It’s been a rough few weeks…

So. It’s been a bit quiet around here lately; you may have seen on my social media that I’ve been going through the wars a bit.

We weren’t even halfway through June when I started being really sick. Can barely keep fluids down, horrendous pain, passing out from sheer exhaustion rather than going to sleep kinda sick. At first we thought it was a bad sick bug, then acid and digestive issues because of how sick I was. Eating would result in hours of pain, and I couldn’t keep painkillers down long enough for any relief. To make matters worse I was also incredibly itchy, all over.

After over a week of this I got myself a last minute GP appointment on Friday 21st. We ended up being sent in to a very busy A&E where we waited many hours but eventually I was seen, admitted, declared jaundiced and given a probable diagnosis. The best bit? I was given some amazing things – strong painkillers, and an IV of fluids jam packed with goodness.

My problem? I had a gallstone stuck where it shouldn’t be. Apparently my gallbladder is full of the things (which is Not Good) and one of them took a trip out of the gallbladder and got into a bit of a jam, preventing bile from flowing properly, which explained all of my nasty symptoms.

Over the course of the next week or so I was given plenty of painkillers, various anti-sickness drugs, more fluids, and antihistamines. I got myself some very attractive DVT stockings (at least they hid the hairy legs from view!) and James had to top up my pj collection with a trip to Sainsbury’s to keep me supplied with clean & comfy bedwear. I also got stabbed a *lot* for blood tests, which my veins do not like cooperating with – which resulted in extra holes and nasty bruises. 

I learned no matter what drugs they gave me I couldn’t stomach breakfast, and was proud if I managed a few mouthfuls of my other meals. If I ate a bit of food and drank 3 jugs of water a day – even if some of it came back up – I didn’t have to have an IV put back in. James and the girls came to visit me every day & I even escaped the ward a few times with some borrowed wheels… actual fresh air and sunshine!

I was scanned with an ultrasound (whilst connected to a bag of fluids I was carrying about, which made the constant rearranging required rather awkward), popped into an MRI machine (which meant taking out my daith piercing, not fun), and had a scarily big tube with a camera and things in fed down my throat into my stomach (while lying in the most awkward position ever on a narrow x-ray table thing).

Eventually, I was declared unblocked and discharged. Spotty from scratching like crazy, still quite yellow, and feeling totally exhausted… not to mention my insides feeling like they’d been on a particularly violent spin cycle. Needless to say, I’m still recovering. I am waiting for a letter with an outpatient appointment and we’ll be discussing my gallbladder surgery – it’s coming out, at some point.

Since my discharge I’ve been really tired and I’m still not eating much at all. The idea of coffee or tea still makes my stomach turn, and I think I’m still trying to catch up on the amount of sleep I missed out on! My brain seems to be made of cotton wool, too. I had a bad migraine earlier this week and although I usually have pretty bad nausea, if I stay put in bed I can avoid being sick, but this time it seemed to set my poor abused tummy off and I spent the whole evening scaring James by being really sick again.

So yep, I’m taking a bit of a break for a while. I’m not going to be around all that much on social media or here at times, especially with the summer holidays coming up. I’m also taking a break from work as my brain really isn’t back up to speed yet!

I’ve had some lovely comments from people on social media wishing me well, and quite a few have said how much better they’ve felt after having their gallbladder removed so I’m looking forward to that part, whenever it may be.

I know I should be “back up and running” by now, but to be honest, I’m just not. 

Dealing with this on top of my ongoing chronic headache and chronic migraine conditions isn’t a lot of fun (not to mention my vit D & folate deficiencies which need new prescriptions sorting out). I couldn’t keep my preventative meds down all that much for a few weeks there, and the sleep deprivation that goes hand in hand with a hospital stay in (3 different) busy wards hasn’t helped. My meds cause me to be drowsy and have short term memory fails as it is, so now I am keeping them down they aren’t really helping with the energy levels and the cotton wool brain!

I am getting there though – better every day. Here’s hoping it doesn’t mess up any of our summer holiday plans.