have stones can still have some type of gall bladder disease or a gall bladder that is not functioning properly. For instance, a fellow Judson graduate, Jennifer Allen, experienced the same story.

All I know at that point was that I've been in some form of pain daily for a LONG time now - on a scale of 1 to 10, I'm always at least a 2 and most of the time anywhere from a 4-9. And I was REALLY in need a good night's rest. I was hoping we would get answers either way as to what is the real cause of my problem. I could't imagine still having this pain AND being pregnant (someday)!

Fast-forward to December 3. The night before I'd had another mostly restless night. About 11ish that morning I broke into a cold sweat and had an "unusual" BM. I called the doctor's office and he said to come in right then. He placed his hand in some uncomfortable places and decided I might need an endoscopy as well - he suspected a "large" ulcer as he called it. He hadn't yet ruled out gall bladder, though, apparently. Depending on what he found during the scope, he would determine if we still need the HIDA Scan the following day.

Well, the endoscopy showed nothing abnormal. Apparently my stomach is spasming a bit, so he gave me a prescription to help with that and we left he HIDA scan on the agenda to check my gall bladder. Sadly, I was hoping they would find something so I would know what's causing all my pain! My throat hurt a bit right after the endoscopy of course, but nothing major.

Well the HIDA Scan showed that my gall bladder is not functioning. A normal gall bladder ejection fraction is 35-75%; mine is 5.6%. They quickly scheduled an office visit with a surgeon for the afternoon they received the results (yesterday, the 8th) with plans to perform surgery to remove the gall bladder.

The surgery will be at Brookwood on Tuesday morning, December 16 (next week). He can't promise it will relieve me of ALL my pain, but it should relieve any pain related to the gall bladder. Everyone has encouraged me enough to think I should feel TONS better post-surgery, though. I may just have to keep the acid reflux problems from my past under better control.

So there it is...the whole story. Good night and sweet dreams. (And thanks for any prayers you have lifted up for me or will continue to pray.)