What's going on with me...

A few friends have asked lately how my health has been. I guess I've just been waiting for answers before I answered anyone!

Well, I still don't have answers, but here's what's happening.

Last Monday Tony took me to the emergency room. I think I wrote about that already? Any way, Tuesday I had an ultrasound on my digestive system and they determined I had no gall stones, everything looked healthy but my liver was "rough." I had a follow up appointment with my doctor on Thursday on where to go from there and by that time I was feeling a bit better (able to eat toast without feeling sick). She said it was just a process of elimination and had things narrowed to my stomach or my gall bladder and recommended I get a HIDA scan (testing the gall bladder) and an upper GI (testing my stomach). If one showed a problem, the other test would be cancelled.

I felt a bit sick again on Friday, but Saturday was back to feeling okay and spent the day with two of our ladies at the market cleaning and doing inventory. My brother- and sister-in-law were up for the weekend and invited everyone over for ribs, so we went. I had about four bites of ribs, careful to avoid any fat, and a couple small potatoes and a spoonful of applesauce. Started feeling blah that night, but in the morning after getting up and showering for church, I ended up in a fetal position on the couch for about three hours. I called Liz's husband Joe who is an ER doctor to get his input on what all was going on...thanks, Joe!

Today I had the HIDA scan and had a great technician who, while she couldn't tell me results, pretty much explained everything each step of the way and turned the monitor so I could see the nuclear material at work in me! Two of the three indications that I have gall bladder trouble showed up during the test, but like I said, she couldn't tell me anything except that my doctor would contact me as soon as she had the results. I was home for about 30 minutes when my doctor called! Bummer, not about the results but to see how things went during the test. She did say she'd keep checking her computer and call me as soon as she had the results, probably some time tomorrow morning (although she is GREAT at calling in the evenings, too). IF it is gall bladder, she's hoping to get surgery scheduled as soon as possible, probably early next week. If it ISN'T gall bladder, then I'll have to go thru the upper GI and wait for those results.

So...I've been able to eat a bit of baked chicken, toast, boiled potato, and pasta. Oh and lots of water. Anything slightly sweetened makes me feel sick; broth (even Watkins!) makes me queasy, and just the smell of produce and most meats turns my stomach. I just want to get back to a normal life! Thankfully, I have lots of canned things that my family has been surviving on as well as venison from last year's big hunt.

The good news is I've lost over 30 pounds since July. The bad news is...I wouldn't wish weight loss this way on ANYONE!

I'll keep ya posted....and if you haven't yet (and the polls are still open) GO VOTE!!!!