I got to have an emergency surgery. :)

[Andrea85]

Not sure if any of you noticed my absence or not, but that would be why.

Last tuesday, I ended up with the most excrutiating pain in my abdomen right below my ribcage. I laid in the bathroom floor for several hours feeling like I had been stabbed and puked many, many times. My dad was gone with the rv to Bristol and my mom was home, but didn't think much of it. She just said to go to bed when the pain let up. So I went to bed.

Next morning I still hurt, but not so bad I couldn't walk or eat. Stayed at the same pain level all day that thursday. At dinner, I ate fine, then the pain came back. :eek: it got bad enough I couldn't handle it anymore and wanted to go to the hospital, even if it was nothing. I needed something for the pain. On a scale of 1 to 10, it was a 15.

We went to the hospital, expecting it to be packed as usual. I was the only one there and got seen very fast. They did a lot of blood work on me and a dr checked me out. He came back after a little bit and said it was my gall bladder and it had to come out. I was past the point of it being an option. So yadda yadda yadda, surgery, then when I woke up, dr said it went very well, and as soon as my blood work came back, if it was good, I could go home.




(more to come. This is taking a lot of energy)

[Badtranny]

Welcome back sweet pea!

Is this going to interfere with your transition?

[sandra-leigh]

The descriptions I've heard have been pretty much like yours. I was at my sister's place when she had an attack, and there's nothing like it to make a strong person weep. Nothing I could do for her except be near and do things like rub her back (which didn't ease the pain itself but eased some of the suffering, by knowing I was there and caring about her.)

Note for those on HRT: if your dosage is higher than you need (or higher than your body is ready to use) then the estrogen or T can be converted to cholesterol and that can get sequestered in your gall bladder, leading to the kind of very painful attack that Andrea had. As frustrating as it may be to live with the recommended doses and have your body change only slowly, taking more "to speed things up" can have nasty results.

(Now to tell myself that over and over again and keep it in mind for my next clinic visit in 2 weeks, since I'm disappointed with the slow development of my breasts and tempted to ask the doctor to up my doses...)

[Melody Moore]

Now you know what I went though when I had the same problem as well - 8 days
of anti-biotics & morphine to get me back to a state where I was in no pain again.
But my gallbladder was too unhealthy to take out, they scheduled my surgery later.

But it is all done now, the only thing I am still trying to get use to is managing your stomach & bowel
by being careful what foods you eat now with no gall bladder to produce bile to break fatty foods down.
So food high in fats will give you problems so you might have been told already about the change in diet.

This sort of problem can also be caused by hormones, because your body will convert unwanted hormones
to cholesterol to get rid of it. So this is also done through the gall bladder. My gall bladder was on the way
out before I went on female hormones, so it was because of trying to get rid of testosterone for sure ;) LOL
Good to see you back :hugs:

[Andrea85]

Welcome back sweet pea!

Is this going to interfere with your transition?

Absolutely not. :) I'll explain more momentarily. The next section of the story is quite long and what happened was extremely informative on how I had been living my life.


Sandre-leigh, that is very true. Once again, I'll explain momentarily.

Melody, thanks. And once again, my explanation will be in the rest of the story.


Give me just a bit everyone. What I wrote about was only 2 days worth of a week long stay. :) There will be a sad part in it, so fair warning, lol.

[tanyavelour]

Thank goodness everything seems to be ok with you! Get well soon! :)

[Andrea85]

Alrighty. Back to the story. :)

I felt great laying in the hospital bed waiting for my blood work to get back. Had fun talking to the nurses (one of them, Beth, would turn me into a lesbian :daydreaming:, lol) and wandering around the hospital. Started off a really good day, and I thought to myself it had to be one of the more enjoyable days I've had yet in my life. Got the test results back, and they said everything was fine. So I was released. I was ready to leave and go see my baby girl Ariel. I didn't get to curl up in bed with her the night before so I was missing her. So I went home and relaxed. Played with Ariel for a while talked to my little sis for a while on the phone.

That night, my ex fiancee Tiffany was supposed to come see me. She had somethin come up, so around 7, she said it would be around 9. I said fine. By the time she came over, I was back in bed crying my eyes out in pain. My mom was back to thinking it was nothing. She thought I had over-exerted myself or something and thought I just needed rest. Tiffany came into my room and saw the pain I was in. My mom finally said she'd drive me back to the hospital, but I couldn't even sit up to get dressed. So I asked a huuuuuuuuuuuge favor of Tiffany. I asked her to dress me. It took a lot to ask it, but she said sure. I think that even though she and I don't love each other like we used to, she still cares. I mean, obviously, she wouldn't have come to check on me if she didn't, lol. Anyway, I layed there in bed and she got my undies and jeans on. I didn't even bother with a bra that night. I figured what the hell, I'm hurting bad enough I don't care if I look too good, lol.

