My fun story continues. I had the ultrasound done on Tuesday AM and was really feeling just absolutely awful. I was hoping it would show something. Results say.... no gallstones. Yay? On Wednesday I felt just incredibly sick and called my GI, who, of course, was out on vacation. They don't have anyone that can see me. I call my regular doctor and after several hours they finally got me in. I was there from about 4-5:30, blood work, they X-Ray'd my toe for good measure (not broken) and did some blood oxygen test that didn't come out so good. She was worried that I might have a blood clot, so they sent me right next door to the hospital to get a chest CT. I absolute hate IV's. Not putting them in, but them being in my arm. My pain sensitivity is off the charts with my whole body, so you would think having this tiny needle in your arm wouldn't hurt, well it does me. They put this crap in your arm and the test itself is all of 30 seconds, but they have to prep you for a few minutes. It was around 6:30 and I was shaking like a leaf afterwards (think I was cold, stressed out and hungry). That result came back fine, good thing to know none of my chest organs are in bad shape, but mystery continued.
They were able to get me in to a guy who was substituting for my GI on Thursday AM. He sent me for another test called a Hida Scan. I'm a dummy and go on-line and read about these tests and work myself up into this anxiety ridden frenzy before the test. The night before I was a total wreck. Basically the test is a function test to see if the gallbladder is actually working. This test is really the only way to know if the thing has shut down and if it's not processing correctly, especially if you show no gallstones on the ultrasound. The test is not great. Basically they lay you fully clothed on this bed, put another IV in your arm (yay!) and put some kind of radioactive crap in your blood. The scary part is you see this metal tube with the needle in it and it's a freakin' biohazard. You lie there for an hour and don't move. What I didn't like is that they didn't sit with me or check in with me until I had 20 minutes left. I was thinking they'd check in with me every 15 minutes or so, made me more nervous. I am so glad I had my headphones with me and thank you Sufjan Stevens for making me calm down for that hour (Illinois album is freakin' tops)! If your gallbladder shows after one hour they inject you with a hormone that simulates eating.
Considering I've lost about 7-8 pounds since the 3rd, I haven't been eating much of anything. Rice, bananas, bread, really super bland easy stuff. They said half the people feel pain when they inject this stuff, half don't. Guess who did? Basically you lie there for 30 minutes so they can see if your gallbladder is working right. And the stuff brought my symptoms on hardcore. Afterwards she stopped the test I was told I would feel better right away. I didn't, I felt worse. I had to sit there for a while. Finally I got my shit together and went to work. I was in a huge amount of pain all day and called my doctors office again as I felt like I couldn't breathe. I saw them that afternoon and was given drugs for the pain (you would think that would have happened before then), and was told in a lot of these cases your side hurts so much that you can't take in good breaths so you feel like you can't breathe. I also got the results of the scan back and turns out my no-goodnick gallbladder is only emptying my delicious bile at 20%. Normal is around 50-75%. So, the piece of crap just stopped working on me. I don't have any stones, it's just broken. This has probably gone on for a while now, but considering I've been on hormones for a zillion years and my dad has his out, my chances weren't great.
So, next Tuesday they are going to take the sucker out. It sounds like a relatively mild procedure, but I'm a complete freak and tend to have the side effects that are "rare." I'm going to ask them to monitor my brain while they have me down, as I've woken up in the middle of things before (see post on bad news colonoscopy from a few years ago). I cannot wait to be able to eat food again. I'm keeping it incredibly light since I don't want to aggravate it anymore, but I'm freaking hungry. Luckily I can get in some tofu and soy protein, as I'm not getting much nutrients from what I'm eating. So, that is my tale. I hear that it takes people months to get diagnosed before they get the Hida Scan done. I would have lost it by then. If you have chronic pain, don't let it go. If you know something is wrong with your body, you know your body, keep looking for answers.
They were able to get me in to a guy who was substituting for my GI on Thursday AM. He sent me for another test called a Hida Scan. I'm a dummy and go on-line and read about these tests and work myself up into this anxiety ridden frenzy before the test. The night before I was a total wreck. Basically the test is a function test to see if the gallbladder is actually working. This test is really the only way to know if the thing has shut down and if it's not processing correctly, especially if you show no gallstones on the ultrasound. The test is not great. Basically they lay you fully clothed on this bed, put another IV in your arm (yay!) and put some kind of radioactive crap in your blood. The scary part is you see this metal tube with the needle in it and it's a freakin' biohazard. You lie there for an hour and don't move. What I didn't like is that they didn't sit with me or check in with me until I had 20 minutes left. I was thinking they'd check in with me every 15 minutes or so, made me more nervous. I am so glad I had my headphones with me and thank you Sufjan Stevens for making me calm down for that hour (Illinois album is freakin' tops)! If your gallbladder shows after one hour they inject you with a hormone that simulates eating.
Considering I've lost about 7-8 pounds since the 3rd, I haven't been eating much of anything. Rice, bananas, bread, really super bland easy stuff. They said half the people feel pain when they inject this stuff, half don't. Guess who did? Basically you lie there for 30 minutes so they can see if your gallbladder is working right. And the stuff brought my symptoms on hardcore. Afterwards she stopped the test I was told I would feel better right away. I didn't, I felt worse. I had to sit there for a while. Finally I got my shit together and went to work. I was in a huge amount of pain all day and called my doctors office again as I felt like I couldn't breathe. I saw them that afternoon and was given drugs for the pain (you would think that would have happened before then), and was told in a lot of these cases your side hurts so much that you can't take in good breaths so you feel like you can't breathe. I also got the results of the scan back and turns out my no-goodnick gallbladder is only emptying my delicious bile at 20%. Normal is around 50-75%. So, the piece of crap just stopped working on me. I don't have any stones, it's just broken. This has probably gone on for a while now, but considering I've been on hormones for a zillion years and my dad has his out, my chances weren't great.
So, next Tuesday they are going to take the sucker out. It sounds like a relatively mild procedure, but I'm a complete freak and tend to have the side effects that are "rare." I'm going to ask them to monitor my brain while they have me down, as I've woken up in the middle of things before (see post on bad news colonoscopy from a few years ago). I cannot wait to be able to eat food again. I'm keeping it incredibly light since I don't want to aggravate it anymore, but I'm freaking hungry. Luckily I can get in some tofu and soy protein, as I'm not getting much nutrients from what I'm eating. So, that is my tale. I hear that it takes people months to get diagnosed before they get the Hida Scan done. I would have lost it by then. If you have chronic pain, don't let it go. If you know something is wrong with your body, you know your body, keep looking for answers.
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