As I have previously mentioned, I took some time away from social media for my personal life but also because of my health. I'll warn you now that this may be graphic so if you're a bit squeamish you may not want to read this post. It's a bit long but this is my story leading up to surgery, the day of surgery, and now after surgery/the recovery process.

It all started November 2016 when I really think about it and look back. I was having trouble with the food I would eat. At first it was just nausea and slight discomfort with greasy, fatty, spicy, foods. But then it got worse. One morning back in November, after eating tacos the night before, I woke up early and was extremely nauseous . I laid in bed for a while hoping it would pass but it didn't so I got up and tried to go out to my living room to sit on my couch. I was walking so slowly because moving made it worse. Next thing I knew my mouth was filled with vomit but my mouth couldn't hold it all. I caught some of it in my hand but the rest went all down my neck and chest. I threw up all over myself like an infant, it was mortifying. Somehow I managed to only get it on myself because it wasn't on my love seat or the carpet but it soaked threw all my clothing. I threw up more in my bathroom sink, I couldn't make it to the toilet plus I needed to rinse it off myself. Peeling off my vomit covered pajamas and sports bra was one of the most disgusting things I've ever had to do. Then I had to call my mom at like 5:30-6am asking how to get vomit out of my clothes because I live on my own and have never had this problem. I had to tell her that I had just thrown up all over myself and that I didn't know what to do. Let's just say it took me a while to want to eat tacos again. 

The next major incident was one night after eating a simple frozen pizza, I had what I thought was extreme heart burn. There was this excruciating pain right between my breasts that was radiating into my back. I took so TumsⓇ but it didn't help at all. My parents let me have this little space heater for my apartment since it's always cold so I turned it on high and laid on the floor in front of it. The heat helped a bit with the pain but it was still so bad I was in tears and called my mom. It was almost 1am but I was in so much pain and could barely move. I was afraid something was wrong and that I was dying, dramatic I know but in the moment you think the worse. She helped calm me down and told me that if it was bad enough to go to the ER or to call 911 but I decided to tough it out. Ended up sleeping on the floor in front of my little heater but I made it through. My mom told her coworkers about it in the morning and a few of them said it was probably my gallbladder. A couple of them had theirs removed due to having similar issues. My mom also talked to my aunt, who had hers removed, and she said that she had pain in the same area that then radiated into her back and that she could hardly eat anything (same as me).

As time passed things got worse. I could barely eat anything without getting nauseated or being in pain. I survived mostly on applesauce for a good month or so. Eventually I went to a doctor who had me do a HIDA Scan. Basically they injected me with some special dye and monitor it with a fancy machine. Once it's worked it's way through my body enough they inject a medication that forces the gallbladder to contract. The medicine made me a bit nauseous and hurt some but the doctor made it seem like I was going to be in horrible pain and would likely vomit. Basically what the test does is see if the gallbladder is functioning properly or not. Unfortunately, mine was not working properly which meant surgery.

At the time of the test I was on my moms insurance but then I got my own so I had to drop off of hers and then start all over with a different doctor where I live, pushing back surgery. The only reason I did that was because I live an hour and a half away from my parents and with my insurance I wouldn't have to pay anything whereas with my moms I would have to pay up to $850. But then things changed...

February 7th, 2017: I woke up in so much pain, I could hardly move. Just getting out of bed to go to the bathroom was a struggle. I called my mom and asked her what to do and she said she'd come over and take me to the ER. I said okay because I was tired of waiting and needed to do something to get things going and to have the dang thing removed already. I called work and felt really bad because the 11-2 girl had apparently called off (I was scheduled 1:30-9:30) plus I'm a manager so I was supposed to close the store. In the ended I didn't really care though because I was in pain and needed help. I got up and got dressed but then just laid on my bed. When my mom got to my apartment it was a little after 3. Just going out my door and down a few steps to let her in was difficult. We went to the ER and only had to wait probably 15-20 minutes before being taken back. I had to get into a hospital gown, oh how I hate those things, and then lay on an uncomfortable bed to wait for a nurse. A lady came in right after I finished getting the gown on to register me and then a few minutes later I had a phlebotomist come in to draw some blood. I have deep little veins so it's always a struggle but she got it on the third try. Probably two minutes later an RN comes in to collect a urine sample but also because she needed to do an IV for pain and anti-nausea medication. Then I got to see the ER doctor who had to get my HIDA Scan results from the clinic back home to review the results and said he would speak with a surgeon. Maybe an hour later he came back and told me that I had to call the surgeons office in the morning to make an appointment that same day so that I could then book my surgery by the end of the week. After I was nicely medicated and feeling better I was able to go.

Next morning I called the surgeons office and the lady tried to make an appointment for a week or so later but I insisted that the ER doctor had said I should be seen that day according to the surgeon so she had to check with him and call me back. I was correct but she could only get the appointment for the next day but I took it. I went in and told the surgeon my issues and he checked me over. He had my surgery scheduled for the next day and gave me a prescription for pain meds post op.

After seeing the surgeon, I went back to my apartment and packed my bag since I would be staying with my parents afterwards. I went to a Walgreens to get my prescription filled but apparently that was their busy time and since only the pharmacist could fill it due to it being a controlled substance my wait time was 2 hours. I basically said fuck it and told them I'd come back and get it in the morning. I drove back home to my parents house and spent the night. The next morning I woke up early and took my dad back over with me since I wasn't allowed to drive after surgery. I was scheduled to arrive at 9:30am. I was taken back pretty quickly, changed into one of those awful hospital gowns, got an IV in me, went over my info, etc. Then the nurse brought my dad back and we waited... I didn't get taken back to the OR until 12:20ish. Apparently the patient before me had some complications so I got pushed back. No one ever came in to let me know though and a nurse only checked on me once during the whole waiting period. 

Surgery went well and I woke up VERY happy but in pain. My head felt sooo heavy but I kept lifting it up to look around and wave at everyone. I tried waving at this older gentleman across from me but he wouldn't wave back, I was kind of sad about it. I'm sure all of the nurses and doctors were laughing at me for being so happy from the drugs. The nurse I had was really nice and gave me lots of pain meds. She asked me my pain level which was a 6 but she needed it to be a 3 before she could take me back to my room. I think she gave me medicine at least 5 times. Eventually I felt good and was taken back to my room.  It was getting late so I was worrying because my dad can't drive at night and it was almost 4pm when we left. This was back when it still got dark around 5 and the drive back home is and hour and a half. We got to a little town about 20 minutes away from home. It was pretty dark and my dad was driving fast and jerking a bit, which was painful, so I took over even though I wasn't supposed to drive after surgery. I know I shouldn't have but I needed to do what was best for us. 

Now it's over a month later and I'm feeling great. I do have a bit of trouble with things but I'm still healing. It doesn't happen much anymore, but after I had surgery and would eat anything greasy it would go right through me. Gross, I know, but I'm trying to be honest in case someone else out there is going through this and wants to know what it might be like for them. My doctor did tell me that there's a 5% chance of having loose stool(basically diarrhea) every time I eat and a 25% chance that the surgery won't work because something else is wrong. Thankfully I'm doing well and can eat without pain or diarrhea after

I hope this wasn't too gross for you all but as I said I want to be honest for those out there going through this that want to know what it could be like. Also, hopefully this will explain more in depth about why I was gone for so long. Being in a lot of pain and discomfort makes writing blog posts and filming/editing YouTube vides quite difficult. Thank you to all of you that are still here with me and welcome to all of the new ones. I really appreciate your love and support.

xoxo,

Jenn