Anyway, she helped me up and soon as I got on my feet, I actually screamed in pain. Oh my God, I have never felt so much pain before. It made the pain of my gall bladder look like a paper cut compared to being impaled with a tree. (I know, crazy comparison, but I just took 2 percosets, lol.) I told her I was goin to the car and I ran to the car just so I could lay down again. While my mom got ready, Tiffany sat in the car and did a pretty good job of calming me down, even if it wasn't her intention. She sat there with me and we talked about everything under the sun till my mom came out. I told Tiffany her coming to see me meant the world to me and that I owed her big time.

The trip to the ER was brutal. Every bump felt like being punched in the gut. Sucks I live out in the booneys cause it was a 30 minute drive to the ER. We got there, and the ER was packed. Luckily I didn't have to do all the BS paperwork again, so I got a wristband, and found a seat. I actually turned 2 chairs and a table into a bed cause I couldn't sit up, because the floor was so nasty I kinda wanted to wash my feet, lol. I passed out from the pain a few times in the 2 hours I was in the waiting room. I finally got called back and by the luck of God, I got a private room.

I laid there in the bed for an hour or so, then a nurse came in and put an IV in me and drew some blood. Said the Dr. would be in shortly, as he was finishing up with a patient. So I waited. Again. After about an hour of being in the exam room, my mom went to get us blankets cause it was sooooooooooooo cold in there. After a few minutes, I got up and hobbled to the door to look out. I felt like I was having a ht flash or something cause I felt wet with sweat. having a hot flash again or something cause I felt wet from sweat. While I was at the door, I saw my mom coming with blankets and talking with a Dr. I slowly started backing up so I wouldn't get hit by the door. When the Dr turned the light on (I like the dark) his jaw dropped.

The "wet" feeling I felt was only on my right arm. Where the needle connected to the tube of the IV tube thingy, it had come loose, and I had been bleeding profusely. There was blood all over me, the bed, and the floor. It looked like someone had gutted a deer in there. That was where the "hot flash" I thought I was having came from. I lost a lot of blood. Probably from where I rolled off the bed into the floor and used my right arm on the bed to get up.

After cleaning up the blood bath, lol, the Dr got the results of the blood work back in and was doing his check up on me. I begged or something for the pain and he nurse put some "happy juice" in the IV. It was Dilaudid, and I loved that stuff. Better than getting high. :daydreaming: I went numb and was able to talk calmly to the Dr about what was going on. He said he believed it was one of two things, but he said he wanted to draw some more blood first to re-run the tests and make sure so I wouldn't have surgery again if I didn't need it. I was like, okie dokie. :) Lemme know what you find. At that point, I didn't care, lol, I felt good. :P

A nurse came in a little while later and said I was being admitted and the Dr would be up to see me shortly. I was like alright, what was it? She said she had no idea, but the Dr ordered a morphine pump for me. So off we went to my new room for a while. It was kinda nice. Electric tilt on the bed so I could sorta sit up, tv with cable, and a thermostat so I wouldn't freeze to death, hahaha.

THe dr came in and said he believed it was a stone from my gall bladder that had slipped into the tube that connects the drainage tubes for the liver and gall bladder, and all the bile was being pushed into my torso, and slowly poisoning me. He said with the laproscopic surgery, it happens on ocassion since the little camera doesn't see everything. Makes sense, so I was like cool, how do we fix it? He then said should be able to put me under, and run a camera and claw thingy down my throat to the area and pull it out. THen I should be fine on my own. He left, and then I got to go have an ultrasound done. Kinda neat. Got to see my lungs moving and my heart beating. I freaked the hell out of the nurse when she was looking at my heart for me. I held my breath and slowed my heart till the monitor went off, lol. I know, that coulda ended badly, but I was happy and high on pain killers, so it was hilarious at the time, lol.

After she finished lecturing me, she took me back to my room. My mom asked if I would be fine alone. I said sure, she left, and I watched tv and turned into super bitch when the nurse wouldn't give me my morphine pump. I made her job a nightmare that night, lol. I figured, since I'm in horrible pain, why not make the happiness around me disappear? :devil:

Anyway, she finally gave it to me, and I went to town hitting the button. She came back around 4 and gave me a shot in my belly. She tried to apologize for not getting the morphine pump sooner, but I just turned up the tv till she left. I just got bad vibes from her so I didn't like her.

Next morning, I was supposed to have the procedure done to get the stray stone and stop my slow death. Then, the Dr came in and said they couldn't do it that day, because that ignorant nurse gave me a blood thinner medication in that shot and they can't do the surgery if that was in me. So my being a super bitch to the nurse was validated as being ok. :)

So I went back to sleep, and woke up to Beth, the nurse that would turn me into a lesbian. :daydreaming: Just kidding, lol. Women are nasty and I wouldn't touch one with a 10 foot pole. :P She was pretty though. I have to say I liked her better than anyone else I met there. Sweet, gentle, and nice as can be. After I heal up, I want to go o the human resources at the hospital and compliment her work she was so good. She cleaned my wounds from the previous surgery, got me anything I needed, and taught me how to fix the IV machine from beeping every time I bent my arm. She said she didn't mind doing it for me, but I didn't want to bug her with something that little.

