Oh what fun!

THERE AND BACK AGAIN
(a hospital tale)
By: Kristina K Burnett


...ahhhh the wonderful tail begins on a not so distant day ago when I was home suffering from the flu, or so my doctor and I thought...

Last Tuesday I had gone to the doctors office to see what was wrong with me. I thought I had a bladder infection, he thought I had a slight case of the flu. Lucky me. The lab drew blood to see if anything else was going on. (The report later said all was normal.) I headed home with antibiotics in hand, samples, since he knew we are on a tight budget because of our adoption.

I suffered all day Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and on Friday our tale takes an exciting turn.

I was in bed napping when I rolled over and started to feel a pain in my abdomen. A pain I had felt over 8 years ago. One that if you are so unfortunate to ever experience I promise you will never forget! I screamed for my daughter Jessica and begged her to get dad on the phone. I was in the middle of talking to him when another wave of pain hit me and I dropped the phone writhing with pain.

Todd left work immediately and headed home. My daughter was terrified and I wanted the pain to stop.

Todd took me to the Emergency urgent care facility here. I don't remember much about it except the two worst waves of pain I have ever felt. And hearing low pulse ox, and toxic a lot. They called an ambulance and I was on the way to the hospital.

The ER is noisy, did you know that? And they send really young kids down to drawl your blood? 19 so he said, but he looked 14. He was so nervous his hands were shaking. I assured him everyone has trouble finding my veins. That is not a lie. My IV from the ambulance took my only good vein.
And if your really lucky, you will hear the unmistakable sound of rattling chains of a local jail inmate being brought in to the ER. Oh yeah it happened!

After all the poking and prodding I had stumped them all. My liver enzymes were way up, and I defiantly had NOT had a heart attack, and I had had my gall bladder removed 8 years ago. Hmmm. What to do?

The gastro doctor came and suggested I stay over night and they would do a scope down my throat (yippee I get to be gagged, my favorite) to see if I had a blocked bile duct. Ok, anything but PLEASE stop my pain!

Morphine is a very friendly drug! This I know to be true!

After hours of waiting, and could now play connect the bruises from all the attempts to draw blood out of my "tiny" dehydrated veins, I got to go up to a room. Yeah peace and quiet. But not for long. I was moved to a permanent room WITH a roommate. She was crazy! No seriously, she was. There is no other way to explain her behavior ! At midnight she turns on her lights and starts talking to herself and rattling plastic medical supplies. Rattle rattle of plastic, and more plastic!!!! I was so furious! Did she not know it was after midnight?????

I got out of bed, grabbed my IV pole and headed for the nurses station. I must have looked like I was about to crumble into a pile of goo, because the nurse acted quickly. I asked her if there was ANY other room I could go to? I explained to her what my roommate was doing and begged for a peaceful nights sleep. She took me to a vacant room and had me lie down. She said she would get my personal belongings. And when she brought them to me she asked me if there was anything else I needed. I jokingly said I'd give anything for a fan. (I can't stand to be hot when i sleep, and my fever was not helping me) She said no problem and found me one. Can you believe it? She actually got it from the nurses station! Shhh it's a secret!

So to whomever prayed for me to find favor in the eyes of the hospital staff...THANK YOU!!!! It worked. I had the two best nurses you could ever ask for!

So the diagnosis you ask?

A stone, from my non existing gall bladder, blocking one of the bile ducts of my liver.
My body decided it needed to pass and proceeded to pass it, thus the pain I mentioned earlier. If you have EVER had a gall bladder attack, you don't EVER forget it. Worse than labor!!!! No joke!
The scope showed tears in my bile duct that indicated the stone had passed. Other wise I would have had to have another procedure to remove it.

I came home on Sunday and I'm now resting like a good little girl. Still have my flu like symptoms but my liver enzymes are back to normal and no more pain. And at last count 7+ bruises from needles making contact with my body.

So it looks like I am still on the list of medical abnormalities. First I have had meningitis TWICE as an adult, and now a gall stone in my bile duct after 8 years of a missing gall bladder! Both considered highly unusual in the medical field, and because of people like me no longer considered impossible!

THE END!

Hugs, Kristina