Goodbye Gallbladder

h8 u gb

On May 21, I had my gallbladder taken out after six months of tests, special diets, annoyance, pain, and utter frustration. It was one of those "best/worst things" to happen to me. Over Christmas break, I woke up one day with some of the worst abdomen pain I have ever experienced. I was nauseous and could barely move. I distinctly remember my mom made gingerbread waffles that morning and I sat in the family room covering my nose because the smell made we want to hurl, and curled in the fetal position to try to subdue the pain. I kept trying to ride off the pain, using heating pads, trying to distract myself by watching My Girl, and doing everything in my power not to cry. I realize how dramatic this sounds but my gosh, I am a girl who knows abdomen pain. I am the GI pain queen. But this was something awful. My mom said she was taking me to the hospital because she thought my appendix had ruptured. I resisted going simply because I knew that meant a long day laying on a small cot, but eventually went because the pain was too unbearable. It turns out my white count was spiked and I did have a fever, so the on call ER doc was getting ready to call in the surgeon because everything was pointing to my appendix. They just had to do a CT scan and ultrasound to confirm. Well, it turns out my appendix was completely normal! But I did have a cyst on my ovary. They sent me and my mom on our merry way and I laid low for the next few days, dealing with the pain.

The pain however, never went away. I thought it was sort of strange to be experiencing pain directly under my rib cage from an ovarian cyst, but I know that pain can radiate. Ovarian cysts are common in women and can sometimes not be felt at all. They usually "pop" on their own, and the doctors told me mine definitely would within a week. But a week had passed, I was supposed to go back to school soon, and I was getting concerned about how to deal with the pain. I believe in honesty on my blog, so I'm going to vulnerable here. I had to go to the gynecologist (cringing as I type this) and they performed an internal ultrasound.  O U C H. Like whoa. You guys, that 10 minutes for sure goes down as the most awkward 10 minutes of my life. The poor tech was this sweet motherly southern lady, but I was literally crying in pain as she probed me. All they saw from the ultrasound was there was some extra fluid around my uterus, probably from the burst cyst. That could be causing some pain. So they gave me some prescription strength naproxen (aleve), and off to school I went for second semester.

So I'm back at school, the semester is just beginning, stress levels are as L O W as they get. But I am still  experiencing this agonizing pain lateral to my belly button on the right side, directly under my rib cage. The pain wakes me up every single night, like clockwork. I tell my mom about it in every phone call, and she eventually talks to my uncle, who is a doctor. He suggests I go back to see my GI doctor. Enter trusty and true Dr. Stathos! Over the course of the next few weeks, I was able to see his PAs, and begin the process of diagnosis. I gave them my blood, emptied my bowels, tried more medications than I can count on my hands, went off gluten and caffeine, had ultrasounds, CTs, and kept experiencing the pain. I cried and cried, no longer because of the pain, but because of the frustration of not knowing what was going on! I had become expert at hiding the pain when I was with other people, but those 3am pains would have me sitting in the dark room, upset and feeling absolute defeat.

Over Valentine's weekend, I had an upper GI series done, swallowing that nasty barium and being tilted all about the table. Over spring break, I had an endoscopy done to really get the internal view of what was going on. It turns out my stomach was inflamed, but so was the beginning of my small intestine. They prescribed something to treat ulcers and inflammation, ruled out H. pylori, and we all prayed that things would improve.

 But they didn't. One night in April, Riley texted me asking about some medical things. She was listing symptoms she was experiencing and asking what they could mean. I was stunned because they were the exact same symptoms I was feeling. I called her, we talked, and I anxiously told my mom, mostly because I sort of didn't feel alone anymore. I was scheduled to see my doctor (after a whole bunch of cancelled appointments) in that next week, and was so excited to see him, in the hopes he would have answers. The day of the appointment, my grandpa picked me up and brought me to meet my mom at my doctor's downtown office. As fate would have it, my doctor was sick with food poisoning that day, so his best PA would see me. I was, once again, upset, but figured some medical professionals guidance was better than none. The PA strongly felt that it was my gallbladder, and suggested a HIDA scan, which evaluates gallbladder performance. We scheduled the test and never in my life have I ever prayed so much for a bad test result. If my gallbladder was not functioning correctly, I could have biliary hyperkinesia (too much bile being released), biliary dyskinesia (not enough bile being released) or a biliary duct blockage.