Beth was an awesome nurse. Helped me to the bathroom every time, helped me eat while my hands were shaking too bad, everything a good nurse should. Two thumbs up for her. THe next day, I told her I was scared to death to go into th eoperating room. She held my hand and told me it would be ok and that I wouldn't feel anything and other stuff to relax me. It worked really well. BTW, she aknowledged me as female the whole time, even though my chart said otherwise.

When I got out of the OR and woke up, I felt no pain at all. It was great. Beth came in there and rolled me back to my room.

I passed out when I got back in there, and when I woke up, it was almost midnight. A new nurse came in and told me my mom had come by for a couple hours, but no one wanted to wake me.

The next few days, the nurses had to help me learn how to walk again. Neither me or the nurses had any idea why I couldn't walk on my own.

Anyway, Sunday, I got a message from my best friend/little sister that ticked me off. I posted something in my blog, she saw it, long story short, we said some bad things, almost got cops involved, and then my morphine wore off.

I realized I ****ed up royally. I asked Tiffanee (my little sis) to call me and we were boh crying like everything over the crap we said. So short story, we made up and we are closer now than we ever have been. BTW, Tiffanee isn't my "legal" sister. She and her mom/rest of family were the first people to accept me for who I am. Ever ince she and I met, we have been super close and now we are the definition of what sisters are, minus the DNA. Her mom thinks of me as a daughter now that God gave her to help with the loss of her oldest daughter years ago. I talked to Tiffanee on the phone first for a couple hours that night and told her I love her. She felt the same way. :) Then I talked to her mom for a couple hours, and she says I'm a gift from God to her and said she wanted me to call her mamma like the rest of her daughters do. :)

So, I nearly die, then I lose my best friend, then gain a sister and a momma. It's been a good week for me now. :D

So, here's the damage done at the hospital, besides the $12k bill.

Here's my arm.
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6187/6095473435_bf1d0ed4cc_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tubes2transistors/6095473435/)
arm (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tubes2transistors/6095473435/) by Tubes2Transistors (http://www.flickr.com/people/tubes2transistors/), on Flickr

And my belly (sorry for the under boob cleavage, lol)
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6065/6096015556_466436fefc_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tubes2transistors/6096015556/)
belly (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tubes2transistors/6096015556/) by Tubes2Transistors (http://www.flickr.com/people/tubes2transistors/), on Flickr

There are 4 cuts on my belly, so at least I won't be scarred all to hell. One is in my belly button, so it won't be noticeable. Both arms look like the one on the pic. THey're bruised all to hell from all the needles stuck in me. And BTW, be belly is normally flatter than that. Just some swelling going on that is slowly going down.

[Melody Moore]

You were really lucky really Andrea, my gall bladder was so enlarged that there was no
way they could operate with keyhole surgery unless they got it reduced in size. And I
had to go on anti-biotics for awhile to get it back to a healthy enough state. That is
why they rescheduled me for surgery & couldn't do it when I had the actual attack.

I have a similar pattern of scars now just like you do with a nastier one in my navel because
that was where they discovered & repaired the incisional hernia I was left with after my first
lot of gender reassignment surgery at the age of 3 years of age after being born intersex.

Anyway, Cholecystitis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholecystitis) is what you had and the pain develops like you say with a gall stone
getting lodged in the cystic duct (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cystic_duct) and your body will produce bile to help digest a fatty meal.
But if this becomes blocked then it swells up & becomes inflamed. But if does not start filling
back up into your torso & poisoning you if it's not ruptured. There is a risk of rupturing & poisoning
happening during the surgery and dropping gall stones when they are removing the gall bladder.

Apparently they dropped one inside of me during my surgery but were able to retrieve it - Thank God!

Anyway the best part is yet to come learning about the foods that will agree with you & those
that won't. Fatty foods, especially cheese will cause you problems. You will realise when you
spend lengthy times sitting on the toilet in pain to know exactly what I am talking about. But
they probably told you that you have to now make changes to your diet.

[Andrea85]

I've been spending my whole life already figuring ot what does and doesn't agree with me. Had IBS all my life. All I can eat at ths point is meats, breads, and pastas. You wouldn't believe how many meals I can make with just those three, lol.

