1 week later

Today is exactly 1 week since Josh had his gallbladder removed. Yes he has had pain, but he looks better, he says other than pain from his surgery,he feels better. He has been eating regularly, and today went back to work for a few hours. I am so glad that I decided to "go with my gut" and had Josh see the surgeon. If not, he would still be sick and in pain, taking medication that he did not need becuase a dr was too caught up in himself to refer him somewhere else......basically waiting for his gallbladder to perforate or something else to happen that would have brought him to the ER again. There are times when I (and yes I know this is wrong, but its true) feel like God forgot about us, or was letting us figure things out on our own, but through all this, I am so thankful that I know God was watching over us, keeping Josh "healthy" enough to continue on until we saw the surgeon, and healthy enough to undergo surgery. Thankful for nurses on his floor who took good care of him, thankful for "buddies" here where I work that helped move this process along. Thankful for the meals that some people in the church provided (I was soooooo exhausted!) Thankful for the people who have called to check on us, and thankful for the people who made a point at church yesterday to come see Josh and ask how he is doing etc..Thankful for my parents who had the kids long days/nights when I was up at the hospital with Josh. Josh has his post op appointment Thursday so hopefully he will get a clean bill of health, and can continue healing and getting back to himself.

reflections from the waiting room

I know some of you have been trying to keep up with our most recent medical "journey"...I'll give you a brief catching up..... the second week in July Josh had what we thought was just a nasty stomach bug, but it didn't get better in fact it seemed to get worse. About 4 days into it he started having some abdominal pain that became localized and we (even the medical staff) were pretty sure it was appendicitis. But that would have been too easy..... The results came back that his appendix was fine. He had some inflammation in his colon (attributed  mostly to the stomach bug) and gallstones.
 Now, my non medical degrees brain said let's rule out the gallbladder first since that's a relatively "easy" fix. Instead, he was set up with a GI Dr. who when asked again seeing as there is family history of gallbladder stones. Instead he decided to order a colonoscopy for Josh the following week (stating that he thought it was intestinal). He also started him on prednisone to help with inflammation....it didn't.
Josh was still in pain:  Nauseated,taking pain meds, somehow managing To go to work ,but that was about it.  He would come home and just have to sit, being in too much pain to do much of anything else.

At the follow up apt last Tuesday (8/13), the GI Dr tells us he still doesn't know what's going on but wants to start Josh on another, stronger medication that is usually used to treat Crohns. When I asked him if thats what he thought Josh had, he told us no, "I'm not sure what is wrong,  but let's try this medication for a few months and see if it helps".......I (again) brought up the gallbladder/stones saying family history etc..shouldn't we at least have a consult and rule it out if nothing else?   He then snapped at me saying" HE would decide when and if to go and see general surgery and HE didnt think it was the time.".
 Well, I was not impressed at this point, and basically he and I were starting to get into a power struggle...I guess that he is not usually questioned, or used to having someone disagree with what he says, and he didnt like it.
I went back to work and went right over to my buddies at general surgery. I told them what happened at GI and asked if they could schedule Josh for a consult with one of their surgeons.....they got him in 3 days later. Josh saw the surgeon at 9am on friday where he did an exam, looked at all the tests and labs that had been done, ordered more labs, and did an ultrasound of the gallbladder....by 3pm the same day Josh had a diagnosis (choleocystitis), a plan (surgery monday), and an escape plan(er, surgery sooner if pain got to be too much) I was beyond frustrated that Josh had to suffer so long becuase the GI dr didnt want to "release" him to another department.(that it took almost 6 weeks) but thrilled that my poor husband had answers, and was reassured that yes something is wrong and it can be fixed. He was literally shutting down physically as well as mentally. One can only have that kind of constant pain with no relief or answers for so long without thinking you might be going crazy.
Saturday morning we went to the ED. Josh had had alot of pain, and we were hoping they would be able to do the surgery. Unfortunately I got to argue with a resident who didnt think Josh even needed to be there ("we dont like to do surgery on the weekends...really? isnt that kind of your job?)...after about 5 minutes of him talking down to me and arguing with me I told him I was done. I told him to go page the surgeon we saw yesterday. he did, and I was able to speak to him as well.  We decided to hold off on surgery that day,admit josh to be able to monitor infection and pain,keep him hydrated and take it day by day.
if surgery needed to be done sooner fine, but if not he would be "better" by Monday. Today (monday) he had surgery. he went in around 2:30 and was done almost exactly one hour later. Im sitting here waiting to go see him in recovery.... Everything went well, they removed the gallbladder and sent "stuff" to pathology. They said there was some inflammation behind where the gallbladder was that could be some beginnings of crohns or IBS, or could just be from the gallbladder irritating it due to inflammation. 1 hour after surgery Josh had color back in his face, and even told me that his body felt better..... This has been a journey, and as much as I would like to say its all over, and downhill from here, something tells me that its not over. But one thing is for sure, Im here for my hubby, whether that means getting him pepsi, pushing his wheelchair, making him get up and walk around, or flat out advocating for him when doctors try to push him aside.... ----------------------------------------- I'll keep you all posted on his recovery process.