Thanksgiving Surgery

In the weeee hours on Thanksgiving morning I awoke with what I thought was terrible heartburn.  I tossed and turned from 1 - 3 am.  We were at Brad's parents house so I got up and started looking for some antacids.  I could only find Rolaids.  I took a couple of those and went back to my room.  I sat for another 20 minutes contemplating if I should take the 20 minute drive to Alexandria to get some Maalox. 
I woke Brad up and told him I was driving to Alex.  I couldn't take it anymore.  He didn't want me going alone so he got dressed and came along.  We got to Wal-Mart and I bought some Zantac and Maalox.  Brad bought some Pepto for himself since he was feeling a bit crappy too. 
We got to the car and I took my antacids, but none of it stayed down.  We sat in the parking lot for another hour or so.  Brad told me to take the Pepto.  I have never been one to like Pepto Bismol.  The thick, pink, crappy stuff just makes me nauseous thinking about it.  I psyched myself up to take it...plugged my nose and drank half of the dose gagging and saying OKLAHOMA as it went down.  YUCK!!!
I asked Brad how long it would take before it would kick in and he said it should be immediately.  I waited another ten minutes but nothing was taking the pain away. 
I drove to the Alexandria E.R. and contemplated going in because I felt foolish for going in for indigestion.  This same pain has happened to me at least three times before.  I went to the doctor a few years ago and was told it was indigestion. 

I felt that this pain was too intense to go back home to Hoffman so I checked myself in to the ER. 
The doctor came in and poked around a bit, they ran some tests and told me they thought it was my gallbladder.  They sent me to get an ultrasound and it showed that my gallbladder was full of stones. 
The doctor came back to the room and said he could send me home on pain medication so that I could celebrate Thanksgiving but I would have to schedule surgery within one week. 
 I opted to do the surgery right away because the pain medication that they had me on in the ER was Fentanyl and is supposed to be 100 times stronger than Morphine.  I was getting a dose of Fentanyl every 20 minutes.  I figured that whatever the medication I was going to get sent home with wouldn't be enough to get me through the pain and I didn't want to be all drugged up.
 
We met the surgeon and I got prepped for surgery right away.  The surgery lasted about an hour and then I was in recovery for I think 30-45 minutes.  I can't remember much of that as I was coming in and out of anesthesia. 
The surgeon explained to Brad that he was glad I decided to have the surgery because he said my gallbladder was really bad, full of scar tissue, and full of stones.  He said it hadn't been functioning for a long time and he was shocked that I had put up with the pain this long. 

The surgery was done Laparascopically so I have four incisions on my belly.  I had to stay in the hospital overnight.  My Thanksgiving meal was chicken broth, jello, crackers and milk.  Brad's mom sent over some leftover Thanksgiving dinner for Brad to eat. 

I'm thankful for the wonderful care I received during my stay at the Douglas County Hospital.  They have been named one of the nation's Top 100 Hospitals.  :)

I think our family has something about holidays/celebrations... I got sick on our wedding day, Erin had pneumonia during Christmas last year, both the girls got sick on the 4th of July last year and now I was sick on Thanksgiving.  I'm telling you...it's the Gort curse.