On Tuesday, the chest pain and pain in my stomach came back and was the worst it has been. I did all of my normal tricks of a heating pad, ibuprofen, taking a hot bath and trying to distract myself. After several hours, it was minor enough for me to at least be able to go to sleep.
Now, I have been following this low fat diet ridiculously strict. I haven’t had anything that had more than 3 grams of fat per serving and have been eating things with no fat as much as possible.
The very few times we’ve been out to eat, I’ve asked for grilled chicken or fish with no seasonings (and not cooked in anything) and plain potatoes. Sounds really appetizing, right? But this pain just kept getting worse. And I thought well, if the pain is going to be there regardless of what I eat, I may as well at least eat what I want!
What a bad idea that was….
To Our Favorite Mexican Restaurant
On Wednesday night, I ordered nachos – which with my restrictions of gluten and just how picky I am in general, it was just the chips, chicken and queso (no jalapenos). As we were finishing, I could feel the pain starting to settle in and thought great, here we go again. By the time we got home, it was pretty intense. I went upstairs to get in the tub and after that, grabbed the heating pad while I curled up in the fetal position on the bed.
When that didn’t work, I finally gave in and called the doctor’s answering service. By the time she called me back, I was crying from the pain. It felt like a kidney stone. I told her what was going on and she said it was probably my gallbladder (and the pain was still concentrated on my LEFT not my right – remember when she said it couldn’t be my gallbladder?!). She told me to try to take Tums and if it wasn’t better within 15 minutes, go to the ER.
So I took 3 Tums. I knew I needed to go ahead and start my IV meds because who knew what would happen if I had to go the hospital. The treatment is so controversial, they were liable to not let me have them at all.
By the time 15 minutes was up, I was doubled over and thought I was dying. I started screaming for my husband and told him he had to take me to the ER. He called a neighbor who came to sit with our son. About the time the neighbor walked in the door, I started throwing up. And I mean throwing up like I never have in my life. It was disgusting. Not to mention, I’m a huge baby about throwing up at all.
I’m sure the fact that I had just eaten didn’t help. But I just kept throwing up over and over again. It finally stopped long enough so that I thought it was safe to leave. Suffice it to say, I rode to the hospital with a trash can in my lap. My meds finished infusing on the way to the hospital so I was at least able to be done with that before I walked in the door.
Arriving at the ER
When we got to the ER, it was packed – of course. I went up to registration and I think seeing my PICC actually helped to get me to the front of the line. They took me back to triage and the questions began….first about the current symptoms and then about my PICC line and why I had it.
I felt like I was in a very odd position. There is so much controversy around Lyme and especially with the treatment. I really didn’t want my doctor to get into trouble but at the same time, I had to have some explanation for why I have a PICC line! And they obviously needed a full medical history to be able to treat me.
So I told them all about the Lyme but didn’t tell them who was treating me, at least at first. They drew blood (from my PICC!), had me give a urine sample and then led me back to an exam room. The doctor came in a few minutes later and said it could be a number of things including my gallbladder, pancreas or something with “lymph” in the name related to Lyme. My husband and I neither one can remember what he said.
He wanted to know about my Lyme, how I was diagnosed, who was treating me, etc. After trying to skirt the “who was treating me” part, I finally gave in and told him when he asked again. He made it pretty clear he didn’t agree with the length of my treatment but then left it at that.
Testing
He said he was going to order an ultrasound but if it didn’t show anything, I would need to have a CT scan done. He also sent in the nurse to give me Zofran and Morphine. Thank goodness!! It hit my head quick but in a very good way. Within minutes, the pain was tolerable again, whereas in triage, I told the nurse I would rate it as being in labor when she asked me to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10.
A bit later, the tech came in and performed the ultrasound. I tried to get her talking but she wouldn’t do it. So I just had to wait for the doctor to come back in to get the results.
Drum Roll…..
The doctor stuck his head in the door and said “it’s your gallbladder” and then disappeared again. I was like where did he go? Surely I get more than that as an explanation!
A few minutes later he came back in and said my gallbladder was full of stones and sludge and the opening was enlarged which could mean I have been passing stones. He said the “cure” is surgery to remove it. I asked if there was another way to deal with it and he said no, in the south, when you have gallbladder attacks, it comes out. I never did quite figure out why “in the south” was added to that.
I asked about what happens after it’s removed and he said most people have to go easy on foods for a few weeks and then they can eat whatever they want. He said less than 10% will continue to have issues with certain foods but for most, it turns into a free pass.
I was secretly relieved. Not only would the pain go away but I had also read numerous accounts from people with Lyme who had a big turnaround in symptoms after their gallbladder was removed. All of that sludge in there could also be home to a lot of Lyme toxins and bacteria…and that could be why I’m having a hard time recovering.
Of course, it’s hard to say if the Lyme caused my gallbladder issues or if it was the Rocephin. If you browse around Lyme communities online, there are a lot of people who had gallbladder surgery. But some of them were never on Rocephin, or IV antibiotics at all. So I guess I’ll never know the real cause. But ultimately, in my mind, it’s still Lyme. Even if it was the Rocephin, I was on it because of the Lyme.
Admission
He told me I would be admitted and the surgery would be the following morning. Because of the Lyme and my medical complications, it was possible I would have to stay longer than normal but that would be the surgeon’s call. Apparently, it’s typically an outpatient procedure and you go home basically as soon as you wake up from anesthesia.
So some time around midnight, my husband headed home and I headed up to my new home for the next few days.