The Story of the Gall Bladder

So, I started having pain in my abdomen about a year ago. I went to the ER but they couldn't diagnose it. I think it's because I was having a hard time breathing and they were more concerned about that. After a CT scan and a few lortab later, I was walked out the door. Well, since then I have had probably anywhere between 10-15 more of these attacks. Ugh, they were awful! The worst one before yesterdays was the day I did Heather's engagement pictures. I was soooooo stinkin' sick. I was throwing up, and just hunched over in pain, but when it came time to do the pictures, I was feeling better and everything went off without a hitch and we got some great shots. At this point, I thought I had a peptic ulcer because I was taking advil regularly because my back was hurting me. Anyways, I was treating it with acid reducers and trying to eat a healthier diet. It seemed to work quite well! I hadn't had an attack for a couple of months! Well, a couple of weeks ago, two weeks exactly actually, I ended up having another one of these attacks. Due to some other incidences w/in the family and discussions with my mom we figured that I was havin gall bladder attacks. Casey took me to the ER and I started describing the pain and the first thing the ER tech asked me was "Do you still have your gall bladder?" I said that I did. Well, they did an ultra sound and lo and behold, I had gall stones. Well, there wasn't much we could do for them right now....so, we decided to try and prevent gall bladder attacks from happening. Now that we knew what I had, it should be that much easier, right? WRONG! Well, Wednesday night, I went home from my mom's in pain and I knew I was having a gall bladder attack, so I just kept waiting for it to subside, as they usually did after a few hours. But, it never did. I called my parents, we went to the ER, they gave me pain killers, which didn't help, and refered me to a surgeon. So the next day, first thing in the morning, we got a surgical consult and the Doc knew, from the first minute he pressed down on my stomach that I had a sick gall bladder. I was getting the surgery the same day. Keep in mind that the pain was still going on, it was not going away. I had been in intense pain, from 8pm wednesday night clear until 2:45pm thursday afternoon. I was in so much pain and so nauseated that I had been throwing up, and I couldn't eat anything. It was awful! So, I had my gall bladder removed. I guess you could say I'm a mutant, I'm one organ short! lol. The Doc told my parents that my gall bladder was sick and it wasn't going to get better, so doing this surgery was the best thing that could have happened.

I feel 110% better. I'm in no pain because of it, aside from pain of surgery. I do need to watch my diet for the next couple of weeks, no jumping back into hamburgers and french fries tomorrow! But, I should feel great! Yay! My parents and family and husband have been so helpful through everything. They have provided me with so much support and comfort and help. I love them all so much! C has been a wonderful husband through it all, not freaking out and he's still been able to go to work, with all the help from my mom. I was really worried that C would just be freaking out and so worried that he would be beyong functioning, but he's been really awesome and supportive. My sis in law, B, took our baby for the night, the first night. Oh my gosh, that was so helpful. I was in a lot of pain from the surgery. My sis in law, J, brought our family dinner tonight, which was awesome. Everyone has just been super helpful and I am really grateful to have them in my life. Thank you so much to everyone.

Happy Birthday E!!

Yep, it's that time of year again! E joined our family one year ago! She has grown so much! Sometimes, it's still hard for me to believe we have a baby! She is sooooo much fun and always so cheerful and funny. She has a sense of humor and I don't think she knows it. She is starting to talk, well make sounds. She started with mama then progressed to dada and baba and more. She's now expanded her repertoire with tete. I remember the first thing she started imitating was Casey blowing raspberries. That was fun at first, then we had to help her UN-learn it. Every once in a while she still does it and it's cute, but I have to remind her that it's not polite. She's walking now! Of course, she still prefers to move by crawling but, she will walk. She likes it when we tickle her sides. She loves to snuggle when she sleeps and she loves when we read to her at bedtime. She is so patient we we read the scriptures to her.

Her birthday was a lot of fun. We took her to California Pizza Kitchen and we had a Shrimp Scampi pizza, she didn't eat any shrimp though. (I'm going to try and imitate that pizza because it was really good.) We told them it was her birthday and they made her a hot fudge sundae, complete with a cherry and birthday candle on top! we sang her happy birthday and gave her her first taste of ice cream and fudge. She loved it, of course! I even gave her bits of cherry and found those bits in her diaper the next day! lol. Then we took her to Build a Bear and we made her a bunny dressed in pink and named it Princess Penelope. Then, because the pizza was so small, we went to walmart and got ingredients for french bread pizza and had more pizza at home. We also bought these little frozen molten lava cakes and man, I really would compare them to molten lava! I accidentally dumped mine off my plate and into my lap and it BURNED like crazy! OUCH! I survived and am no worse for wear. Overall, it was a lot of fun and I'm excited to see what the next year brings!!!!