The Extraction

Tuesday morning I had my one wisdom tooth removed.

I was on Demerol and some nausea medication, an antibiotic and ibuprofen. I stopped taking the Demerol and nausea med Wednesday at 10 a.m. and have just been on ibuprofen as needed and the antibiotic until gone. I'm feeling pretty good. I was on a liquid diet for Tuesday and Wednesday that consisted of jello, pudding, apple sauce, vegetable juice and milkshakes and today I incorporated soft foods like scrambled eggs and mashed potatoes.

Dan has been a great nurse. So grateful for him. He replaced my gauze, made sure I was taking my meds on time at all hours of the day and night and made my yummy liquid meals. :)

Dan says I told him to take a picture of me while I was in recovery, but I don't know if I believe him. haha Although, you never know what a person will say when they are drugged up. :D

Now I look pretty unconscious here. What an awful pic.

Why would I want him to take a picture? I guess so I could blog about it now.

My 2 other great nurses

A few hours after I woke up...yeah kinda still out of it and looking quite terrified. :D

A little more alert now and giving a thumbs up.

Hope to be all better soon! I can't wait to eat normal food again. :)

IBS Relief???

I tried this OTC medication first, but it didn't work.

Then, I tried this OTC medication...3 weeks in and it seemed to be working, but then I had a couple of bad days last week. :( So I guess it doesn't work.

I just don't get it. I hate my stomach!

Peppermint tea is supposed to help too. I hate tea (cold/hot), but I was willing to give it a try. I don't think I can drink that stuff daily. Bleh.

A Foodie's Worst Nightmare

No more tomatoes, pickles, vinegar, relish, olives, dark chocolate, basically anything and everything that has a lot of acid or has been been pickled. That's what the doc says. I say I need to limit my intake. ;)

Dude, there is NO WAY that I could EVER give up all of the above completely.

My doctor has diagnosed me with IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). >:( WTH?! I've been cursed!

I've been keeping a food journal so that I can see what foods affect me.

I have noticed that I can eat homemade quick pickles with no problem, but not store bought.

Homemade pickled carrots don't seem to bother me.

Malt Vinegar doesn't seem to bother me either.

And I can still handle dark chocolate without any major issues. Thank God!

Tomato sauce, tomato paste and dill relish leave me hurting and promising myself that I will never touch it again. :(

I'm feeling much better overall. The doc upped my dosage of Protonix, so now I take it twice a day instead of once and it has stopped the nausea. That has made a huge difference!

It sucks when you have to watch what you eat and worry that the next bite you take might have you sick for a few hours. Grrr!

I'm hanging on to hope that I won't have IBS for the rest of my life. A girl can dream.

The Results Are In

Good News! I tested negative for the H. Pylori Bacteria. And the biopsies showed nothing irregular.

More Good News! The medication (acid reducer/blocker) is helping a lot and I'm feeling a lot better lately. :)
I have a follow-up appointment in a couple of weeks.

Another not so fun day

Thursday was my procedure day, but Wednesday was the worst day by far! Drinking that Half-Lytely prep drink was definitely the worst part of the last 2 days. Bleh. It had this salty taste to it that was just horrible and made me want to gag on several occasions. I used a straw, held my nose and drank 8 ounces every 10 minutes.

(All pics are with iPhone)

Self portrait

Before...All smiles!

My appointment time was at 2 p.m., but because they had some technical difficulties they didn't start my procedure until a little after 4 p.m.

My doctor took some biopsies. She also told me that part of my intestine looked similar to that of someone with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), but didn't want to confirm anything until after the results come back. She gave me some medication to block the acid in my stomach and see if that helps the nausea I've been experiencing. I will find out the results in 7-10 days and then she wants to see me in 4 weeks.

The anesthesia knocked me out! :) All I remember was the anesthesiologist saying he was going to give me a little margarita (immediately I started feeling the effects), then being rolled into the room, a guy spraying some stuff in my throat and seeing my doctor and then I was gone. :D
All I remember next was coughing, coming to and then asking Dan if I had big boobs now. :D
We were joking about it before, how like on Dr. 90210 the girls are always asking about their boobs after their surgery. ;)

I really preferred the location of my I.V., just above the wrist as opposed to on the hand.

After...not such a wide smile now.
I had just woken up and was enjoying come cookies & juice.
I was still feeling loopy..can't you tell? :)

They used this bandage that is commonly used on animals.
This is what my "kids" have on when they come back from the vet. Weird.

I'm feeling myself again. It's great being able to eat and drink anything I want!
Thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers, and vibes! ((hugs))

Not a fun day.

My procedure is tomorrow at 2 p.m. Today I started the diet that consists of the following items pictured below:

I can only have water, jell-o, broth, popsicles, apple juice (not pictured) and soda.

