Home Again (Finally)

March 6th was a terrible evening for me. It began soon after I ate a dinner of chicken, green beans and potatoes. I suddenly began to feel very ill. The pressure in my chest had me convinced it was a heart attack and I told Rob that I had to get to the ER. Several hours later I learned that the heart wasn't the issue but it was a badly infected gall bladder that was blocked from two huge stones. I'm not one to take pain meds but I welcomed every shot of morphine they gave me. I was really sick and had to be given IV anti nausea medication as well. I was admitted and for days the surgeon agonized over whether to remove it or not. Firstly, I had to get off the blood thinner which they did immediately but it took 5 days to get out of my system. In the meantime, although on IV antibiotics the white count continued to climb. That made surgery a no go as they couldn't afford to spread the infection. In the end, it was decided that I needed a temporary gall bladder drain until I could have the surgery. I got that two weeks ago. It's a bit more involved than you would think as the catheter is through the liver and gall bladder and collected in a bag. The drain is in my belly and must be kept completely sterile. I have to go to the hospital once a week to have them irrigate/redress it.

My hospital stay wasn't too bad other than the constant labs and Ivs. Days 2 through 8 I lucked into a private room and day 10 I got the best hospital roommate I ever had. She made those last few days fun. Even the nurses commented they had never seen two roommates get along so well and have so much fun.

They finally let me come home day 15. The previous day I developed a cold and have been coughing ever since. I'm still on a lot of medicine. I have to see the surgeon and hopefully I can have the necessary surgery in four weeks. Of course, should the drain fail, I will need it sooner.
Keep your fingers crossed.