My first real surgery

For the past 10 months (since Reagan's birth) I've had terrible mid/upper back pain episodes. For the first 6 months it was just once a month, then twice a month, then once a week, and then I had it constantly for a few weeks. I'd been going to the chiropractor for about two months, been to other doctors, and finally got an MRI where they found a bit of a bulge in a disk. I figured that was the problem and had an appointment to meet with the surgeon.

On Wed, March 19th I woke in the night with the back pain and then around 7 am had excruciating abdominal pain as well (which I'd never had before. I'd only had nausea with the back pain). It was absolutely the worst pain I've ever had...worse than natural child birth! I was writhing on the floor sounding like I was turning into a werewolf. Justin put pressure next to my spine and the pain ceased after some of that. That day (like many others) was spent on the floor laying on hot pads. Then at about 5 pm all the pain came back.

Justin's mom, Julie, came and got the girls and Justin took me to the ER at Davis Hospital, right by our house. They did blood work, x-rays, and the works. The doctor pushed different spots on my belly and we found it hurt really bad right under my rib cage and to the right and he knew it was something with my gallbladder (why couldn't any of the other doctors figure it out?! Kind of irritated!). An ultrasound was done and the tech saw that my gallbladder was packed with stones, the walls were really thick, and it was all infected. I also had gallstones in my bile duct. I was so happy to finally have answers and to have morphine! I was admitted into the hospital and had surgery the next day.

To be honest, it was a very enjoyable experience for me because I knew the girls were having a great time at Nana and Papa's, I was finally mostly out of pain with the drugs, and Justin and I could just relax! We both slept in my hospital bed that night (like we usually do when one of us is in the hospital) and the next day I had my gallbladder removed around 10:30 am-which took about 3 hours. 

 This is me after the surgery.

 Then at around 3 pm I had another surgery where they extracted the gallstone from my bile duct. They went through my mouth to get it.

This is me in the recovery room in la-la land, but very happy!

Everything went well and I was able to eat, drink, go to the bathroom, and walk like I was supposed to. I hadn't eaten practically anything for about 2 days, so I was so thirsty and hungry! We left that night and got home around 10 pm. Julie still had the girls so we got a good night's rest and they had a great time.

My belly is pretty nasty looking, but I had to get Justin to take a picture! They put four incisions in my abdomen for the surgery...the one right above my belly button is the biggest.

My recovery has been great. I wasn't supposed to lift Reagan for a week so I had a lot of family and friends come help me. They also brought dinner, so I was very taken care of. I've felt so much better than I have the past 10 months and am so excited to be out of pain! We're pretty sure all the back pain was from my gallbladder. If I have pain again, we'll work on the bulged disk, but tons of people have bulges and don't know about it.

 My sister, Kristy, brought me these beautiful flowers that have made our place smell amazing! Thank you so much to everyone for helping me and my family! We appreciate it all so much.

 

I have to throw in a few pictures of the girls. They are so sweet. Myah has been such a good helper and was so worried about me all this time. She's such a great big sister. And Reagan is so happy to have me hold her again. I felt so bad that I couldn't!

 Reagan is rolling around everywhere and is trying to figure out the crawling thing. She scooches on her bum and wants to get into everything. She's such a good baby and I'm so glad we have her!