And Dan is making homemade stock as well.

I'm not looking forward to drinking this stuff beginning at 4 p.m. day. :(
It's 2 liters. Ugh.

Dan is so sweet.
He bought me these beautiful pink roses to make me feel better.

And of course this little guy always makes me smile and feel better!
He's laying on my tummy. :)

I hope today and tomorrow go by super fast! My appointment is not until 2 p.m., which sucks because I can't drink or eat anything after 6:30 a.m.

I can't wait to eat real food again.

I'm Back!

Hi Everyone! I know I've been absent from the blogging world, but I haven't been feeling very well lately and to be honest.. for quite some time. :(

Next Thursday I have an appointment for 2 procedures: a colonoscopy & an upper endoscopy (EGD). Yeah no fun. If you remember back, Dan had an EGD in August. I'm so not looking forward to this, but I'm also really sick of being sick so it must be done. I hope to have some answers as to why I've been sick off and on since February.

On to other, more fun news...I cut my hair!

Before

And After

Esopha what?

D had his scope procedure this afternoon. The name of the procedure is Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD). Yeah say that 3 times, fast.

The doctor told D that he didn't see anything suspicious or any precancerous lesions caused by his acid reflux. That was great to hear! However, he did notice that D had a lot of fluid/acid in his stomach and said he thinks D's stomach may not be dissolving things properly, but didn't seem to think it was a big deal. He wants to see D in 2 weeks. I hope to find out more from that appointment.

Another trip to the ER

On Saturday, D was sitting on the couch and was getting up to go to the bathroom when he felt a pain in his chest. He went to the bathroom, came out and said he was feeling faint and he broke out in a cold sweat. He felt weak. He laid on the couch for a bit and then we decided to take him to the ER.

If you remember, the last time he went to the ER was in Jan and in June '07 he was admitted to the hospital. I've got to admit, this weekend I was thinking my husband was a hypochondriac.

In the ER, they did an EKG and did a chest x-ray and they both came out fine. His blood work came back good. They didn't know what had happened, but were going to release him. Then his blood pressure dropped really low (between sitting and standing) and they didn't want to risk sending him home. He also began feeling really faint and light-headed again.

They decided to keep him overnight for observations so they admitted him. They started an I.V. His blood pressure continued to vary quite a bit between sitting and standing or lying and sitting up. The cardiologist came by and they wanted to do an ultrasound on D, but the technician wasn't available until Monday.

The nurses came in every 4 hours to check his blood pressure and took his blood in the middle of the night. The reason they were taking so much blood was so they could rule out an embolism.

D doesn't do well when his blood is taken, he feels very faint and breaks into a cold sweat. As they're taking his blood, I'm thinking this can't be good for his blood pressure because of how he reacts to his blood being taken.

We hoped that his blood pressure would improve enough for us to go home Sunday morning and then come back for the ultrasound and possibly an echocardiogram.

His blood work from overnight looked fine. The doctor reported no sign of an embolism!

Another concern is scar tissue around his heart. Back in 2001, D had pericarditis (an inflammation of the pericardium (the fibrous sac surrounding the heart) that was brought on by an infection. We're hoping that with his cardiologist appointment in a few weeks will also rule this out!

On Sunday afternoon there was no drastic change in his blood pressure! The cardiologist decided he would release him from the hospital. He's thinking D's chest pain really scared D and then he freaked out (there is a medical term for this) and that may have been what brought on feeling faint, sweats and his blood pressure dropping.

Nurse Christy is thinking it could have been something with digestion. There is a digestive tube near the heart that often leads people to believe they are having a heart attack. And since we've been home, I've noticed D is burping a lot more frequently than he ever has before. We have a follow-up appointment with his primary care physician tomorrow. I hope we find an answer soon and I hope for no more hospital visits!

In Sickness and In Health

Well D had to go to the ER Thursday evening.


He woke up in the middle of night, suffering from what he thought was his acid reflux and thought he had forgotten to take his medication. Later that morning he had nausea, upset stomach, stomach pains, and burning in his stomach. He tried taking some pepto bismol, but he couldn't keep that down. He was becoming dehydrated so our doctor asked that I take him to the ER (this is his 2nd visit in 1 year, last June he was admitted to the hospital for severe migraines and some tests were done to rule out an aneurysm). They gave him an IV and through the IV they gave him some nausea medication and sodium chloride to re-hydrate him, they also gave him some liquid called "G.I. cocktail" to help settle his stomach. They took his blood and they noticed he had slightly elevated white blood cells which means he had some sort of infection, which they thought could be Gastroenteritis.

But he's feeling much better now. I started feeling sick to my stomach last night and so we've both been on the BRAT diet, mainly eating toast, bananas, broth and gatorade.

Even Sissy is having some sort of stomach sickness.

What a family! :-)