Today is my follow up #pissygallbladder appointment to get my staples removed. I’m wondering if the doctor will even recognize me. If only I had my CCTM in the hospital I would have looked MUCH different.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when removing the staples but I honestly wasn’t expecting him to just pull them straight out! It didn’t hurt and it makes sense that’s how they do it but it was just weird.
I asked about the sizes of the gallbladder and stones because they were supposed to give me pics and never did. First he said the big one was the size of a marble but then he said the size of a small egg. And the other ones (which were hundreds?) were the size of small peas. I’m not sure he knows/remembers/cares but regardless, that’s a ton.
It’s time for a road trip to take the kids to Michigan for Grandparent Camp! Usually we go all the way to Grayling but we decided to try something different this year and meet halfway!
Can you see her sleeping buddy?
I’m not sure what Katie is pissy about other than that’s her normal look these days. (I told you!)
One of the few times she’s sweet.
Our meeting point was Bilbo’s, one of our favorite restaurants from East Lansing that we hadn’t been to in 20 years (since we got married and left Michigan). We were excited that Kalamazoo was the halfway point!
Making the actual transfer! We’re free! Good luck and Godspeed!
Seriously though, the kids absolutely love this time with the grandparents and couldn’t be more excited… especially after Covid put the kibosh on camp last summer. Here’s to making memories!!
So Tom and I had been to what felt like every decent furniture store in a pretty wide radius trying to find the exact last piece we needed—and just couldn’t find anything. We finally found something that was comfortable and about the right color (we thought) but we got it home and meh—not it. (It clashed with the other gray couch since they were different tones.) So we decided it was a temporary piece and we could take our time finding exactly what we wanted and maybe even get something made.
FAST FORWARD TO TODAY
We were chatting today and someone said something about La-Z Boy. And I was like wait, whaaaaat?
Yes, we’d forgotten about the huge furniture store in town. UGHHHHH. So we decided we had to go just to say we did—and surprise—we found a perfect piece. BECAUSE OF COURSE.
We did actually go home to get the couch cushion to make double sure it matched!
So good news…we found something we like a lot better. Bad news? We’ll need to sell the other couch when this one comes in in September. But at least we have good seating in the meantime!
The first one they tried to deliver had a cracked foot and a really ripped corner. The foot actually totally split and fell off in our house. We didn’t accept it.
The second one had a ripped corner. The third one had leather squares that were totally different colors (I sadly didn’t get a photo of that).
Today was their fourth attempt and it had a little bit of discoloration again but not as bad as the last try—but the interior (when you lift the lid) was all scratched up. So we had to send it back again.
This one was actually the least ruined of them all so far and we told the customer service person that we would accept it at a discount and she offered us $50. On a $1500 ottoman. Ummm no. But sure, let’s keep messing around.
So now we get to wait two weeks for the next attempt because they are getting some new ones direct from the manufacturer in the hopes of getting an acceptable one. With all the prior attempts it was generally 3-4 days.
Our fingers are crossed but we really don’t think it’s gonna happen until number eight or nine.
The show must go on! We had paid for the double birthday party and the weather was gorgeous and we were not cancelling—even though lots of people told me they wouldn’t have been surprised. Really, though, most everything was taken care of by the staff—we basically just had to haul in the drinks and snacks and then had the pizza delivered. I pretty much stayed on the picnic table the whole time.
Today was the kids’ dual birthday pool party and I was happy that I felt good enough to put on a face! (Don’t worry, I didn’t over-exert myself—I literally sat at a picnic table the whole time…but more about the party on the next post!)
CCTM Light Medium and Light Powder
Champagne Shimmer and Pink Ruby Shimmer ShadowSense on eyes
The community center was having a drive in movie so we thought that would be a nice change of pace. We went with David and Anna and watched Sandlot (really cute). Of course when we planned it, I didn’t know if just be getting out of the hospital… But I really just had to sit there so it was okay!
I’m not sure exactly what happened but I didn’t take a single picture. Anna only took one. (Whaaaaat is happening?)
Of course we did have drama… They handed out glow necklaces to everyone and Owen and Katie found a way to be annoyed with each other over them. Then Katie was excited to see a bunch of her friends there—but refused to go talk to any of them.
But the movie was cute and I think everyone enjoyed it!
