American Fork hospital.

Since Monday night I have been in the American Fork Hospital in Utah. I came in on Monday because I was having a lot of chest pain and I was throwing up a lot more. I came to realize also at I was a bit on the dehydrated side of things. Over 4 hours they gave me 2000 ml of Iv fluids and then a 100 ml/h after that, i didn't have to pee till like noon the next morning. That definitely showed me that I had become fairly dehydrated. Tuesday morning I saw Dr. Kawa (my GI dr) and he said that he wanted me to have an MRI and a chest X-ray done. So off I went to do that. The MRI want too bad but I I have to say it was a bit noisy and if felt like it was frying my insides. Luckily after that test was able to go back to my room to rest. That afternoon, they finally started me back on tpn which was nice to get some nutrience going again. 

I'm not a big fan of sleeping in a hospital as, due to policy, the nurses and nurse assistants don't allow you with there constant checking of vitatals and running medicine or the Iv machines go off or they have to give you medicine. It always seams to me that the minuet you start to drift off to sleep, someone comes in. Such is life in a hospital.

Wednesday morning, at 5 in the morning, the nurse came in to draw my blood and asked me if I had ever had an MRI before. Said I hadn't and the asked her if my results had come back she said they had and then said she couldn't tell me anything. She then proceeded to tell me that she would be interested to see what they do with me. At that point I wished she wouldn't have said that because that sent my mind racing! Of course after that I couldn't sleep at all. I was wondering what she had ment by it and everything. I was thinking maybe it showed something and maybe it didn't. Then I was just frustrated with the whole situation. Luckily at 7:30 in the morning dr Kawa called me and told me what the MRI had shown. He told me that there was a narrowing between two arteries that could be putting pressure on my duodenum. It is called Superior mesenteric artery (SMA) syndrome. Dr Kawa also told me that I would be visited by the surgeon that morning to disscus my options. It was such a relief to finally have something! 

At around 9:30 the surgeon came and started talking to me about what was going on. He wanted to know about my symptoms and about my whole history. He then started talking about my gallbladder and how it would have to be removed. He then went on to talk about the sma and how that was usually treated. The surgeon said that he really didn't think that it was the sma but it was probably mostly my gallbladder and that my gallbladder would need to come out. My head was spinning allittle at that point because it felt like the gallbladder thing came out of left field. Dr Phuegh, the sergeon, said he would like a test done on my gallbladder to see how it sea how it was functioning. So later on that afternoon I was taken to radiology to have what is called a hydra scan done. They enjected a small a out of radio active material into my veins which they said would be picked up by my liver and then would fill up my gallbladder. I would then have to lay on a table while a machine would then pick up the radio active signals and see how quickly the gallbladder filled up. They then gave me some medication that would cause my gallbladder to release the bile and empty. I was a so tired that I actually fell asleep through part of scan but I remember waking up and thinking that the pictures didn't change at all for the time that I fell asleep and woke up. It was cool because I could see the imaging results from where I was laying on the table. 

Me waiting for the scan to start. 

Once I got back to the room, I was again pretty tired so I tried to get a nap. Later that day, dr Kawa came in and explained that my gallbladder was not functioning well at all. Normally within an hour the galbladder should empty 50-75% of its content but that mine only emptied 3.5%. It was definitely going to need to be taken out. Dr Kawa at that time also said that he didn't think that the gallbladder was 100% what was causing my vomiting. He said he still thought that the SMA could be involved but he would talk to the surgeon and we would go from there. 

This shows all my Iv fluids and stumach pump. They were pumping my stomach to keep me from throwing up the acid in my stomach, which is the red lidded container hooked too the wall. There are three bags hanging. The yellow one is called tpn which is what I receive my nutrience through. The one that looks like milk is called lipids, it goes with the tpn. And then the last clear bag is regular saline solution. 

All the cords running to and from me.

On Wednesday, Brit brought Maia and kassia to visit me. It was soon good to see them. That has to be one of the hardest things about beeing in the hospital is not being around my girls. I know I'm getting the care I need right now so that I will be able to care for them soon too but it is still hard.

On Thursday Brit also brought the kiddos to see me. Here kassia is just hanging out with me on my lap.

While Maia chilled next to me. 

Dr. Puegh felt that it wasn't  the sma but he wanted to look at all of the imaging tests at I had had done. On Wednesday we had requested them from OSU and they said that hey would send them out that day. They would t let me have Sean come and pick them up so since they said they could over night them I didn't press the issue. Well the ended up not coming in on Thursday and Friday morning we found out that they had sent them ground and they wouldn't get here till the 11th. Let's just say dr Puegh was not a happy camper and he let OSU know that. 

So Friday, early afternoon, Dr Puegh had me do another upper gi series. It's where they push a contrast dye into your stomach and then watch as it travels through the intestines. I was not surprised when they said that it came back looking normal. So Dr Puegh said that he was confident it was just my gallbladder and sent me back to my room to prep for surgery.

When I got back to my room Sean was there which was the best thing of all. It was a such a relief to see him. He was supposed to fly in the night before but his flight ended up being delayed to the point that he would have missed his connecting flight and consequently they rescheduled his flight for the next morning. I was glad he finally was there. 

My nurse, Nick was really funny and helpful through the day and in getting me ready for surgery. It was nice to have some humor before going to be sliced open. He came in and told me that the surgery department needed me to get naked under my hospital gown as quickly as possible because they were coming down to get me. Not too much longer after that they came in and started wheeling me over to the surgery wing. 

Once we got there, they took me to a prep area and started asking me all sorts of questions. Most of them routine. The anastesiologist was really really nice and it was a bit of a comfort to know that I was in good hands. They almost had me all ready then they realized that they didn't have a negative pregnancy test on record. So I had to take care of that, even though I assured them it would be considered an immaculate conception if it came back positive. Of couse it came back negative but it was a good joke while it lasted. Dr Puegh then came to see me right before the surgery assured Sean and I that everything should go seamlessly. After I had signed my concent forms, the anastesiologist gave me something that made the room spin a little then off we went to the OR room. The last thing I remember is getting on the table, they took my arm and strapped it down, then I remember them putting oxygen on my face and I was gone.