I went to the doctor and got the results from the sonogram Friday. I don't have any gall stones, but that doesn't mean I don't have trouble with my gall bladder. Now I have to go for a HIDA scan this Thursday and then see a surgeon on Friday. I sure do hope they figure out what is wrong.

Yobo and I went out to dinner last night and I had grilled chicken. By the time I got out to the parking lot afterwards, I was dry heaving really bad. It was late, going on ten o'clock, so I guess I didn't ruin any business. Only one couple saw me, and they were leaving. I was pretty embarrassed.

Meanwhile, I haven't been able to do a full workout at the Y. I just can't handle it, and only do what I feel I can do. At least it is something. So far, I am down six pounds since I started going there. I figure it would be more, but I have been drinking ginger ale to help settle me stomach, and I can't drink the diet stuff because that causes me problems of another nature. Keep the faith ;)

I had a HIDA scan with CCK yesterday. Basically they shoot some radioisotopes into your vein and it is taken up into your liver, gall bladder, pancreas, and bowels, and they take pictures while it is doing that. Since my gall bladder showed up on the scan, it meant that it wasn't blocked and things were getting through. So then they put the CCK (don't ask me what that stands for) in through an IV, which took about 5 minutes. It caused me to feel very sick and then made my gall bladder cramp up pretty badly. They took pictures for another 20 minutes after that and measured how much of the CCK was expelled from my gall bladder. My expulsion rate was 48%.

I went to a surgeon this afternoon. He told me that 48% was actually a pretty good expulsion rate and they usually don't do surgery until it is down to around 20. Usually people have a gall bladder attack that may last for a few days and then go away and not come back for quite some time. However, since I have had almost constant nausea and pain for 4 weeks and had nausea and pain when the CCK was injected that means that there is a problem with my gall bladder. The long and short of it is that I am having it removed next Friday afternoon. I am glad they are going to do something to help me feel better, but to tell you the truth, I am scared spitless. Now I have to start the endless rounds of stuff to get ready for the surgery. I'll keep you posted. Keep the faith ;)

I was lying in bed this morning and heard the woman on the radio say snow would be ending this morning and the roads were slippery and wet. I kinda laughed and then looked out the window. Sure enough, the ground is all covered in snow. I can't believe it, we were only supposed to get rain the last I heard. My poor mock orange is just about hitting the ground as this is the wet, heavy kind of snow. I can't believe that yesterday I was running around in shirt sleeves and sandals.

I don't know if my gall bladder knows it is coming out in a week; but it seems as if it is determined to make this last week one from hell. The last two nights I have had to get up around 3:00 or 4:00 to take a pain pill to make it through the rest of the night. The pain under the ribs isn't too bad, kinda like you are 7 months pregnant and the baby is stuck up under the rib cage; but when the pain spreads to the back and up into my shoulder blade, it is a real killer. I go for my pre-surgery physical Monday after work and then have to make an appointment for a visit to the hospital. I am just really fed up with this whole deal and want it all over with.

I haven't been able to do any kind of exercise as that seems to make the pain and nausea worse. I will have to start all over when I can go back to the Y. I try not to let that thought depress me too much. At least I haven't felt like eating, so I am holding my own in the weight department and not gaining. Keep the faith ;)

I wasn't going to go to Jai's track meet yesterday because I felt so bad, but I got a case of the guilties because I know she likes for me to be there, so I went. I am so glad I did now. She ended up pulling a muscle in her leg when she did the triple jump. She was in a considerable amount of pain and was crying (mostly from frustration because she pulled it on her first attempt and had to pull out and not on her third attempt so her jumps would count). I brought her home early and iced it down for her (you know - did the whole RICE thing). Not sure how she is this morning as I haven't gotten her up for school yet. The coach called last night to see how she was doing and so did a few of the kids from the track team. I think that surprised her a little, not the kids so much, but the coach. George is pretty nice and seems to genuinely like the kids and his job as a teacher and track coach.

Go the the hospital this afternoon for my pre-admission visit. Have to take all my meds I take on a regular basis. I am also going to take the ones he has given me since I have had this problem. I have been allowed to keep taking them and have had to increase the dosage of the pain meds. Not the dosage really - just how often I take them. Keep the faith ;)

Well, today is the big day, at least I hope it still is. I got home from Jai's track meet yesterday and there was a phone call that they had to talk to me about my blood work. Of course, by that time I got nothing but answering machines at every number I called as it was well after 6:00. I hope it is just a mix-up. The surgeon's office said that the blood work I had done on 28 Mar would be recent enough. Then when I went to the hospital for my pre-surgical visit, I was told that the base metabolic panel needed to be done within 14 days of surgery and it would be 17 today so I needed it redone. I had that taken care of yesterday morning. Hopefully that was what they were calling about. If they cancel this surgery because of bloodwork that can't be done in time, I think I will scream.

Yesterday I was in a considerable amount of pain for most of the work day. It kind of feels like contractions up under my rib cage. Just the early stages of labor, but painful enough to be uncomfortable nonetheless. I did, however, feel pretty good last night compared to the morning (still pain, but not near as much) and with the help of a pain pill around 11:00, I actually got a pretty good night's sleep. Much better than the night before that when I only got about 3 hours sleep due to pain.