I decided to splurge and have my hair washed and styled today. After my somewhat painful shower last night, I just knew I wouldn’t have the energy to wash my hair… and I couldn’t really postpone it too long since it was already WAAAAAAY past due. While I was there I got my toe polish changed, too, so I look way more put together than I feel.
Don’t worry, I didn’t drive. Tom and the kids dropped me off and then afterwards we ran a few errands for the kids’ pool party tomorrow (yes, that’s still on!), ate lunch, and now it’s nap time.
I woke up assuming it was discharge day but I had to get the official word. While I waited I took another walk.
And then one of the docs came in to remove my pouch—which I’m just remembering I didn’t tell you about. So I had a little pouch with a line in my abdomen to drain the surgical site. I hadn’t even known I had it until like late into the day after surgery. Anyway, they emptied it a few times and I didn’t think much of it. But last night, one of the nurses came in…and wanted to show me how to drain it in case I went home with it.
WAIT—WHAAAAT?
I might be going home with this thing? Oh hell no. I wanted no part of that. But I diligently watched and tried to accept that I might actually have to do it. Ewwwww.
So back to the doctor coming in to remove it. I was ecstatic and told her she just made my day! I had no idea what was involved in removing it, so I was a little surprised when she just said she was going to pull it out. Yikes. Okay. She said it shouldn’t hurt but it would feel weird. Ooookay. And she was right. And it felt just like you’d imagine it would feel to pull 4″ of plastic tubing from your body. (Which, sidenote, I had no idea it was that long. I hadn’t even thought about it. I mean it makes sense but ewwww.) Then she just put a bandage on it and that was that. She also then gave me the good news that I would be going home for sure today!
12:23p — Anna was on call to come get me because Tom had an interview that morning—so here I am in her car! In real clothes! Feeling sore but in good spirits since I was going home!
Final thoughts? Man was that a crazy experience… I never would have predicted SIX days in the hospital for a gallbladder issue (what should be a very typical and easy thing) but apparently it was as old and cranky as I am! Let’s just hope I don’t need another visit for a very long time. I think nine years (to the date!) between visits is good!
Oh! One thing that surprised me was how much weight I gained from all the IV fluids! I had thought I’d lose weight since I didn’t eat for five of the six days…but they were literally pumping me fill of liquid all day every day. There happened to be a scale in my room and I remembered what I weighed upon admittance…and I had gained like 12 pounds! And all my clothes—even though they were stretchy—felt uncomfortably tight. Yuck. But I knew it would go away on its own (which it did within a week).
1:56p — Ahhhh. I have my dog on me for a nap. I’m good.
2:02p — Three nappers. (I think we let the kids binge on devices to leave us nap in peace.)
I stayed pretty chill the rest of the day and moved slowly, but the pain meds helped quite a bit. I was only allowed to go up the stairs once a day, so that was at bedtime… At which point I finally got to take a shower!
I actually asked Katie to come in the bathroom with me so she could be there in case anything happened (I mean who knows?). I had her help me remove some of the bandages, too, so hopefully she wouldn’t be super freaked out… And also so she could see this really was serious so she would hopefully not be a poop when asking her to do extra things to help out.
The shower felt good but I couldn’t really bend much so everything was slow and measured and I spent most of the time just standing there. I know Katie loves her Band-Aids so I had her get some ready for me so they were unwrapped and ready to go!
And I was stupid excited to do my full skincare regime!!! After a week without most of it, it felt like heaven!
12:44a — On my third walk of the day (though technically it’s the next day—Day 6).
6:37a —I’m doing better today…but still moving slowly. I had morning med changes so now it’s hopefully time for a nap before the Ambien fully wears off!! I didn’t sleep well the previous night—I seemed to be in a strange half awake half asleep Ambien-induced state (but maybe I was fully dreaming, but just dreaming I was half awake/half asleep?!). Anyway, I liked the Ambien much better last night—it stopped me from tossing and turning and I slept pretty solid from 12:30-5:30. In a hospital that’s a veritable vacation.
6:56a — Yes I’m eating part of a s’mores cookie that Tom got me last night. Now that I can eat real food AND I am supposed to fart and poop before I can leave, I’m eating ALL the things that I can!
7:01a — This fun contraption was dropped off. Also? You suck it—not blow it! It was hard to inhale strongly enough to reach my goal (2000) but I could do it from the start.
7:34a — A delicious REAL breakfast of Texas French toast, bacon, and granola parfait!
