Jeebus I am bad about keeping up with this thing. Must. Do. Better! May was a really hard month for me medically though. I had a CT scan, HIDA scan, endoscopy, colonoscopy and an ultrasound done on my throat. Here are the results of all the tests.
The CT Scan was for some abdominal pain that started in March when I tried to be all healthy and stuff and walked to and from work. That was not a good idea. The CT scan came back normal, all organs the size they are supposed to be in the places they are supposed to be. Next up was the HIDA scan. This is a test where they light up your liver and gall bladder with a contrast dye then follow that with a medication that makes the gall bladder do its thing. That nearly killed me. I’m not kidding. On that stupid pain scale they give you of 0 to 10 my pain was 13 at the minimum. I would have ripped my own guts out to make that stop if I could have. that was 45 minutes of the most intense pain I have ever been in. And bear in mind I have given birth 3 times so I know what I am talking about here. Next came the endoscopy and colonscopy to see if there was something going on at either end. Colonscopy came back fine. Some hemorrhoids were banded and there was some tenderness in there (apparently I squirmed even though I was out like a light). The endoscopy came back with some esophagitis. A few red spots showed up and my esophagus is swollen. Apparently I have h.Pylori and have to be treated with antibiotics so strong it’s recommended that I stay home for at least 4 days. Oh lovely! Like I haven’t got enough issues?
So anywhoo… I had gall bladder/appendix surgery 2 weeks ago thanks to my not normal reaction to the HIDA scan. The gall bladder I had a feeling about with all the issues I was having that weren’t showing up on the scans. I asked the surgeon why they had to stop the scan in the middle of it due to the fact that I was in so much pain I would have happily clawed my own guts out if I could have reached them. He said and I quote “That is not normal. Not normal at all. They did not put your reaction to the scan in the notes. But this is not a good sign.” He then told me I had a 70% chance of feeling 100% better if I had it out and a 0% chance of feeling better if I left it in. I asked him why it wasn’t scheduled already. Needless to say I walked out of his office on Friday with a surgery date for Wednesday.
The appendix removal was a complete surprise. But apparently I had significant enough adhesions on it to warrant it being removed even though it wasn’t originally planned on. It’s not like I use it for anything important so I wasn’t too upset at waking up to find that it was gone. So since Wednesday I have been fighting with some abdominal pain that doesn’t seem to get fixed with pain meds. It feels a lot like someone has a handful of my fat tummy and is twisting and pulling it at the same time while someone else is busy punching me in my back on the right side. I keep trying to go back to work but I don’t make it for very long before I really need to go lay down. Thankfully I see the surgeon tomorrow about it.
In the meantime I had an ultrasound on my throat because of the swelling. I figured the stupid cyst I had removed several years ago was back. Hurray! It was not. Instead I have developed 2 small nodes on my thyroid. Granted they aren’t very big but between them they seem to have my esophagus nearly swollen shut. Loooooovely. So next up is a radiated iodine scan. Nice… I get to drink some really gross tasting junk that is going to light up my throat so they can see if the nodes are because of a goiter or just because they are really close together. I am not worried about cancer since only 5% of nodules on the thyroid turn out cancerous. But it will mean another surgery to remove them so I can breathe and swallow. I am sort of getting sick of surgery. I mean yes I know it’s helping me but dang. I am getting sliced open from one end to the other and I am kind of tired of being sick with one thing or the other. Thankfully it will be after July when my FMLA will kick in and I will be able to take the time off I need to but in the meantime I have used up all my vacation days which I was trying to save for hunting season. Of course come hunting season I may be stuck sitting near the truck so I can rest as needed.
In the process I am trying to get healthy for weight loss surgery. I am also still doing a lot of research to make sure I am choosing the best surgery for me. My doctor does the surgery I want but I am going to have to convince him that it is the best one for me and I am not just flaking out on him. He usually only does the one I want (Duodenal Switch with Biliopancreatic Diversion or DS) for the those who are Super Super Morbidly Obese. I am just Morbidly Obese at this point. But my thinking is why go with something that isn’t going to work as well as the DS does, that I might have to revise later on down the line, and is not going to get rid of the co-morbidities like the DS does? Why even entertain the idea of something that is inferior and that I may have to have yet another surgery to fix later on down the line. Plus with the DS I can eat foods that I would normally eat. I won’t have to give up my venison or bacon. Yes, I will be on vitamins and protein supplements for the rest of my life but I already take a ton of vitamins and medications on a daily basis so that won’t be anything different. I am trying to wean myself off sugar and caffiene. I am working on making my portions smaller and smaller so that when it comes time for me to eat regular foods after the surgery I will know how to measure my portions so that I get enough of everything I need. I may have to deal with diarrhea for a while but since I already have IBS from the fibromyalgia that won’t be much of a change. Anyway, I have to convince the surgeon that this is really the best option for me.
Well, that’s the last month and a half in a nutshell. Lots of medical stuff going on at the moment but hopefully soon all will be fixed and well again and can go back to my life. See ya soon
That Crinkled Chick 