Thursday, May 22, 2008

4 AM Emergeny Room Trip...I have stones in my gallbladder

This sharp pain on my abdomen woke me up today at 4 AM...an hour before my alam clock was supposed to go off and wake me up. I went to the bathroom, and felt this continued severe pain on my stomach. I thought it was menstrual cramp or Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS). It was so bad that I couldn't even climb back to bed. I laid on the bathroom floor in pain. I started crying, and having cold sweats. My husband woke up and ran to get me Tylenol (which I didnt want to take because I couldn't even sit up). I told him to take me to the Emergency Room.

He drove me to the Anaheim Medical Hospital which is literally 5 minutes from our house. We couldn't find where you are supposed to park, so we left the car and eventually found the emergency room. There were a bunch of people there. They took in my information (insurance, name, basic questions, temperature etc). I told them I was in a lot of pain (and was crying like a baby!). After taking in our information, they asked us to wait in the lobby and they will call us when a doctor is available. We sat in the lobby, I sat on a wheelchair and was in such severe pain that I was crying in the lobby. I was asking them to at least give me something for the pain while I wait for the freaking doctor. 20 minutes passed and we were still sitting in the lobby. I couldn't take it anymore and I asked my husband to take me to another hospital, with an available doctor. I needed one asap.

He drove me to UCI Medical Center in Orange. Within 5 minutes of arriving at this hospital, I was with an RN and within 10 minutes, I was on a hospital bed (Lesson Learned: Don't go to county hospitals, if you have insurance. They are terrible! You will not get the medical care you deserve and pay for!).

Anyways, the doctors at UCI were great! (That's right...doctors! Not one doctor, but two doctors and a nurse for little old me! At the county hospital, they had one doctor for 20 people in the emergency room).

They immediately gave me an IV to help me with the pain, and within an hour of being there - they were able to perform an ultrasound on my stomach and were able to tell me I have several stones in my gallbladder (with one that was quite large). Yup, as if these past few days were not not bad enough...I dented my car, failed the bar, and now I have stones in my gall bladder. Can a girl get a break?

The picture above shows an infected gallbladder with gall stones. Gross, huh?

Anyways, they released me about 7 AM after giving me two bags of pain killers though the IV and prescribed me with 40 tablets of Vicodin. Good thing, the stones did not infect my gallbladder but was informed that these "attacks" could be recurrent, and if infected, could cause serious complications. I need to discuss with my primary physician either how to live with the stones, or if we need to take out my gallbladder.

I went home, called in sick and was knocked out for a few hours. Hopefully, I am well enough to go to work tomorrow. I have so much to do, I do not have time to get sick.

0 comments: