I wrote a
post back in July last year where I mentioned stomach pains that I'd had which I thought was maybe an indication of celiacs disease. I remember feeling the same pain as early as Spring of 2007, but it always would come and go. But it always comes. It never goes for long. Lately I've had the same pains more frequently.
Monday night Morgan woke up at 4:30 in the morning saying that he had to go to the bathroom. He has been having an increase of night time accidents lately, so I was happy that he woke up to go. So I led him to the bathroom and once there, with the light on, I realized that when Morgan said that he had to go potty what he really meant was that he already HAD gone potty. It was sometime between walking back to the room from the bathroom and getting Morgan changed that this familiar stomach pain surfaced with extreme force. I got back in bed and tried to sleep, but failed. My stomach hurt SO BAD! It kind of felt like my stomach organ was trying to explode. It's a constant pain right under the rib cage that just radiates everywhere. I eventually fell asleep again. But when I got up I was still hurting majorly. I decided to forgo breakfast since I couldn't imagine how putting more things into my body would help it.
I also did some research on the internet. My home diagnosis was a stomach ulcer. Many of the descriptions matched and I am in a time of much stress, which is a contributing factor to ulcers. I couldn't stand the discomfort any longer, so I went to a quick care place. My mom took me. (I am staying with my parents right now.) I was seen fairly quickly. I told the doctor what I thought it was, he checked my pulse and breathing and everything, then pressed all over my stomach asking if it hurt. Usually it did. His prognosis? Gall bladder attack. But the only way to be sure is to get an ultra sound. One was scheduled for 3:00. In the meantime, I wasn't allowed to eat anything because that might mess up the ultrasound. Also in the meantime I was just supposed to live with the pain. There isn't really anything that can help.
By the time the ultrasound rolled around, the pain had subsided quite a bit. The tech looked at every organ in my body I think, which took forever, but payed special attention to the gall bladder. She wasn't allowed to tell me anything though, since she's not a doctor. I guess I can understand why, but it's still frustrating! Finally the radiologist came in and looked at the pics of the ultrasound and mumbled things to the tech who nodded and agreed and pointed at things and mumbled back. Finally I was told that my gall bladder is filled with sludge. No stones from the looks of it, but sludge nonetheless. Pretty much the only treatment that medical people offer is to have it removed, but that's really not an option for me right now. So I looked it up online and there is a lot on there about how changing your diet can help. I found a couple of lists of things to avoid and things that might help. I have to avoid pretty much anything we would consider food. All meat, dairy, wheat, rye, eggs, beans, legumes, tap water, many fruits, fruit juices and vegetables. The list of things that might help is much smaller and much less foodish. I can have flax oil, (as long as it's not fried) omega 3, dandilion leaves, and thankfully tomatoes, cucumbers, grapes and apples. And their juices. And beets. Ick.
I've pretty much been afraid to eat, but I haven't had any more major attacks. I stocked up on the appropriate fruits and veggies and am trying to live like a rabbit. Very hard task, might I add. I am pretty much always hungry, but grapes don't fill the spot.
I guess it's a good thing this all went down this week though, since yesterday was Aaron's last day on the job; meaning, our last day with that insurance. Hopefully he'll have another job really soon though, so we should be able to start up on a different benefit package and pay the deductibles all over again.
