Surgery

Apparently, I haven't said anything about my surgery. So here it is. On Saturday, after the Easter Egg Hunt (back in March) my back starting hurting. I started thinking I had just strained a muscle, so I got a massage on Tuesday. Still hurt. Knew that where it was hurting could indicate internal problems, so I went to the doctor on Wednesday. He ran a battery of tests (x-ray, CT, ultrasound) and discovered that I had gallstones, which until this point I had no idea we had a family history of. This was in Florida. (By the way, trying to find a doctor down there that I could visit with my insurance was a pain in the butt!) The doctor wanted me to go into the hospital immediately and have surgery in the morning, to remove my gallbladder (which is another one of those useless appendages inside our bodies). I was freaking out. I decided to wait, came in on Thursday morning for more blood work (oh yeah, they did that too). Turns out the surgeon that he was going to recommend me to was not covered under my insurance and trying to find one down there was a pain. I ended up going home to try to find a surgeon and finally decided that I would call my doctor in Atlanta and get a referal from him for a surgeon in Atlanta. That night I was on a plane to Atlanta to meet with the surgeon on Friday morning. Dr. Luke (the Atlanta surgeon) did not see the need to rush into surgery, so he scheduled the procedure for Monday afternoon.
Christy took me to the hospital and Louis came to visit before I went in. The hooked my up to the IV and all the monitors, and put me to sleep- that stuff was powerful. I don't even remember them having to ask me to count. All they said was, "ready to go to sleep?" and then I was out! Next thing I rememeber was waking up in recovery- "Katie... Katie..." and I was thinking "alright. I'm alive." I stayed for awhile, waiting to eat and check off the things required to leave. By 9pm I was home in bed. They managed to do the surgery laproscopically, which means that I have four small incisions in various places on by abdomen, instead of a giant gash from one side to the other. So, I am now gallbladder free and a couple scars more. It wasn't bad, and having conquered that makes it a little easier to look at having blood work done again! (I hate needles, by the way)

I also had an endoscopy a couple weeks ago for my acid reflux. More anesthesia, but not as heavy. The procedure took like 10 minutes, I swear. He stuck the little camera down my throat (I was completely out of it when he did), looked around, took a biopsy and was out. Everything is ok, but I'm on new medication which is helping a lot. The only annoying thing is that one of them is the kind you have to take 30 minutes before a meal. I hate that! But it helps, so I have to make sure to have them on hand at all times!

I think I'm ready to have that test for hypoglycemia now!
Alrighty... that's the medical news! peace :)