Monday, July 28, 2008

A Curveball

Life threw us a curve ball this past Friday. I've lived at the hospital since Friday and was home for the first time last night.

As most of my blog readers know, my mom has a pituitary tumor that is very rare and there is one known treatment besides surgery. She's been taking shots three times a day for almost a year. Last week she stopped taking the shots because they found gallstones in her gall bladder. Before this tumor my mom was the healthiest person I knew. No meds, ever. No aches and pains, no nothing. Even with the tumor she had no symptoms. The meds she was on were too much for any body to handle and effected her liver which in turn effected her gallbladder.

On Thursday she went in for her weekly blood test to check her liver and it showed that things were coming back to normal. Friday morning she begin to have pain. Now, if you know my mom, she never complains about pain. Ever. She won't tell a soul. That is what almost happened here until my brother mentioned to my other brother that she had a stomach ache. The pain increased to the point that she decided to call her doctor, they told her to get to the emergency.

My sister and I met her and my dad at the emergency and we waited and waited for 2 hours while my mom was out of it in severe pain. She said that the pain was so bad at one point that she nearly passed out. My mom's #4 pain is like my #15 pain. She can stand anything.

To make a long long story short, she was admitted and put on serious antibiotics. Her gallbladder and pancreas were inflamed because a gallstone was being passed. We found out later that the gallstone was stuck in a duct and the surgeon had to squeeze it out because it was too large to pass. That explained the severe pain she was in.

She had surgery yesterday, her gallbladder removed and a biopsy of her liver. She came out of it perfectly. She was even able to go the bathroom last night and "eat" soup and drink for the first time since Friday morning.

She is really good this morning and the surgeon said that he's pretty sure she can come home today! Yay!

All in all, I am drained emotionally and just exhausted. Saturday was a very hard day, I don't think I've been more scared than I was.

Sigh. I am so glad this weekend is over. Once I get more sleep and things settle down I will post some pictures of her "hotel like" hospital room.

Keep her in your prayers these next couple of days! =)

-Daily B-

1 comment:

Becky said...

I hadn't seen this one yet. Wowzers, so gallstones, eh? Miserable things. My mom suffered from them for a while after overdoing it on fatty foods, particularly too much cashew butter on toast (in place of PB). She cut out fat for a month, and hasn't had any trouble since. I understand that sipping lemon water is also supposed to help dissolve potential future gallstones...though if your mom had her gallbladder removed, that won't be a problem, now, will it?

Take good care of your mommy! Prayers for a speedy recovery!