My Cholelithiasis Story Part 2

Hmm.. post is still too long. Might do a part 3. sorry! ;-)

July 31, 2009 - We were wheeled inside the room that evening. My first official hospital confinement! LOL! I know it isn't fun but I haven't been confined inside a hospital since I was born, so I don't know, is this a milestone for me? LOL!

August 1, 2009 - I was feeling so much better. No traces of pain. All I felt now was hunger but the doctors placed me on a liquid diet. At around 8AM, they did some ultrasound on my upper abdomen. No explanation was given while doing the ultrasound. I was wheeled back to my room to wait for the doctor's advice. A doctor came in to check on me along with his fellow who said I had gall stones based on the ultrasound results. It was an "a-ha!" moment for me. I remembered that the husbo also felt that kind of pain (he also had gall stones before) 3 years ago. I just didn't think of making that connection.

I asked the doctor if that was what was causing the pain but all he said was I needed to wait for the gastroenterologist. I was so confused because if they knew I had gall stones, why am I still being given medicines for an acid related disease? And if the gall stones were not causing the pain, why didn't they ask me to undergo endoscopy so they can see? So we stayed in that expensive hospital, bumming around, waiting.

August 2, 2009 - still bumming around waiting for the gastroenterologist, but he didn't show up. Probably because it was a Sunday. Wish he made some rounds Saturday though so as not to keep us waiting. IV was taken off as well and I was placed on soft diet. Still not enough, I was still hungry. Family and friends came to visit. I was raring to go out of the hospital already!

August 3, 2009 - I was frustrated because it seems the gastroenterologist was taking some time and I wanted to find out about my ultrasound results. Plus the hospital bill was running high already. I didn't want to be charged another day if we stayed past noon. Call me a cheapskate but we weren't doing anything in the hospital anymore. I wasn't sick and they weren't doing any more tests. I felt like I was staying there, paying them for nothing. With the price of the room, I felt like I was paying for a 5 star hotel room (which the room wasn't)! Honest!

Finally, he came in to check on me. He was in a hurry though. He just said since I was not feeling any pain, he is now giving clearance for my discharge. He said I had gall stones but there is no cause of worry because they were still "silent". Silent because my gall bladder wasn't inflamed yet. He said that should I feel pain again, I need to go back to them for further tests. I saw my husband's face turn into a frown and asked the doctor if the gall stones were the reason for my pain episodes. Surprise! Surprise! The doctor said no. He said the pain was due to acids. The out-patient medicines given to me proved this because they were for treatment of gastritis (gastric mucosal protection).

When we got home, we decided we were going to get a second opinion from my husband's gastroenterologist the following week because we were so dissatisfied with the diagnosis given. Our doubts and dissatisfaction increased when we got the medical certificate and the ultrasound results (getting these documents deserves another post, along with our disappointment with said doctor and hospital). The final diagnosis was Cholelithiasis (gall stones) and nowhere did it say on the documents that I had acid related disease or gastritis. The ultrasound result also showed that the gall stone was at 1.3 cm and is lodged on the neck of my gall bladder. So why was I given medicines for gastritis again?!

August 16, 2009 - woke up early morning with the same pain but tolerable this time. Pain started from the back towards the front. I told the husbo I'd try to rest first and will tell him if pain gets worse. If in case, I specifically asked him not to bring me to the same hospital and to bring me to Manila Doctors Hospital instead. I knew it was far from where we lived, but I was very satisfied with their services when the husbo underwent Cholecystectomy 2 years ago. I slept on and off the entire day but always with discomfort. Pain was steady but did not go away.

August 17, 2009 - pain still there. It was still tolerable so I had the husbo go to work and told him if pain does not go away by the time he comes home then we go to the hospital. Well, we did go to Manila Doctors Hospital emergency room that night and I was given 50g of Demerol for the pain. The pain went away for some time but came back as soon as the effect of Demerol were off. The ER doctor was concerned but they couldn't give me admission without the referral of our gastroenterologist. So they had to discharge us asking us to come back the next day. We needed to see our gastroenterologist. It was okay for me since the pain was still tolerable and the doctor was kind enough to prescribe some Buscopan and Tramadol for the pain.

Part 3 up next. The doctor's astonishment and my cholecystectomy.