8:15a — In other news this fruit granola parfait is delicious and I want this all the time.
9:22a — Sooooooo…. The bad news is the surgeon wants to keep me another day since the #pissygallbladder (my words, not his) and removal was so extreme. Like twice the size of a normal gall bladder and twice the size of a normal incision. There was one huuuge stone surrounded by hundreds of little stones. Tom called me a hoarder.
The good news is I’m doing really well AND (TMI?) I don’t actually have to poop in order to leave. They said as long as I was feeling fine and food was staying down I’d be good to go. AND then the second doc came in and said she thinks I might be able to go home later today or this evening — she’ll talk to the surgeon and they’ll look at my daily bloodwork.
9:59a — The mom and baby section is really quiet and nice. They even put pictures of flowers on the occupied rooms.
10:11a — Coming back from a walk…might as well take a picture of my room for posterity.
11:48a — Lunch does not suck.
6:57p — Perfectly cooked asparagus in a hospital meal? What alternate world am I living in?! The mac and cheese looks better than it tasted for sure.
No, I didn’t have any special diet (a lot of people asked). They said as long as I’m feeling okay, there’s no worries! After each meal they ask if I had any issues. I haven’t.
7:15p — Guess what? I had to move rooms AGAIN. They needed the space for an actual mother and baby so I got the boot. And it’s back to the surgical ward. At least I think. It’s hard to keep track.
8:34p — I’m here in my new room and still getting antibiotics. And drugs. Hopefully HOPEFULLY going home tomorrow.
10:30p — OMG I’M GETTING A ROOMMATE. I mean, I assume they really need the space, and if I needed the space I wouldn’t give two shits where it was or if I was sharing. But still. This is frustrating after a week by myslf. I am sure they don’t like doing it either. I am sure no one is happy. So there’s no point in being bitchy about it. It is what it is. #firstworldproblems I just think I might be taking my Ambien sooner rather than later.
8:01a — The surgeon just came in and confirmed the survey is still scheduled for 1p. If everything goes great I could be going home tonight. But since the surgery is a tiny bit later (the surgery takes about an hour, and usually it takes about an hour to wake up) they may want to keep me overnight one more night.
Look at all my gidgets and gadgets!
Heart monitor — my pulse was usually under 50 which slightly concerned them. The first time I went to the bathroom it shot up to 90 and a nurse came running in to check on me. Original IVSecondary IV plus a blood draw location. 12:17p — We’re almost to the finish line!!
And look at what Owen texted me? I love him.
How are the kids doing? Just fine. They’ve been spending a lot of time at Anna’s with the boys and today she treated them to ice cream!
3:30p — The surgery went very well. I personally haven’t had the post-op discussion with the surgeon but the doctor apparently told Tom that my gallbladder was large and they needed to make an extra-large incision to remove it…and it was FULL of stones!
There are no crazy videos of me coming out of sedation! By the time I got back to my room where Tom was, I was pretty coherent. Sorry!
I know I had thought I might possibly be able to come home tonight (since this is typically an outpatient procedure) but with the bigger incision plus my pain level getting in and out of bed, I was actually glad to be staying another night.
I actually felt the best I have felt in days so I invited Anna to come visit for a bit so I actually felt human again eating CHICKEN POT PIE from the real food menu and visiting with people who weren’t staff.
By 7 o’clock or so, I was able to maneuver pretty well and didn’t need help getting out of bed. I kicked Tom out so I could catch up with my bestie and we actually took three laps around the wing.
Then—SURPRISE!—I had to switch rooms so now I’m in the even quieter mom/baby unit so hopefully I’ll get a full night’s sleep. They said they won’t bother me unless I page them. Fingers crossed.
So all is well. Now I just need to fart (AND poop!) before they’ll let me leave! #tmi
9:27a — I was in pretty good spirits initially since I thought this would go quickly but everything is moving so slowly and the drugs are starting to wear me down and I’m just exhausted, hungry, have a headache that won’t go away (I just want to curl up in a fetal position and cry and they only gave me Tylenol), and I just pulled a muscle in my groin trying to sit up. I didn’t even want any visitors since I was so miserable. I couldn’t even look at my phone or the TV for more than a few minutes so I tried to sleep as much as I could.