A few days later, the radiologist called me to let me know my HIDA scan came back.... you guessed it! Normal. My gallbladder was not hyperkinetic or dyskinetic, simply just kinetic. Despite pain during the procedure when CCK was given to me, my ejection fraction was within normal range. I called my mom, sobbing. But the semester was almost over, an appointment with Dr. Stathos was scheduled, and he would have answers. The man always does.

All throughout this time, Riley was also having the same scans done. She had a HIDA scan and her GI doc decided to refer her to a surgeon just to take out the gallbladder, once and for all. I was so incredibly jealous, but also happy her pain was being resolved.

When the day finally came to see Dr. Stathos, I was armed and ready to beg for a cholecystectomy. His medical student palpated my abdomen, and noted my Murphy's sign was hypersensitive. Dr. S came in, and said the most magical words; "Let's get the gallbladder out". While most people would think I'm crazy for wanting surgery, I knew this was my gallbladder. I knew this was something that would forever be corrected if my gallbladder got taken out. It really was gut instinct (hahahaha love anatomy puns!!!).

My surgeon was booked up for almost 6 weeks, and I wanted that darn organ OUT. I wanted to be on the other side. I wanted to not have my summer interrupted. I wanted to not have huge scars when I was in Hawaii;) So I gave Riley's surgeon a call, and by the grace of God got an appointment on a Tuesday... and scheduled my surgery for THURSDAY! Hallelujah!!!

Scar twins

I was so flipping excited! Thursday couldn't come fast enough! Luckily it did, and I was so ready for that morning! The entire surgery process was a blur. This was my first "adult" procedure, aka first non-Children's Hospital procedure. You guys, it's way better when you're treated as a child, but I guess we all have to grow up. I sat in preop for only about 30 minutes, got wheeled back, and was OUT fast. I think they mistook my curiosity as a future doc, as I looked around the OR, asking lots of questions, as nerves because I hardly remember anything from the OR. Then I woke up. As a redhead, I take more anesthesia to be knocked out. As a redhead, I am a bear coming out of anesthesia. I guess it took a whole slew of people to restrain me afterwards haha. I also was very upset with my surgeon because he took out my appendix because it was inflamed  (something they said he might do- they always look at the right ovary and appendix for issues when doing a choly). I said I was like "Madeline" (yes, the little redheaded French orphan) and asked for them to put it back in me, or to give it me. I don't remember any of this though haha.

You had to know I would post this nastiness

I was surprised by my postop pain, which was mainly caused by trapped air. I walked up and down the street, trying to get it out of my shoulders, but spent the first two days after surgery curled in a chair watching Friends. I was bloated for a solid two weeks after the surgery and only wore loose clothing or else it wasn't a pretty sight. I was so exhausted at the end of the day as I worked to regain my energy.  My scars healed quickly and I did not have an allergic reaction like with my last surgery.

I was pretty worried for a while after my surgery. Dr. Stathos said that my issue was my gallbladder or my sphincter of Oddi, but there was no way to determine which without doing a procedure. He though because of my age and most of my symptoms, it would be best to take out my gallbladder, but if I still had pain post-surgery, it was most likely sphincter of Oddi dysfunction. I did experience pain, similar to the pre-surgery pain, for about a month afterwards. It would scare me and I would panic that the cholecystectomy was the wrong choice. If it was my sphincter of Oddi, I would have to have a biliary endoscopy and spend the night in the hospital, which wasn't really on my summer agenda. Luckily, the pain eventually stopped, most likely because it was just normal postop pain. I mean, they did take out an organ after all.

So what really was wrong? Upon taking my gallbladder out, the surgeon noticed that scar tissue was surrounding the organ. He was not sure why I had it or what caused it, but assured me it was what was causing my pain. So after 5 months of thinking I was going crazy, I had an answer and life has been great since.

Moral of this novel of a post: keep asking questions, don't feel defeated, the doctors will figure it out, you will feel better!

xo
Hannah