hey all, thanks for your good thoughts and wishes -- it means a huge deal!!!
i am back from my soujourn to the hospital now. first thing i do when i get home after freshening up -- boot up the comp and check out the DIS
so i went up tuesday morning around 7.30 (got stuck in rush hour traffic congestion as the ambulance guys didn't heed my advice about not taking certain streets, and as i wasn't an emergency, didn't get to run the lights to move through it) and was admitted around 8. turns out my gall bladder, that fun and capricious little organ, has become inflamed and infected.
from dieting.
yup. the diet i went on after coming back from our trip caused my weight to drop significantly enough that it triggered my gall bladder issues. oh joy. then the pain that was a result of the gall bladder issues caused stomach upset which meant i lost more weight (yay me) from not eating, being sick etc, which then got the gall bladder all inflamed and infected and generally unhappy with life.
did they remove it, i hear you ask. no. no they did not.
turns out they (or at this hospital only, who knows??) like to leave you with a functioning gall bladder, or semi-functioning gall bladder in my case at least, for as long as possible. major surgery is to be avoided wherever possible to preserve way of life etc. instead they kept me for 2 nights and the better part of 3 days, hooked up to major, major butt kicking antibiotics to try and flush out the infection. this should cause it to return to normal size and go on functioning like normal.
so. low fat meals for the next few months (not hard as that was already part of my diet) and 5 boxes of antibiotics to work my way through, and a promise that if the pain returns (and they mean, like omg kill me now pain) that comes on really quickly, i must return to them and they will consider removing it. consider it. consider it? oh for the days of quack surgeons who just ripped that sucker out!!
so. i'm left with a semi functioning gall bladder, a damaged hand/arm where the super mega pain killers & antibiotics compromised my veins and i look like my arm has been in a vice for the last few days, very little dignity or sense of pride -- but a quasi success in (fingers crossed) getting my gall bladder back to where it should be.
so. yay. that was totally worth it. or. you know. not really. cause i hate hospitals and they way they treat you. but i feel better. and i've been pain free for the better part of a day now and i tell you that feels grand!!!
so onwards with the trip planning, and the adjusting of the figures to suit our revised budgets
