The Recovery Project

I woke up this morning exhausted. After a night of restless sleep, waking up at 3 am to watch TV and a lot of painful movements, I got out of bed for my first full day without all of the organs I was born with.

My gall bladder removal surgery didn't exactly go as planned, but in the long run, it was taken out and I was sent home to recover.

The day was a real whirlwind, but I was thankful to have my parents and Mike, my fiance, with me at the hospital yesterday. We were all at the out-patient surgery location by 8 am for my 10 am surgery. My mom came back to pre-op while my dad and Mike stayed out in the main lobby. I was only able to have one person by my bedside.

10 am came and went, the nurses went through a shift change, the anasetheologist came to see me then grabbed his lunch box and left, and my mom and I were left with a lot of questions while patients were shuttle in and out and released.

A nice RN named Bill finally gave me a straight answer, one that my surgeon has yet to cop to, and that was that my surgeon's office forgot to file the paperwork with the hospital, so I wasn't even on the books.

It was finally time to wheel me into the OR and the anasetheologist announced that he doesn't have approval from the insurance company to administer anasethia....and again we waited.

A new anasetheologist was assigned to me that was allowed by insurance and FINALLY it was time to go. I was in the OR by 3 and at recovery by 4. Mom, dad and Mike brought me home around 5:30 and my very very long day at Spring Valley Hospital was complete.

So .... Here I am, in a fair amount of pain and up 5 lbs from the anasethia and ingested gas, and I can't wait to eat normally again.

There were a few complications along the way -- the saline line was improperly placed causing my wrist to be filled with saline and go 100% numb -- amongst other things but it's all done now. I just hope that 5 lbs disappears!!!

Thanks for all of the support and well wishes!

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Location:My Couch

Good Bye Gall Bladder

It's official, my gall bladder is coming out.


I visited with the surgeon at Spring Valley Hospital in Las Vegas yesterday and he said that it's absolutely necessary that I have my gall bladder removed. My surgery is scheduled for next Monday, May 10.


Although it's not an imminent threat (I could put it off for up to six months), he said it's the best way to combat the serious tummy issues I've been having for 12-18 months. Also, he said some of the things that trigger gallstone attacks could cause problems in the next couple of months. As it turns out, flying can trigger a gallstone attack if there's a pre-existing problem, and changing your diet can also cause problems. I've been flying a lot and will be flying a ton in the next couple of months and I've lost 40 lbs since August! Now I know why the problems have caused so much pain!

My doctor recommended that I have it removed as soon as possible so I am fully recovered and can eat, drink and be merry on my wedding day. What a splendid idea! I will have six and a half weeks to fully recover, which is plenty of time since the surgery is going to be done laprascopically. I may have to watch my fat intake and other food-related issues, but I'll be ready to dance the night away with my new hubby!

Thanks to everyone for showing care and concern, and for offering words of advice. I'm really grateful that my parents are flying out to Vegas on Sunday in order to be there for me when I have surgery and help take care of me when I come home. It'll be nice to have Mike and my parents around!

I'll let you all know how it goes. I'm hoping for a quick recovery!

Dieters Beware!

I know I haven't been around in awhile, but it's because I haven't had much to say. I feel like I hit a rut or a period of time when all I wanted to do was take a step back. With work and the wedding creeping up on me, I made it more of a priority to take time for myself. As far as weight goes, I'm still hanging around 195 lbs. Up a few times and down a few times.

On April 9 I had my first bridal gown fitting and the dress looked great! Now I need to maintain this weight until the wedding so I don't need any major alterations!

What I really wanted to address today is an ailment that has recently affected me, and the doctor said that a lot of it could be related to weight loss. On Friday morning, Mike brought me to the ER for severe abdominal pain. It turns out I have gall stones, and have had them for an estimated 12-18 months. I have an appointment with the surgeon tomorrow to discuss the removal of my gall bladder.

As I've been researching gallstones and gall bladder removal, what I've learned is that gall stones are found most commonly in people who are overweight and people who are losing weight. Not only was I/am I overweight, but I've lost 40 pounds in 8 months. I'm a prime candidate! Since most people don't have symptoms, it took until just recently for me to notice that they were even there.

Some signs to look for include: pain in the pit of your stomach or upper right portion of your stomach/abdomin, pain in your upper back/shoulder blades, fever or chills, and yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes.

I had no idea that losing weight could cause a problem like gallstones, or cause the gallstones to become more apparent. My mother had emergency gall bladder surgery when I was in elementary school. She told me that she was trying to lose weight when her gallstones became a problem as well. On top of that, it appears to be genetic to some extent.

I'm looking forward to the visit with the doctor tomorrow. I'm afraid that if we don't remove the gall bladder that I will have another "attack" in mid to late June or in July when I'm on my honeymoon in London. If I have another attack then it's pretty much guaranteed that the gall bladder needs to be removed, and if it's too close to June 26 then I really won't have enough time to properly recover. What a pain!

I'll let you all know how the visit with the doctor goes. In the mean time, here's a photo of me snapped today. I didn't step on the scale this morning because my body is pretty messed up from the various medications I'm on due to this most recent issue. I'll jump on the scale again tomorrow!