Surgery is scheduled for June 16th. (I’d prefer it be a whole heck of a lot sooner but beggars can’t be choosers.) I can eat again (yay!!!!!) but I can’t have any fat. I’m trying to figure out exactly how that’s going to work…
Author Archives: Jen
Surgery: Affirmative
I was back at the clinic today. In the words of my P.A., my gallbladder “is a basket of rocks”. This was followed by a rapid fire explanation of the abnormalities in my bloodwork in Organic Chemistry terms. I think my response was something along the lines of *blinkblink*. (The E.R. doc explained it on Friday night.) I then had my stomach poked and prodded as well as a basic physical. I still have to keep on liquid diet *grumblegrumblegrumble* but he agreed that my *(&*%%^$& gallbladder needs to come out.
They don’t have the official report yet (probably tomorrow) but I do have a surgical consult tomorrow at 12:45. It can thankfully be done laproscopicly at my local hospital and I’ll likely be in overnight. (I’m not keen on going home the same day.)
Off I go to eat some gummy worms. (They are theoretically a clear liquid as they are hardened jello.) It’s not the best thing for me but it helps to deal with the growling from my stomach as it asks why I’m depriving it of food.
Ultrasound Results
The ultrasound was this morning and it was not awful but definitely not the most pleasant experience. They ended up doing a full abdominal one and the nice part is that I now know where everything is in my gut.
The ultrasound tech told me off the record that he did see some gallstones (which was shown in my bloodwork on Friday night). I will probably find out about treatment options on Wednesday and Thursday. In all honesty, I’m relieved that they at least found *SOMETHING* and that they believe me when I say that I’m one sick little lepicat. I looked up treatment options on WebMD and the most popular option seems to be removing the gallbladder. I’m actually at peace with the fact that they might be doing surgery on me in the next 7 days — don’t ask me to explain it, I just am.
Inspiration and Illness
As I’m pondering the gallbladder ultrasound I have to have tomorrow, I’m thinking about Cheryl who documented her gallbladder surgery and then the resulting pancreatitis earlier this year. I have to say that I really admire her because the whole time, she was posting really spiritual entries about how Christ was her light and how her faith was helping her get through it. They weren’t all happy-clappy — they were really genuine and very inspiring.
I’m wishing right now that I had that faith because my journey in this has been much frustration as I’ve fought the flu for the last week and have gone from stomaching almost anything a week ago to having to be on only clear liquids as of Friday night. Saturday morning was hellish as my stomach finally cleared in rather spectacular fashion. (Let’s just say that I’ve decided to keep Jon after he had to clean me up after the laxatives produced severe nausea and I covered the bathroom floor and myself with vomit.) I’m living on popsicles, chicken broth, jello, and ginger ale.
I woke up this morning feeling really dehydrated (as I’d completely forgotten to drink some water each time I woke up last night) and had to down about 48 oz. of liquid before I could be lucid enough to do devotions. My panther and my lion also decided that I should share my chicken broth with them so I had to guard my broth with my life. I planned on listening to some church service this morning on the radio but ended up falling asleep before the LCMS or ELCA ones (at least the ones I’d normally listen to) came on. The fact that I’ve missed church for the second week in a row has occurred on me and I’m honestly missing worship and fellowship and if nothing else, hearing the word preached in person. (I know I live with a pastor but it’s not the same.) I’m thankful for a couple parishioners who have called and sent cards to let me know that I’m being thought about in all of this.
I’m seeing all these food commercials on TV for Applebee’s and Pizza Hut and other places that are making me crave food that involves tons of grease and cheese and meat and fat. My ideal meal at the moment would be a double bacon cheeseburger with the works (onions, pickles, tomatoes), curly fries from Arby’s, and a bottle of Sundrop. I know that eating said meal would cause me to start vomiting and likely end up admitted to the hospital with more gallbladder problems. It would also constitute my calories and fat intake for the week and cause me to gain about 5 lbs by looking at it. However, it would also fill my stomach up and give me that full feeling that I’ve been missing for the last few days.
Prayers for my health would be appreciated as I’m getting really frustrated and am wanting my stomach to return to normal.
3 X’s
Ganked from Chris….
THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:
1. Jen
2. Jenni
3. Leprechaun
THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD:
1. gracefulfemina
2. lepicat7
3. genniphar
THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. My eyes
2. My hair
3. My curves
THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU DON’T LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. My abs
2. My height
3. My nose
THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
1. Irish
2. Welsh
3. That’s pretty much it, I think.
THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
1. Economic, military, and social policies of the current administration (agreeing with Chris on this…)
2. My career future (again… agreeing with Chris)
3. Enzyte commercials
The Plot Thickens
Click on the “more….” if you want to read about my E.R. visit last night. (Warning: Contains details of vomiting.)
Hannah Im
I discovered Hannah’s blog today while surfing on a few others and ended up reading all of her archives as well. It is really interesting to see what she has to say because she’s also a female seminary student and she’s done something that I am terrified of doing: leaving my comfort zone and going to a completely different culture. She’s living la vida South Korea (and has been for almost a year) and I’m terrified of moving on when Jon eventually seeks another call. What does that say about my faith in Christ?
She also has a really balanced view of social justice where it relates to the Gospel and our mission as Christians to spread the good news and in doing that, we also are to expose wrongs in the world and work to make them right. I admire the fact that she is speaking out on Darfur since I haven’t had the drive to do that.