Christmas came and gone and was very nice this year. I was very busy with my Santa duties this year and I loved every minute this year more then the past. I was so happy Sheila joined me on a couple of jobs and we had a great time. I will admit she makes a great Mrs Claus.
The week after Christmas was very eventful for us. Sheila had surgery to remove some cancer off her nose and I took the week off to take care of her. The surgery went well and she looks great. The big surprise this year was me. I started to get sick Christmas Eve around midnight. We were finishing wrapping presents when I got very sick to my stomach. I went in and sat on our bed and hope it would pass. Sheila came in and looked at me and told me to go to bed their was only a couple of presents and she would finish them. I started to get ready and then it hit me very hard. I started to throw up and I threw up and up and up. Did I mentioned that I was throwing up. I thought my gastritis was coming back so I took my meds and went to bed. I felt horrible Christmas morning and tried not to let anyone know I was not doing good. I made our traditional Christmas breakfast and I went back to bed. I slept for a long long time and if you know me I dont take long naps. I slept for 5 hours. Sheila came in a couple of times and tried to wake me up and said I did not budge so she let me sleep. She new how busy I had been throughout Christmas and thought I was just exhausted. I took it easy the rest of the week knowing it may take a bit to recover and I wanted to take care of Sheila. Well I woke up around 3:30 Thursday morning in a lot of pain. I made it through the night and went in to see my doctor. I will admit it I scared the crap out of him. He sent me to the ER so they could run some test and give me some pain meds. I called Sheila on my way to the ER and she wanted to go with me. So I picked her up and away we went. We walked into the ER at LDS and they looked at the both of us and wanted to know who was being seen. We looked like quite the pair. Sheila just out of surgery the day before with bandages on her nose and me doubled over in pain. Sheila was happy to point to me and say him. The staff took me in and inserted a IV to start the pain meds. Which did not help much they started me with Morphine, then they moved to Demerol and then moved to dilotted and that one helped a bit. I was sent for a CT scan and then for a ultra sound. They both showed a enlarged pancreas, fluid around my gallbladder and lots and lots of stones. I was admitted to the hospital and the surgeon informed me of my lab work. Not good ALT 650 Ast 8900 and the good news is they wont be able to do surgery till Monday till they can get my numbers down. No food no water no COKE till after the surgery. I was in HELL and the pain meds was making very sick to my stomach. Sheila went home and I tried to rest. Rough night longer then sleeping in the airport in Oklahoma City. Around 3:30 in the morning I started throwing up again this time with nothing in my body but IV's it was all stomach bile and acid and I swear I saw a toenail too. I had just fallen asleep when I get woken up by a phlebotomist needing to draw my blood. Funny thing it was a phlebotomist I worked with when I was in Phlebotomy school. She drew my blood and I got to sleep for another 2 hours. The surgeon came in around 11:00 and looked at my lab results I had already seen them so I knew the results were a small miracle. My ALT 250 AST 1000 he had never seen numbers drop that fast and said we could do surgery today. I said great since we have met our deductible for the year and today was the last day of the year I would like to not have to pay for it. He said great he would go call the OR and get me scheduled. I called sheila and told her I was going into surgery in about 1 hour. She was on her way and yes I was in the OR 1 our later. It is awesome to have your wife work in the OR it is such a calming feeling and the staff in the OR are just awesome. That is the reason I passed IMC and went to LDS. One of the funniest things was my anestegologist was talking to me and then stops looks up at sheila and says "Hey Sheila if Todd doesn't make it are you available." I laughed and said WOW that installs a lot of confidence the person that will have my life in his hands for the next hour or so is already hitting on my wife. We all had a great laugh and in I went. The surgery went well her comes the second small miracle for the day. As they were pulling my galbladder out it burst all over me. I can't imange what would have happened if we had to wait till Monday to do the surgery. The surgeon cleaned out all the stones from my pancreas and they ran my colon to make sure it was good. I had a bit of a time in recovery I was so calm and out of pain that I would take a deep breath and let it out and then not take another breath for awhile. The nurse and Sheila would yell take a breath. And as a good boy I would while I was thinking to my self leave me alone I will take a breath when I am ready. I was finally taken back to my room. After a couple of hours I told Sheila to go home and get some rest. That was the first New Years Eve we have ever been apart in our 24 years of marriage. the next morning my surgeon came in and noticed I was not taking any pain meds or nausea meds and I said no I was not in pain nor sick to my stomach. He said well then you can go home if you want to. I said get the discharge papers I would love to go home. I called Sheila and we came home. So the good news is I didn't have gastritis for the past couple of years it was my gallbladder going bad.
We are both healing and recovering it has taken a long time for me and it is going to be a while before I am back to full strength. So I was officially diagnosed with pancreantitis, colisistitis and a bad gallbladder and as the surgeon said that was one very angry pancreas. I have not had any issue's with heartburn or gas. Body is learning how to digest food again. And the funniest thing is I will burp with no warning what so ever. And have a bunch of people laugh because it has happened at the oddest times. And yes farts are the same way. I have lost 20 pounds and still going. My goal is to get down to 200 pounds this year.
TC
