Thursday, August 03, 2006

News from the OB-GYN

Well, I've been having a lot of pain lately. In my back and upper abdomen. I could go on and on about the pain, but let's just put it this way: I've slept on the loveseat b/c I couldnt' get comfortable in bed; and I can easily say that this pain I've had multiple times is far worse than any back labor/contractions I had when Jillian was born (mainly because it's continuous, usually for hours - no breaks like with contractions). Last night, my Dad came over after midnight so that we didn't have to wake up Jillian when Richard was going to take me to the ER. Fortunately, the pain subsided long enough for me to fall asleep, so we didn't go to the ER.

Anyway, yesterday, I also saw a gastroenterologist about the pain, and he suspected gallstones. His office lined up an appt. at Presbyterian Hospital of Plano for tomorrow morning at 8am - to do an ultrasound to see if I have gallstones. However, after the excrutiating pain I had last night, I called his office this morning to see if there was ANYTHING I could do for the pain in the interim. I also put in a call at my mom's office (ob-gyn) to see if they knew of anything. Well, she called back before the gastroenterologist, and said that their sonographer could see me today to see what was going on, so that we could get the ball rolling sooner.

While I was in the waiting room, I found out that the other doctor had called in pain killers for me (THANK GOODNESS!!!)

But anyway, I went in to the room, got the jelly on my upper right side (weird to be getting a sono again!), and sure enough, I have multiple gallstones! In fact, I have a "large stone in the neck of the gallbladder, measuring 16 mm" and I honestly can't read everything else she wrote in the report, but suffice it to say, there are more gallstones than just the "large" one, and the pain I've been experiencing (around an hour after lunch and dinner...that goes on for HOURS) isn't unjustified - WHEW!

Apparently, it's not uncommon for women to get gallstones after pregnancy. Something about estrogen levels. I'm sure it didn't help that I'm still losing about a pound each week, as "rapid weight loss" of any kind can also contribute to formation of gallstones, because the liver can't handle it or something. Not that 1 pound/week is rapid, but it's something and it's continuous (knock on wood - still have about 17-18 pounds to go till my goal...although I'm already 7 pounds under pre-pregnancy!). The weird thing is that gallstones are also related to eating lots of high fatty foods and stuff, which I don't really do now, so I'm attributing it to the pregnancy thing (mom says she's seen it in their office a decent amount).

So now, the search is on for a general surgeon to remove my gallbladder (the gastroenterologist will confirm that this is what I need to do next Monday, hopefully). Apparently, this surgery is usually done laparoscopically now, which makes recovery much quicker, so that's good.

Anyway, that's the news from the ob-gyn. Was it what you thought it was? ;)

3 comments:

Chrys and Mike said...

Bless your heart!

Good tease...I definitely thought you were preggo!

I'm glad you figured out what it is and are getting some relief. I'll pray for you!

Keep us updated.

Chrys

Anonymous said...

Hey Dana,

My phone got surged and I don't have your number anymore! I need it. call me at 989 944 1754. I am so sorry to hear you are in so much pain. I am actually going to be in dallas starting Monday for an entire week, so if you are feeling better/not in the hospital I would love to see you and finally meet your precious baby girl! Give me a call and at least let me know how you are feeling. I will be praying for you :) Take care and hope to hear from you soon!
xoxo Erika

Meg said...

Kiss that silly 'ol gall bladder goodbye & let's go hit Tin Star! GOOD LUCK!! You'll be in my prayers. :)
Meg