11:52a — Surgery tomorrow around 1! Which means I had to get another Covid test (since the first one was only good for 72 hours). I was pretty sure I hadn’t picked up Covid in the hospital but I guess they had to be sure. Unfortunately, this one went to the brain.
12:56p — I heard our Ring camera go off so I checked and it was Katie. Our friend Jen was coming to get the kids to take them to the pool and she was waiting outside. So I surprised her and talked to her via the doorbell.
4:23p — Still have a killer headache. Even tried an ice pack…and more Tylenol. Nothing was helping.
6:22p — The doc finally came in and SURPRISE! She said it’s a hunger headache and I should have been on a sucrose drip this whole time since I wasn’t eating! Plus she gave me Tordol and sleeping meds. I’m happy things are going to get better but I kind of feel like they should’ve known it was a hunger headache since this was my third day of fluids only.
Soooo. It’s possible I’ll be released tomorrow. But also possible they keep me another day to do the actual gall bladder removal surgery. I’m actually hoping for the latter so I don’t have to repeat any of this.
My liver readings are still a little high and she said the surgeon likes to have them more normalized before doing surgery but it’s also silly to go through all this again.
But on the bright side…they brought me a salt packet with my broth. It’s the little things.
7:20a — Currently awaiting prep for surgery—even though I still haven’t officially been told what surgery I’m having…or when. But I did finally brush my teeth and take a hot washcloth to my face this morning! It’s killing me to not have my daily skincare regimen but I figure missing a few days won’t kill me.
2:24p — I was just told I’ll need to have the Endoscopic procedure today (first) because there’s a stone stuck in the duct. Because of course there is. I’ll still need to have the lapriscopic surgery to remove the gall bladder, but they don’t know yet whether it will be tomorrow or scheduled at a future date. It depends on how I recover from the first procedure.
5:05p — Endoscopic procedure complete—and I didn’t feel a thing!! I do remember them warning me the mask smelled like plastic and that was gross. Anyway…they removed sludge! There were no complications and I feel totally fine. Now to wait and see if they say I can have the lapriscopic surgery tomorrow… In the meantime, the countdown is on until 6:30 tonight when I can have clear liquids for dinner!
Anna came to visit since I was feeling really good…and she brought me gorgeous flowers and a balloon!
Technically day 2 since I started at hospital #1 on the 10th and it was now the 11th.
4:15a — Arriving in the bowels of the hospital.
Being taken to my room, this was the elevator—Living Lippy, right?! Obviously the pain meds were working at this point.
Everything went well…until Tom showed up and they wouldn’t let him stay because it wasn’t visiting hours! WHAAAAAT?! No one told us that so we were really annoyed. Thankfully they at least let him come up to see me for a few minutes and drop off a bag for me (with some clothes, my glasses, lip stuff, laptop, and makeup remover wipe—it was driving me crazy that I hadn’t been able to do my nightly skincare). Oh, and surprise—no kids allowed as visitors!
4:36a — Let me tell you—a Fooops! wipe never felt so good!
I finally got about three hours of solid sleep from 6-9. The pain started up again so I’m on morphine again. Have talked to a few docs and the surgeon and they’re tentatively planning the surgery for tomorrow morning. Today is antibiotics, an MRI to see just where everything is, and pain mediation. And trying to grab whatever sleep I can.
2:40p — on morphine and feeling fine
6:40p — I’ve been sleeping most of the day. Just had the 45-minute MRI (actually an MCRP) and fell asleep in there for a bit…and now have to wait for the doc to figure out which surgery I need—endoscopic plus lapriscopic or just lapriscopic.
Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) is an MRI exam that produces detailed images of the liver, gallbladder, bile ducts, pancreas and pancreatic duct. It identifies gallstones and can show gallbladder or bile duct inflammation or blockage.
https://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info/gallstones
Boring broth, boring jello… But the Apple juice and Sprite were amazing!
I knew I couldn’t have Tom bring ALLLL my skincare, so I had to narrow it way down. My Overnight Lip Mask was a definite yes. I had to dig through and empty my whole backpack but I found it! My lips are now happy!!
The rest of my bare minimum skincare: Climate Control, evening moisturizer (for day and night since I’m not going outside), Shea Butter Body Cream and the lip mask
Soooo, they said it might be 24-48 hours (!) of observation?! So much for “emergency surgery” eh? But apparently my gall bladder is so pissy they need to calm it down first (lots o’ antibiotics). It depends what the doc says. So I’m waiting for her to come discuss my ultrasound results.
