Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Captain Negative

Well, these last couple of weeks have seen quite a whirlwind of activity. Fighting with insurance companies, fighting with my body.
I came down with pretty severe pain about ten days ago, and have made three trips to the ER resulting in three sleepless nights. It's hard for me, but it's also hard for my dad Glen and his fiance Susan (and even my mom back home, she has a lot to worry about). Just last night I awoke out of sleep in agonizing pain and Susan took me right away to the ER. My vitals were not that great, my heart rate was 150 bpm, so after triaging me they put me back in a room. That was probably the only positive experience of the night- bypassing a two plus hour wait out in the less-than-thrilling waiting room. It was thought that the cause of my pain was an infection from the j-tube, possibly an absess, so they performed a CT scan. I was also given a steady infusion of pain meds, which didn't really relieve my pain until just before being discharged. In the end, they were AGAIN not able to identify the cause of my pain and I was sent home.
I met with a surgeon today (an appointment that has been scheduled for about a week). Her name is Dr. Litle and I wanted to ask her "Are you sure you're up for the challenge?" As a patient, I should probably have some kind of disclaimer "High Maintanance" or something. Anyway, the plan with her is that she is going to review all my records and I will see her back in two weeks and probably undergo some testing if I am still having pain. She was very nice and I think she genuinely wants to help me with my pain issues.

I will continue my efforts to keep this blog updated. I think I like this better than the website I had just started. But if you're interested in seeing the website (it has some information about gastroparesis and a little info about the surgerical option) the address is on my facebook page.
I would like to say (and I will say it again and again!) thank you to my friends and family for all your support. It means a lot to me!