Month: February 2018

Mr. Gally (May 1975 – February 24, 2018) served Believe in the Magic Traci well until his illness that probably began in late January 2017. During his last 13 months of life, he caused her problems such as nausea, headaches, and just pain. On the night of February 23, 2018, he decided that it was time for him to leave her body. After causing her excruciating pain that night, it was finally time for him to depart. At 11 am on February 24, 2018, he was lifted out of her body weeping. He served her well for 42 years and 9 months.

Week Prior

Okay in all seriousness, last week was painful.

On Sunday the 18^th, I went shopping with my mom. During our major shopping trip, I had no problems. However, once I got home, the pain started in my back and would not let up. It began in my lower back and then climbed up to between my shoulder blades. Fortunately, I had a chiro appointment on the 19^th so that helped with the lower back. I knew the pain between my shoulder blades was my gallbladder acting up. It continued to hurt until mid-day on the 20^th. The rest of the 20^th was uneventful. I even took a walk with the dog while the boys were at Scouts.

Then the 21^st happened – I almost went to the hospital that evening because I was in a lot of pain. It died down so that I could get some sleep. I still felt crappy when I went to work on the 22^nd but there were no real flare ups during the day except for my usual nausea after eating.

During this time, my safe foods were no longer safe for me to eat. I could eat potatoes with no problems. That was the case no more. I ended up pains afterwards and couldn’t even finish them on the 22^nd.

On the 23^rd, things began to change. My abdomen was bloated by the time I left work. I ran errands, ate dinner, and then tried to sleep. Sleep eluded me. Every position I tried caused pain so at midnight it was decided that we would go to the hospital.

The Night

We start to leave about 12:15 and get one exit down on the highway before Hubby decides to head back to the house because we forgot my ID and insurance card. He seemed to find the bumpiest route back to the house even though it is a road I have traveled on many times before.

Then it was back on the road to the hospital.

We finally arrived at 1 am. Since I was already in the system, we did not need the ID and insurance card. I was also taken straight back to a room. Room 9

Since I had drunk water on the way to the hospital, the first order of business was the urine sample. As soon as I walked out of the bathroom, my nurse met me. At that point I was in pain but not as much pain as I was going to be in. We talked about the beach scene that have in the ceilings in the ER room. After she did my vitals, I rarely saw her for the remainder of the time I was in the ER.

Next up was the nurse who drew my blood. I had warned the nurse that it is hard for them to find my veins, so she sent in the nurse who was skilled in using an ultrasound to find veins. Hubby watched as the needle entered my vein. I on the other hand, watched him look for the vein but did not watch the needle enter my vein. (I ended up with no bruise on my arm which is amazing. The last 2 times I had an IV put into my arm I’ve had a nasty bruise.)

Then began the waiting to see either the doctor or even the nurse. At one point I had to go to the restroom, so we called for the nurse because I was hooked up to all kinds of machines. The ER doctor came in before the nurse. She wanted to touch my abdomen which would have been a disaster. She left and was going to come back a little bit later. The nurse finally came, unhooked me from the machines, and allowed me to go to the restroom. However, she did not tie up my gown. Luckily, I had on my pants. Unfortunately, I had hold the gown shut while walking through the ER.

When the doctor came back in, she listened to me. At first, she wanted to give me medication for the gallbladder and allow me to come back for the procedure. I expressed my concern because of teaching. She told us that she would be back in ½ an hour, but she never came back.

In the meantime, we turned the tv on and watched Dave Chappelle and HGTV. Hubby watched me become progressively more distraught and in pain. I was in tears and balled up. He called the nurse and kept peeking out looking for her. She popped her head in at one point and nastily told us that the medication was on call. (I understand the ER is busy and there were more urgent patients than me. However, I was there because I was in pain. Check up on me occasionally.)

The resident surgeon came in at the same time as the nurse came in to give me medication. It was decided my gallbladder was going to come out either that day (Saturday) or on Sunday. It depended on when the surgeon could get me in. I was going to be admitted to the hospital.

While she is explaining the procedure, the nurse was administering my medication and asking about my pain level. Since I was trying to pay attention to the resident surgeon, Hubby answered for me. She did not like him answering and rudely asked me about my pain level. I understand she needed to hear it from me but there could have been a better way to ask me.

After finding out I was going to be admitted and that the surgery was probably going to be Sunday, Hubby left me, so he could check up on the boys and get some sleep. (The resident surgeon called the surgeon to see what her schedule looked like before Hubby left.)

I waited about 15 minutes or so before I was wheeled to 2 North and much better nurses. Oh, and as I was being wheeled away, the nurse popped up next to me and asked once again about my pain level.

Join me in another blog post about my surgery.

I’ve discussed my health on previous blog posts.  Every since November 2017, I’ve had abdominal pains especially after I eat especially after meats, greasy foods, or big meals.

I went to the Emergency room in early December because I had the pains for five days.  They told me that I was low in potassium, dehydrated, and had a stomach virus.

Continue reading “Another Health Update” →