[Melora]

As a Surgical technician...
I might say.. That Your Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy Went Well?? I think that is what you probably had??
Anyways..
Your Scars look Great! Isint LAP Surgery AWSOME.. I LOVE It!!!.. Quick & Inevasive as what we say.. A couple of holes that we make upon your torso.. Usually quick healing &Quickly forgotten.
And it brings such SMILES to my face that YOUR Hospital Team Actually brought YOU a few Smiles and a Good Time too!! = This story of yours made my WEEK for SURE.. ;)
Awsome!! I hope that you are up and Dressing soon hun!
I Love stories like these..
Huggs
Melora :)
AND Yes..
You Will have to change your eating habbits a tad bit = Talk to your Doctor hun..

[Aprilrain]

Glad you're better! Hit me up on FB or IM TTUL

[Melody Moore]

My question now is.... "Which one of us is going to be next?" I know for sure it won't be me or Andrea because we have
had our gall bladders out. But the chances are extremely high that most of us on hormones will develop gall bladder issues.

[kym]

Andrea, I am sorry you went through all that pain and suffering, it sucks. But I do have a dietary tip for you and Melody: drink Dr. Pepper with your meals, it acts like your gall bladder and helps break down the Fatty foods when you indulge in them.

[Robin Lee]

Welcome back from the edge of death! Get well soon girl.
Best Wishes
Robin Lee

[tanyavelour]

I actually think your belly looks great! Even swollen as you claim it is! Oh...and thanks for the underboob view :) . They look really good!
Back to the subject; I'm glad you are ok now! But that was one hell of a "bad adventure", with all that pain and misery. Have you ever broken a bone? If so, could you describe or compare the pain you felt now with breaking a bone? I just want some comparisons, since the biggest pain I ever felt was putting the bones of my left arm back into place by the doctor, no anaesthetics.

[Andrea85]

I actually think your belly looks great! Even swollen as you claim it is! Oh...and thanks for the underboob view :) . They look really good!
Back to the subject; I'm glad you are ok now! But that was one hell of a "bad adventure", with all that pain and misery. Have you ever broken a bone? If so, could you describe or compare the pain you felt now with breaking a bone? I just want some comparisons, since the biggest pain I ever felt was putting the bones of my left arm back into place by the doctor, no anaesthetics.

I've actually broken both wrists multiple times, both ankles, my right knee, and popped my right hip out of place. I used to be an avid mountain biker and skier. Nothing was too high for me to jump off of. But those are stories for another thread. But as a comparison though, when I've broken bones, the pain is bad, but pretty localized. The pain from my gall bladder took over my entire body. for me, it would be like breaking bones in every part of my body. I felt the pain everywhere from my torso, where it originated from, to the tips of my fingers and toes. I felt it in my spine and everything. I wouldn't wish that pain on anyone for any reason.

[AKAMichelle]

I know that pain and I wish that I didn't. A couple of months ago I was rushed to the hospital with shortness of breath. I had severe chest pain and it was causing me to be unable to breathe. Therefore I thought I was having a heart attack. Instead I was having a gall stone attack. I don't want that much pain ever again.

I am glad that you are doing ok. My wife had her gall bladder removed and years later they found stones had made it to the pancreas. She said that pain is worse than a gall stone attack. I really hope I never experience that much pain.

[tanyavelour]

I've actually broken both wrists multiple times, both ankles, my right knee, and popped my right hip out of place. I used to be an avid mountain biker and skier. Nothing was too high for me to jump off of. But those are stories for another thread. But as a comparison though, when I've broken bones, the pain is bad, but pretty localized. The pain from my gall bladder took over my entire body. for me, it would be like breaking bones in every part of my body. I felt the pain everywhere from my torso, where it originated from, to the tips of my fingers and toes. I felt it in my spine and everything. I wouldn't wish that pain on anyone for any reason.

Wow, so that was bad! Really, really bad! thank goodness everything turned out ok with you at the end. I feel really bad that you had to go through all that, I'm so sorry to hear that. But at least we had a small chance to get a lesbian out of this :) (I'm socially inept, so, I'm not sure I managed to convey the feelings well haha)

PS: I broke my arm twice, at the same place with a couple of years apart, and the second time the doc put it back together, it glued a bit curved, so, it is noticeable if you stare at it and compare it to my other arm. (I still feel pain on it when I try to lift heavy stuff)

[Melody Moore]

Ask any doctor and they will tell you that the pain associated with Cholecystitis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholecystitis) is one of the
worst pains we can ever experience - it is excruciatingly painful and even one of the world's
most effective painkillers, Morphine will make little to no difference to the pain in the earliest
stages of an attack. It took about 3 days of being treated with lots anti-biotics before the
Morphine they were pumping into me started to really have an relieving affect on my pain.

I have spoken to women who also have had kids and also have had Cholecystitis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholecystitis) and they also
believe that the pain is much worse than anything they experienced with going through child birth.
So that should give you some better idea how bad the pain can really be with this type of condition.

[Jay Cee]

Wishing you a speedy recovery, Andrea.