Emergency Room

A couple months ago I was diagnosed with gallstones. I had a doctor's appointment with my surgeon, Dr Schmidt, who told me to eat bland, low-fat, no fried foods until after my surgery. He also told me that if I did have a bad attack I needed to go to the ER and would be admitted for a couple days to get antibiotics to reduce the inflammation of my gallbladder, and that would save us some time. That way he wouldn't have to operate while I'm pregnant.

Well, I've been doing pretty good about the diet and haven't had any bad attacks since being diagnosed. Tuesday night, however, I told Kevin that I wanted a hamburger. I was craving one so bad, and I figured since it's been a while since I had one it would be okay. He's learned to not argue with me while pregnant. He did ask if I thought that was a good idea, but I told him to pretty much be quiet because I was getting it! I should have listened...as usual.

At about 1:30am I woke up in SO much pain! I felt like I was having a heart attack. I was also having bad cold sweats and feeling very nauseous. I went to the restroom to throw up and started feeling like I was going to pass out so I called Kevin to wake him up. He rushed in there and saved me from almost passing out with my head in the toilet. (That would have been GROSS! Thanks Kev!) The pain got way worse, and it made my back start to spasm really bad. Then I started not being able to breathe. After passing out about 30 times I told Kevin that I needed to go to the ER. (Which is weird for me to say. I don't like making a big deal out of things.) I thought since I couldn't breathe and was sobbing in pain though, that it would be a good idea to go.

We packed Claire up and made it in the car at about 2:30am or so. On the way Kevin called his mom to meet us at the hospital to get Claire. He also called my parents, who got in their car and drove up. I continued to pass out about 10 more times on the way to the hospital. Kevin kept pushing me to wake me up. I would hit him after he did though because while I was passed out I was able to get some relief from the pain. (Sorry about hitting you Kev) Kevin decided to go to The Medical Center in Port Arthur because that's where both my doctors could go (OB/GYN and Surgeon). We did pass two other hospitals on the way. It was a safe decision just in case I would have had to have surgery it could have been my doctor doing it. On a funny note: Claire asked Kevin a couple times if it was time for Baby Lindon to come. She was hoping it was!

So we got there in record time. I immediately went over to a chair and got on my knees, arched my back and laid my head in the seat of the chair. That's the only position that made the spasms slack off a bit. Claire was so sweet. She was rubbing my back while Kevin was checking me in. She's so sympathetic! It seemed like forever before someone said we could go back. By the way, Kevin told the receptionist that we thought it was a gallbladder attack and that I had gallstones.

So Danita took Claire home, and Kevin and I went back into a little room where a lady on a computer asked me a bunch of questions like how far along are you, what was going on, etc. We told her the same thing we told the reception. I was then wheeled into an ER room. It seemed like FOREVER until yet another girl came in and asked the SAME EXACT QUESTIONS AS THE LAST GIRL! Is it SO hard to look at my chart! I mean the first girl put all this info into the computer for crying out loud, and they want more people to ask a person who is in SEVERE pain the same questions... Anyway, so the second chick who had a note pad and wrote down the same answers to the same questions left, and we wait forever again! By the way, I hadn't felt the baby move this entire time, which we pointed out to everyone we saw! When the RN came in, which seemed like hours later, he told me to lay down and he was going to check my stomach. Kevin finally told him to check the baby so he went and got a doppler. He was able to get Lindon's heart rate so that put us at ease a little bit. The RN told us that he was going to get some blood and put an IV in to give me some fluids and pain medicine. Thank goodness! So an hour or so later the doctor came in and pretty much did nothing and left. A lab tech came in right after and took my blood. Then the nurse soon followed with the IV and pain medicine. He gave me some fluids, Zofran for the nausea, and some Demerol. The Zofran was amazing! It did not knock me out, but it took away the nausea completely. It took about 10-15 minutes for the Demerol to take affect. It was weird because I could feel every bit of the pain, I just didn't care as much. I give it two thumbs up though!

I was NOT impressed about the lack of care for the baby though. You would think since they gave me a narcotic that they would hook my up to some monitors to monitor Lindon's reaction to the medicine. They didn't however. In fact they only took my vitals once the entire night, which we thought was bogus since I had passed out about 50 times. Anyway, so after about an hour on the Demerol it started wearing off so they gave me some more. Then about an hour or so after the second dose it started wearing off. We told the new nurse (shift change has happened), and we never heard anything back from her. She just said they were waiting for a call back from my OB/GYN, Dr Long. After about 30 minutes my mom went out and found the nurse, who said I couldn't have any more medicine. After that new I decided to try to get some sleep since that would be my only relief from the pain. I was told that an hour later the doctor finally came in with the blood work results and to talk to me. (I was asleep) Kev said the doc was about to wake me up, but before he could Kev asked about the results. The doctor said, "Well, they came back ok." Then he said, "Well, actually they showed maybe a bacterial infection and some levels of stuff were elevated, probably from the gallbladder attack." I woke up and he asked me what I wanted, to be admitted or go home. So I said, "What are you going to do for me if I stay??" He said they would be able to do better pain management, which I thought was funny since they just told me I couldn't have any more pain medicine...RETARDED! Needless to say, I decided to come home.

So after 6 1/2 hours in the ER, 8 hours in HORRIBLE pain (my attacks usually last about an hour), and $150 later I am back home. I was just telling some friends the other day how lucky I was because I'm 8 months pregnant and still have SO much energy. I am still able to mow my lawn with a push mower, edge, and weed eat. I am able to take care of Claire and my house with no issues, and still able to go places pretty comfortably! Well this attack has completely wiped my energy! Just sitting here typing I was tired. I don't feel like doing anything...AT ALL. I hate that feeling. I love cleaning my house, playing with Claire, walking to get the mail, and working out. I hope I get that energy back when my body recovers a bit.