Well, I gotta get out of here and start getting kids up for school soon. Keep the faith ;)

Just a short note to let everyone know that they were able to do the surgery laparoscopicly and I was home by 3:30 yesterday afternoon. I am little stiff and sore, but not too bad. The worst is the bruising (which I did not expect). I have been able to eat for the first time in weeks without having to run to the bathroom with the dry heaves. Of course, I haven't eaten that much yet. My appetite is still kinda low, but I'm not arguing with that. I just hope I can keep off the 18 pounds I lost and keep on loosing now that I am better. Keep the faith ;)

I did something this morning I have never in my adult life been able to do. I fixed bacon for the family without getting sick. Even as a child I had to either go outside or in my bedroom when my ma fixed bacon. This is the first time ever I didn't get sick. I didn't eat any of the bacon, wasn't quite brave enough for that yet. I had hard-boiled egg and a piece of toast for breakfast. I am wearing my jeans today. Don't know how long that will last. The incision at my belly button seems to be the one bothering me the most and even bled a little yesterday, so I'm not sure if the jeans will last or will have to go back to my sweats. Just giving them a try.

I am having trouble sleeping as I am a stomach sleeper and am still too sore for that. Sleeping on my side or back just doesn't cut it for me. I'll bet poor Yobo will be glad to go back to work tomorrow and sleep there so he can actually get some sleep. He says my tossing and turning hasn't kept him up, but I'm not sure if I believe him.

The sirens were ringing a while ago and the ambo went screaming by our house. Then I heard a state police medavac chopper fly over and land at the high school. I can hear it leaving now. Sure hope it is just a protocol fly-out and not that bad. Sometimes the fly people out more because protocal calls for it than because the people are seriously injured. I hope that is the senario in this case. I hate to hear the chopper fly over after the sirens ring. Keep the faith ;)

Here is Easter break and the weather had been pretty crappy. Rain every day so far. It is supposed to clear off this afternoon. I sure hope so as all this rain is depressing.

Jai and I went out yesterday for the first time since my surgery. I was pretty wacked when we got home. I have to go grocery shopping today so yesterday was a dry run. I have been feeling pretty good. My bottom incision is still draining and is a little greenish in color. The dr told me to wash it with peroxide and put an antibiotic cream on it. If I should start to have red streaks run up from it, call them right away and get to the office. So far that hasn't happened. I get the staples out on Fri. I will find out then if I can go back to my full routine or if I will have to be on light duty for awhile. I'm not sure if I will be able to lift the kids or not. One of them weighs 40 pounds, one 50 and one 80 and we lift them two or three time a day. They will have to either switch me to a different classroom or just get someone in to help when it is time to lift. They can't make me use sick leave until I can lift again.

I will also find out when I can go to the Y again. It has been almost 6 weeks since I have been there for a full workout and I really miss it. (Oh my God, I can't believe I actually wrote that. I was a bona fide couch potato til about the middle of January.) I finally got into a good routine at the Y and then all this crap started. Now I will have to start all over. Keep the faith ;)

I updated yesterday after I got back from the dr, but don't know what happened to it. He didn't give my any restrictions. I can go back and lift the kids, but must just use common sense. He said since I was used to doing the lifting before the surgery and continued to do it up until the day before surgery, I shouldn't have too much trouble. Just do as much as I can. In other words, it if hurts, don't do it. He said some pulling will be normal, but not pain.

I can also go back to the Y, but he did suggest I see how the first week back at work went before returning to the Y. I may take him up on that one. I sure don't want to overdo it and end up hurting myself.

Hope everyone has a Happy Easter. I am having my dad over for dinner after church. Then we will go see Yobo's sister, husband and baby. We haven't seem then since Joe turned 18 in March. I imagine Samantha is really getting cute now. She is 5 months old. We got her a couple of cute outfits since she is way to young for candy. It sure seemed strange buying baby clothes again. Keep the faith ;)

LATER I forgot to add something here. Last Friday I jokingly asked the surgeon if I told him all my symptoms had gone away if I could just go home and forget the surgery. Not realizing I was kidding, he said sure because all the tests had come up negative and the pathology report would show that he had removed a healthy gall bladder. Well, yesterday he told me that the pathology report came back and my gall bladder wasn't healthy after all. I felt vindicated because he mainly did the surgery because of what I was saying and what my PCP was saying not because of the tests. I guess even surgeons can be wrong once in a while and it felt kinda good to have him admit it to me. Keep the faith ;)

This has been a very long week. I went back to work Tuesday for the first time since my surgery. Even though we only had 4 days of school this week, it seemed like a very long one. Lifting the kids really put a strain on me. It didn't really hurt, but I could feel it pulling. As I consequence, I have been pretty tired every day after work. The main thing I had to look out for was the two kids with cerebral palsy hitting me when they had uncontrolled movement of their arms when I was near their wheelchairs.

I did have to fill out an incident report because on Thursday the one student had a seizure and hit me in the area of my surgery with her knee. If she had all the proper restraints on her wheelchair it wouldn't have happened, but her parents took them off and in trying to keep her from getting hurt on her wheelchair I ended up getting hit. The teacher came over as quickly as she could, but I had already been struck by that time. So far there have been no ill effects and I sure hope it stays that way.

I talked to my primary care physician and he wants me to wait until next Friday before going back to the Y. That will be three weeks since the surgery. He just feels that it would be better to wait at least that long, even though the surgeon said I could go back at the beginning of the week. Since the PCP knows me better, I guess I will listen to him.

We are going to an Orioles game on Wednesday. It will be the first time we have been to Camden Yards. We are going down on buses from the middle school. The on 17 May, Tim, Yobo and I are going to a Blue Rocks game in Delaware. That is Tim's reward for being on the honor roll. For $20 apiece, we get transportation to and from the game, an all-you-can-eat cookout, and tickets to the game. I took one of my two personal days I have left. That leaves me with one personal day and 4 sick days left. I have hit the sick leave hard this year between the gall bladder stuff, though I only used 3 days all told for that, and having pneumonia before Christmas and using 5 days at that time. I hope to be able to carry the other 4 days over til next year.

I have lost another 2 pounds. I imagine it may be more, but it is TOM. Keep the faith ;)

Faithful readers have been here times.