Sunday, February 01, 2009

What Happened?

I just lost almost an entire week.

So what I remember is that on Tuesday at work I ate some raw almonds and chocolate-covered dried cherries for my mid-afternoon snack, like I do very frequently. Nothing new about that. But that afternoon I got a weird feeling in my stomach, like the food was sitting there and not moving on - like there was a lead brick in my gut. Fun.

So by the time I left work I wasn't feeling terribly well. I picked up the Kiddo at my mother's and went home. I fixed him some food, and crawled into the shower, hoping that it was a migraine and the shower would help. It didn't. I crawled into bed and waited for the Kiddo to finish supper. By about 7pm I was doubled over with sharp pains right under the edge of my ribs and wrapping around to my back, following the line of my ribcage. I called my parents and Mom took me to the ER and Kiddo went back to their house with Grandpa for the night.

Eight hours later we knew I did NOT have pancreatitis or a tumor, and they discharged me with a prescription for an antacid. Brilliant. I called my doctor, and she was out. For the week. Appointment on Tuesday morning is first available.

Fine. I stayed home from work on Wednesday, having not got home from the ER until 4:30 AM. Slept a lot of the day. Thursday I still couldn't eat without getting more pains,so I called my doctor's office again, and they got me in with the Physician's Assistant.

I love my doctor. She's awesome. She's thorough, she's smart, she cares, and she looks for what's underneath instead of just giving prescriptions for the symptoms. Her PA is so much like her I could cry. The PA spent almost an HOUR with me! She didn't laugh when I told her why I never filled the antacid prescription (because a "must be gas" approach in the past cost me a gallbladder, jaundice, and pancreatitis), and she asked LOTS of questions.

I left the office with a pint less blood, a vitamin B-12 shot in me, 2 prescriptions for antibiotics, and one for a probiotic. Really. She ordered a bunch of blood tests the hospital didn't do, and wants to do a "GI reset" by killing off what's in my gut and starting over. I'm desperate enough to agree. I haven't had an antibiotic in almost 10 years, and I'm taking 2 strong ones, including one for parasites.

Thing is, it's helping.

I expected to be all sick and nasty and get the "normal" reaction to antibiotics, but I'm feeling better for taking them than I did before. Guess she was right. Some wrong bacteria got a foothold and the healthy, digestive bacteria was getting crowded out. We'll have some more answers when the bloodtests come back. Hopefully before my appointment on Tuesday.

I'm not back to normal yet, but I'm eating again, which really helps. Go figure. And I 'only' lost about 9 pounds!

So I haven't been to work since Tuesday, I've used up all my sick time, and some vacation, to stay home and try to recover. I'm still tired, but I can eat some. And an entire week just disappeared.

If it tells you anything, I was too sick to knit, even socks, until Thursday evening.

2 comments:

Mel said...

OH MY GOODNESS!!!! *HUGS!* I am so sorry to hear about what happened!! It can be so scary when your body acts up and you do not know what is going on. I am very thankful that you have a good doc who has a good PA who really LISTENED to you. Call me if you need to talk!! *HUGS* (cuz you can never have too many when you don't feel well)

Anonymous said...

OMG!! You are one lucky gal to have such a good doctor! Isn't it annoying? It seems like the sicker we are the less weight we lose - you would think if there was any poetic justice it would be the opposite! Sure hope you're feeling better soon! I'm sending you a gentle hug too!