Richard's 15 hour whirlwind!

It's 12:34 am on Monday morning, 04/20/09. I hear Richard sick (again) down stairs throwing up. As I lie there in a semi-coma-like state, I say to myself..."another gall bladder attack."

Richard has been having bouts of attacks for many months now. About one month ago he went to see our family doctor, Dr. Groff, who ordered him to have an abdominal ultrasound to confirm if he has gall stones that are causing his attacks. Procrastinate. That is all I will say about that!

Over the months, both myself and Richard did a lot of research on the internet and self-diagnosed him with gall stones, and thus he is experiencing gall bladder attacks. These attacks are very painful. They begin with an aching, burning pain in the middle of his abdomen and radiate up to his back. He throws up, has sweats, with chills, and is down right miserable. The attacks usually last 3 hours. As soon as the pain subsides, he is fine. Back to normal. I think that is the reason he put off the ultrasound...it's like he forgets as quickly as the pain subsides. I do not forget about being up all night listening to that awful stuff!

Back to 12:34 am on Monday morning. Around 3 am Richard insists that I call for an ambulance. I did. I took about 10 minutes to arrive. (Tick, tock, people.) Three paramedics from the Cy-Fair VFD come inside the house to find Richard curled up on the floor like a scared puppy dog...they tell him, "Sir, you know you should NOT be on the floor." That's the first I have heard of that...still not sure why that is and I didn't think to ask why. So, they load him on the stretcher...our neighbor Bobby calls to make sure everything is okay! Thank heavens! My saving grace...I ask him if his wife, Stacy, would mind coming over to listen for Layla. She does. I head to the hospital right behind the ambulance. Our destination - North Cypress Hospital. This is the same hospital we had to take Layla to last APRIL - April 12th to be exact! She was very ill with the Adeno virus.

As I walk into the same ER I carried my eight month old daughter into the previous year - everything slows down to a blur. I see the room Layla was in. I see some of the same familiar faces that helped us. I see the radiology room where they took an x-ray of Layla's chest. So surreal....oh! Back to the real world. Richard. Is he okay?

The paramedics were just unloading him from the ambulance...I passed him right up as I was in my hazy surreal world! Oops.

The paramedics would not give Richard any pain medication because they were not sure of the cause of his pain. In the ER, Richard was still shaking in pain, and continuing to throw up pure yellow-green bile. The hospital nurse finally administered a pain med....and you could just see Richard go to a far, far away happy place. Which, in turn, made me a lot happier.

Let's fast forward a bit...abdominal, liver, pancreas ultrasound...confirmation of gall stones...blood test work up to check liver enzyme levels and white cell blood count...this was to determine whether or not he need immediate removal of his gall bladder or some time to research what medical actions should follow. No choice - immediate removal of gall bladder. Surgery scheduled for 1 pm with Dr. Keller.

As I was sitting in the waiting room for what felt like ages...they finally called me back at 4 pm to see him. He was pretty loopy, but the surgery was a success!!! Thank the Lord!!! And even better news - no other damage occurred to any of his vital organs! God is indeed good.

Instructions - take it easy, don't drive for a few weeks, rest and drink plenty of fluids. Follow up with the surgeon in two weeks. Then he was dismissed and we were able to head back home....

Now THAT - that is a whirlwind if I ever...