I'm confused

Last night I was craving pizza. I hadn't slept well this week, and I'd been up since 4:30, so I was tired...I'd been in my car for over 3 hrs commuting, my allergies were bothering me, and I wanted a treat. As Alison mentioned in her blog this morning, I was talking on the phone to her about how I wanted Pizza Hut pizza. It's my absolute favorite. I just love that crispy golden pan crust they have.

I seriously considered getting it, but ultimately, I decided to make a healthier compromise. I ordered a margherita pizza from a local italian restaurant. It's not a greasy pizza - just a thin crust, tomatoes, basil, fresh mozzarella cheese and a little olive oil and seasoning. I make that stuff at my house sometimes, only on a pita, and I use Pam instead of olive oil. I figured that was a safe bet, and a better alternative.

I was really hungry, and I ate two pieces, which is a lot for me. I was still within my calories for the day, and I felt fine when I went to bed. I fell right asleep because I was exhausted, and I started having these horrible dreams of all these things that were causing me extreme stomach pain. I kept tossing and turning to get in a better spot so I wouldn't be in as much pain, but it got worse and worse. Finally, I woke up at 1AM to realize I was having another one of those attacks. Maybe it's a gallbladder attack, maybe it's something else.

I thought I was in the clear since the tech said my hida scan seemed normal, but I just don't think I am. I know it's not lactose intolerance. I've been lactose intolerant for a decade, and it can really make you cramp up, but it's nothing like this pain, and it's in a different area as well. Thankfully, I had some prescription pain meds from when I was in the ER last time, and I took one of those with a compazine so it wouldn't make me more sick to my stomach, and within a half hour I I fell back asleep.

The pain meds made me sleep a dead sleep, and I woke up feeling groggy, but my stomach was better. I have no idea what's going on with me now, if I got sick from something with such natural ingredients, but I can only imagine that whatever it is that's bothering me must be getting worse. Hopefully I'll know more when I see the MD tomorrow.

Thank God I opted against the greasy Pizza Hut pizza! I probably would have exploded!

Adventures in Hida Scan Land

I am now home from the MD, and this is an actual photograph of my face right now. ;-)

As you know, I have been experiencing gallbladder-pain- like symptoms as of late. Twice when I ate foods that were fatty (cheesy once, I forget the first time), I had severe pain in my upper right abdomen, where the gallbladder is located. The second time landed me in the ER, where they ran an abdominal ultrasound and noticed thickening of the gallbladder wall, which may or may not mean gallbladder disease, but no stones.

Today I had a nuclear medicine test called a hida scan. A hida scan tests the function of the gallbladder and the bile ducts. First, the nuc. med. tech injected me with isotopes, tracing through my small intestine to my gallbladder. For the first hour, I was under a scanner while we watched the fluid move about. It was quite similar to watching paint dry. Unfortunately, my gallbladder didn't show up, so I had to walk around for 15 minutes to move the dye around.

Even though it meant I was going to be stuck there longer, I was glad to be able to walk around because the table I was lying on was killing my back. I went to the waiting room to visit the Darce, who came with me knowing the test may make me sick (they wouldn't let her in the room, though), and we did a 15 minute power walk. I returned to the room, and voila, it worked. My gallbladder was lighting up on the screen, but it needed to get a bit brighter, so we did another 10 minute power walk. I'm totally counting that towards my workout today. ;0)

When I returned to the room, I heard the good news: I should be finished up in about 30 more minutes, as well as the bad news: and now was the time when they are going to inject the CCK into my blood stream, which makes the gallbladder contract. They say this may cause some discomfort for some people, but that is rare, however I knew better. I did a lot of research online, and I read many patient accounts. Some people feel nothing at all, and others feel exactly like they are having a gallbladder attack.

The CCK injection stimulates the same reaction you would have if you had gallbladder problems and ate a fatty meal, according to one of the techs I spoke to today. For some reason, however, some people with gallbladder issues have no reaction to the CCK, and other people who have a normal gallbladder have a really bad reaction. Strange. That's not the norm, though.

My tech was very nice, and he explained that he was going to go very very slow, injecting in a small amount of CCK at a time, so that it wouldn't be quite as painful, if I happened to have a reaction. Well, as you can surmise from my green face above, I had a reaction. My stomach cramped up like I had food poisoning, and a wave of nausea came over me. The tech was talking the entire time, and most of the time it was entertaining, but when I felt that sick, I was dying for him to stop. I almost vomited right on him - it was all I could do to keep it in, and then suddenly, as fast as it came on, the feeling passed and a few minutes later we were done.

I didn't let the tech know I was feeling sick, because I'm just not like that, but he may have been able to tell. He checked the results, and he said he's not an MD, but he predicts I'm going to get a normal reading on my gallbladder test, which means I probably don't have gallbladder disease, but now I'll have to go for a bunch of other tests to see what the real problem is. Who knows - he could be wrong, but if he's not, it's very strange that I had such a reaction to the CCK, as well as the two other attacks, whatever they were from.

The hida scan is not flawless, also, and the surgeon warned me about that as well. She said we still may determine that I need my gallbladder out even if this test doesn't indicate so, so I will know more when I meet with her again on Friday.

The entire process took almost 2.5 hrs. I felt really weak after the test, and I wasn't sure if it was because I was hungry (nothing to eat or drink before the test) or if the test just took a lot out of me. D and I stopped at Rita Mae's for a bite to eat, and I got a turkey sandwich. I felt really sick at the restaurant, and I almost bolted out of there a few times, but the feelings passed. As soon as I got home, I was sick.

So it is now 2 hrs after my test ended, and I'm just feeling a bit queasy, tired, and I'm having some flu like symptoms. I have an absurdly sensitive stomach, however, so I don't think most people would go through the same thing as I have, but I know that some have.

On one final positive note, I'm down a lb today, for a total of 141. That came as a surprise because I've been on the week on/week off losing pattern for so long. Now I'm just 9 lbs away from my one year goal of losing 150 (one year will be this fall), and 14 lbs away from losing Marcel/lo!

Oh What a Night

Hey - at least I got this cool bracelet!

Friday night, I was doubled over in pain twice, but it only lasted for 15 minutes each time. I thought it was some kind of crazy gas trapped in my upper abdomen. Saturday morning, I had the same pain, only it wasn't as severe. I didn't know what the problem was. Last night around 9, I started having a similar pain, only much worse, and I realized it was the same pain I'd had a few weeks ago, when I thought I was having a gallbladder attack.

At first it was really severe, but then it got to be less severe, and I was hoping it would go away. I tried to go to bed after 2 hours, but I couldn't sleep. It was getting worse again, which concerned me since all the other times, it would start off worse and then slowly get better. D and I headed to the ER. 1 in the morning on a Monday morning is a good time to go - it was like a ghost town in there.

They ran a bunch of standard blood tests, as well as an abdominal ultrasound. I don't have gallstones, but there was thickening of my gallbladder wall found on the ultrasound, which could mean I have a gallbladder problem (disease) without stones. In order to confirm this, I will need to have a HIDA scan, which is a nuclear medicine test that tracks the gallbladder function through a dye injected into my blood stream. Unfortunately, I can't get an appointment until 6/30, and that's just for the consultation. I'm going to call around, because 4 attacks (one major) in one weekend is not a good sign.

I'm on antibiotics for now, and I have some pain meds should I need them. I'm just hoping I don't get another attack, but that's doubtful.

We got home from the ER at 4:30 am, and were asleep by 5. Today is a tired day. I'm feeling better, but my body is tired, and my stomach isn't quite right. I'm up 3 lbs today, but I'm sure it's water weight from the IV I was on last night. That always happens.