Preparing for Surgery

Many of you read my update yesterday and now it seemed to quick to update everyone. And many of you who were concerned after my first ER trip were on to something.

I now know I wasn’t having back spasms.

Warning – TMI ahead

As I mentioned yesterday, I have been struggling with pain in my back end side since Thursday night. What I didn’t mention was a new symptom: dark amber urine.

I can’t even stress enough how serious this sign was and I didn’t realize it. This just started with this episode on Friday. I have seen off color urine before but it’s usually in the morning or on a rare occasion where I know I’m a little dehydrated. It’s never been this dark and certainly not for days.

I kept trying to hold out until my doctor appointment on Monday.

Saturday night the pain kept ebbing and flowing but never disappearing. It kept ramping up and I was afraid to go to bed. We stayed up late watching Glee Season One. I kept putting off bedtime. Eventually I had to go but I could not get comfortable. Standing, sitting, leaning, laying – it all hurt and it hurt bad.

I broke down crying.

Hubby offered to take me to the ER. My stupid excuses of the cost (we have insurance but that doesn’t cover 100%) and all my blog work (seriously I’m an idiot sometimes)…

I went to the ER at a different hospital than two weeks ago – my mother-in-law was working and we decided to go to where she was at. I was given a crazy shot in my butt to kill the pain (though that hurt and stung for awhile). I had to give a urine sample and blood draws.

After getting the info that there was bile in my urine and the levels if pancreatic enzymes high, an ultrasound was ordered.

Gall stones. Lots of them. Apparently my gall bladder was full of them. Some got out and were blocking ducts… some got in my pancreas giving me pancreatitis and started backing up my liver giving me jaundice.

Things were serious.

I was admitted to the hospital and won’t be leaving for a few days. I’ll be having two procedures done – one to clear out the blocked ducts, another to remove my gall bladder.

Needless to say, this is not fun for me. I’m scared. I’m confused. I’m a mixed mash of emotions. I’m glad to know what is going on and a solution but I wasn’t expecting (or wanting) this.

Thankfully my antibiotics and pain medication is in Class A for safe for nursing. My baby and husband can stay overnight in my room. I’m not able to eat (no food since Saturday’s dinner) just on an IV and ice chips. I was awake for 24 hours before getting some rest.

It’s also helping to connect some unresolved/undiagnosed medical issues I’ve had for 5 years. Things that didn’t really pinpoint an issue other than symptoms that seemed to have no cause. This may have been going on for years.

While I will have some downtime in the hospital, I can’t guarantee what I can or cannot get done for the blog. I apologize for that but I know you all understand.

Darcy Zalewski

Darcy is the founder of “Life With Darcy and Brian,” where she combines her love for education, board games, and crafting to create engaging learning experiences for kids. Her creative projects and writing have been featured in outlets like The Toy Insider, CafeMom, Mom.com, Parents.com, Country Living, and The Pioneer Woman.