Out of nowhere about 9:15 I started having extreme pain in my chest and just felt really crappy—enough so that I texted Tom to come home because I was NOT GOOD. It was time to start getting the girls ready for bed and I couldn’t even think straight so needed him to come handle it.
It wasn’t reflux or gas or anything I’d felt before—and I knew women’s heart attacks had different symptoms and that’s all I could think of. I googled and it didn’t seem like a heart attack but whatever was happening was not normal. I thought if I could just go to bed and hopefully fall asleep…maybe I could sleep through it. But the pain wasn’t going away and it was actually a little scary. And then just like that I felt better! Weird. I sat up in bed and just as I was getting excited that it was over…BAM, it came screaming back. At this point I called Tom upstairs and actually told him I was scared and it was at this point (about 10:30) that I said I needed to go to the ER.
Someone obviously had to stay with the kids—and Tom wasn’t able to drive safely (remember, he’d been at a poker night with the boys)—so he called Anna and she got here—from a dead sleep—within about 10 minutes. She drove me to the ER as I writhed in pain and tried to breathe through it. We spent the next five hours at the ER (10:30p–3:30a), most of which I was in about a level 7/10 pain.
11:15pm
I was on morphine for the pain (thank God for morphine) and it was weird how I could feel the pain ramping up (I started breathing differently) and knew to ask for more. Anna was googling trying to figure out what it could be. She was staying in touch with Tom. She was updating the sleepover moms on my phone. When I wasn’t incoherent with pain we visited like normal.
After some tests and bloodwork—my heart was fine, kidneys were fine, my liver was a bit elevated but not worrisome, and overall bloodwork was all fine. But the ultrasound. The ultrasound showed a really pissed off gallbladder. Stones and something else I forget. So then it was my first Covid test ever (which wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be) and a leisurely ambulance ride to another hospital to be observed and prepped for emergency gallbladder surgery! Anna went back to our house to stay with the kids while Tom drove to the hospital to meet me there.
3:45am — mask on and ready for transfer3:57am — off we go to the ambulanceIn the ambulance. No sirens but I think the lights were on.
Not exactly how I planned to spend Katie’s birthday…
But I cannot thank Anna enough. Seriously. She was my angel tonight—from the initial car ride to admission to keeping Tom in the loop to grabbing nurses to texting the sleepover moms…to relieving Tom at home (and watching the kids) so he could come see me. Whatever I needed, she was there.
Katie had two friends over for her first birthday sleepover. Holy cow were they loud. And of course there was some drama because GIRLS. I was dealing with it all myself because Tom was at a poker night down the street (I had breakfast plans with my mom group in the morning so it was a fair trade off).
But overall it wasn’t too bad. I hoped a movie would keep them quiet for a bit but that lasted about 15 minutes because one girl refused to stop talking and the others were getting annoyed so they just stopped.
And then…PLOT TWIST! Go to the next blog entry for the rest of the story!
Someone on Nextdoor was getting rid of household stuff soAnna grabbed a TV and sound bar…and together we grabbed the kitchen table and chairs—Anna wanted the table and I liked the chairs! So they got our old chairs and we had to do a switcheroo. They also took our old recliner that no longer matches anything in our house.
We got delivery of our gorgeous ottoman today. Or should I say attempted delivery! One of the wooden feet was completely cracked—and there was a huge rip on the corner. So they are taking it back and bringing us another. Thankfully they said they had like 8 in stock.
This is what it looks like (at the store). That’s also the temporary loveseat we bought. (It doesn’t really match the other couch at all but we needed something until we can find/order what we really want. Furniture is really backed up just like everything else due to Covid.)
Yes, we’ve been through a few kitchen tables since we moved into this house—we were waiting to find just the right one. This one checked most of the boxes. The only weird thing to get used to is we moved from a counter height to a regular height table. And for as long as the table is, it still only seats four. But we can put chairs on the ends if we need to.
My friend Cheri rescues baby squirrels so she brought one with her tonight and Owen and I got to hold him! Soooo tiny and cute! His eyes weren’t even open!
Cheri is one of my clients who I just hit it off with and so tonight we finally got the husbands together. I pulled together a pretty good charcuterie board and we all had a great time visiting at the bar listening to 90s music!
