Thank you for your prayers!!!!!

Many of you know that I was again hospitalized from June 25-28. I was admitted because my surgeon recognized that it was not an option for me to remain at home with pain medication that did not work while I waited week after week for outpatient procedures that could possibly give me a diagnosis. It was determined that I would be admitted to the hospital where I could take the strong stuff that REALLY took the edge off of my pain, and all of the procedures and tests would be rushed. The first night I got there, sure enough, had an attack, but thankfully the drugs they injected through my IV helped right away. The next day I had an MRI so that the doctors could get a better look at my biliary ducts and pancreas, and again thankfully everything from the MRI looked normal. I spent the rest of that day and the next morning drinking a salty gross drink that cleaned me out for my colonoscopy the afternoon of the 27th. My GI informed me that while I was sedated for the colonoscopy he was also going to do another endoscopy to take a biopsy to rule out celiac disease. I'll get the celiac biopsy results next week, but the doctors are doubtful that celiac is the cause of my problems...the biopsy was just sort of a shot in the dark.

So, I went to the hospital having discussed things with my surgeon who had told me that after all the tests, if all my organs continued to look normal, they were going to go ahead with the removal of the gallbladder, because she admitted that I could be one of those one in a million cases where the gallbladder is the source of the problem and yet the problem cannot be diagnosed definitively.

However, on the afternoon of the 26th, my GI came to my hospital room and interviewed me about my life. He asked about what I study (astrophysics), how many units I usually take a semester (12-15), if my classes are difficult (YES!!), and he asked if at the time I first started noticing the pain last fall, if there was one particular thing in my life that was a source of stress. I said YES, there was one particular physics class where the professor demanded everything from me when I couldn't give it to him, and yet I still tried as hard as I could to give him everything I possibly could. That one class, Electricity & Magnetism, was a constant stress last fall semester. And I told the doctor that even before that class and since that class I've lived at pretty much a really high level of stress.

So after my colonoscopy my GI said that I continued to look completely normal and healthy. He discussed things with my surgeon, and they both think that my diagnosis could be one of two things. Their first guess is that because I live at such a high level of stress, I've become hyper-sensitive to the normal contractions of my gallbladder. When I heard that, I told my GI, "So much for my high pain tolerance." :) Both the GI and the surgeon are quick to say, though, that I mustn't think that the pain is in my head...it's REAL, DEBILITATING pain, they've seen it in patients before, but I wouldn't be feeling it if I wasn't so stressed or something. So they put me on muscle relaxers which I started about a week and a half ago, and I think the doctors' first guess of a diagnosis might be right because I've really felt my pain subside and become much less frequent. HURRAY. :) SUCH an answer to prayer.

Much of the day I still feel pretty...crummy...that's all I really know how to describe it, but at least it's not pain. And my appetite has not yet gotten back to normal, I've lost 13 lbs in the last five months, but it's encouraging to know now that I can safely eat food and more and more it's not going to cause pain any more!!

I still have follow-up appointments with my GI and surgeon, but I think they're going to be satisfied with the improvement I've already seen.

Their other guess of a diagnosis is that I have a problem with my something-called-a-sphincter-of-odi, but that is really difficult to diagnose and the procedure to diagnose it comes with a lot of risks that they don't want to subject me to. So let's hope and pray that the muscle relaxers and a little life-style change for less stress solves my problems!!

Thank you so much again for your prayers!

I have exciting things to post about, like a camping trip and an evening at Medieval Times...so stay tuned for stories and pictures!