The Joys of Surgery

So all the pain and agony I've been having in my back and under my ribcage turned out to be my mean ol' gallbladder like I posted way back when. Well, the stupid Urgent Care Dr. that I was going to kept sending me for test after test and each time he'd say that my gallbladder wasn't quite bad enough to refer me to a surgeon. I was beginning to get tired of nothing being accomplished with my doctor visits and still having horrible attacks almost weekly, and it got to the point that the Darvocet that I had been prescribed was no longer working on the pain, so when I had a bad attack the morning of February 26th, off to the ER I went. After receiving IV fluids and morphine, the ER doc released me but also gave me a referral to a surgeon.

I went the following Tuesday to a consult appointment, and the surgeon looked at me like I was stupid when I explained to him that the Urgent Care Dr. had kept telling me that things were not bad enough to have it removed. The surgeon got copies of all my test results and said that this thing should have been taken care of months ago. He said if I waited much longer then it was more than likely I'd end up with liver or pancreas complications. So...surgery was scheduled for Friday March 11th. It sucked because we're in a busy period at work right now, but the surgeon didn't recommend waiting longer than that, so it was done.

The morning of surgery arrived and I woke up to news of the Japan earthquake/tsunami. One of my best friends is over there right now nannying for some friends of hers, so panic set in. I didn't hear from her til later that night, but she was fine as she's on the other end of the mainland. But not knowing at the time that she was alright made going under the knife that much worse.

Anyway, the surgery ended up being more complicated than originally thought. Normally this surgery is done laparoscopically, and normally people's gallbladder hangs just beneath the liver. Mine ended up being tucked nicely inside my liver, so while "technically" my surgery was laparoscopic, they had to do a partial open procedure on the inside to get to my gallbladder, as well as my main incision ended up being 3x the size what was planned. None of this was explained to me til my post-op appointment a week later, so I spent the entire week in major pain wondering why I wasn't back to normal like every other person I know that has had their gallbladder removed. Stupid doctors. Ugh. (And don't get me started on the nurses...that's a whole OTHER story...)

Oh, and I also had complications in the recovery room. As I came out of anesthesia, I couldn't breathe. At the time they diagnosed it as stridor due to airway edema. I don't remember much except trying to gasp for breath but not succeeding and then blacking out, only to wake back up and repeat. It was the scariest thing I've personally had happen, and as I kept passing out, I was sure I wasn't going to wake up...not the best feeling in the world, let me tell you. My lungs still don't feel completely normal.

Anyway, now I'm not supposed to lift anything heavier than 10 lbs for at least the next week, which means I haven't been able to lift my daughter for the past week at all and I have to wait at least 1 more or risk a hernia. Fan-freakin-tastic. This whole experience has sucked royally, and has made me not trust doctors even more. I didn't think that was possible, but it is.