Surgery

What a painful couple of months . . . 

I ended up having to go to the ER twice within 24 hours one Saturday in March.  Extreme stomach and back pain.  At my first ER visit they did a CT scan and found that I have pelvic congestion syndrome that I should get checked out with my Gyn doctor.  

Unfortunately, the extreme pain came back 6 hours later.  I couldn't manage the pain because it was so intense and I ended going to the ER again.  They redid my blood work and were concerned with my liver #'s.  After an ultrasound, they diagnosed me with Cholelithiasis - Biliary colic with gallstones. 

They sent me home and recommended that I follow-up with my primary doctor for the next steps.

A couple of days later, I got a new diagnosis from my primary care doctor (say what?!!) My Dr strongly felt like I had kidney stones.  

3 diagnoses from 3 different doctors??!!

After a week or 2 of still feeling pain, I felt really defeated.  I sent my CT scan and ultrasound to a Urologist for review and they were certain that I did not have kidney stones.  So then I went to a vascular Dr to follow up with my pelvic congestion syndrome diagnosis.  Without even looking at my scan and ultrasound, the Dr was also certain that my painful intermittent attacks were not caused by pelvic congestion syndrome.  

Again, totally defeated!  

I was totally beside myself . . . I was so desperate to find answers.  I could not handle the thought of having another attack.  (I had already had about 7 painful episodes in the past month in a half).

As a last resort, I made an appointment with a general surgeon hoping for more information.  The general surgeon was absolutely convinced it was my gallbladder.  Back to diagnosis #2!  Since the gallbladder is not an essential organ needed for survival - I decided to take the chance and have it removed.  The Dr. also observed that I had an umbilical hernia.  

So surgery to remove my gallbladder and fix my umbilical hernia was scheduled and performed in June.

The healing has been a long road - but no more painful attacks!  Woohoo!!