Okay... It's not my gall bladder??? WHAT????

I thought I had an answer. I thought I finally knew. I thought it was an easy fix. I thought I was almost done feeling this way. I was so relieved when I heard there really was SOMETHING wrong with me and that I wasn't manifesting all of this pain and discomfort in my head. I was told it was my gall bladder and that I needed to see a surgeon to have it removed.

So that's what I did. I went to see our family friend who is a surgeon. Dr. H came in and said hello and we chatted for a few minutes to catch up on this and that. He got down to business and began asking questions about all that I was feeling and all that I had already done to this point.With Ben at my side, I started at the beginning and brought him up to date on every ache, pain, test, and scan. I even gave him a copy of the Hida scan that had finally brought me to his door. He had already looked at it, but he wanted to take it to his radiologist to look at.He left the room and Ben and I waited for him to return with the news we had come to here.

When he returned, however, he gave us much different news. "Well, it's just as I suspected, your gall bladder is fine! When we look at a gall bladder that we may need to remove we look for three things: is it excreting properly, are there crystals or are there stones. Your gall bladder is pushing things through fine and there are no stones or crystals."

Uhhh..... WHAT???

"I haven't really ever seen results like this." Dr. H said as he pulled out the paperwork from the scan. "It say's you have tested positive for bile reflux in your gall bladder. Now I think we really need to send you to a gastroenterologist and have and endoscopy done. Now he may send you back to me, but I really think that the problem isn't with the gall bladder."

As I sat there stunned that I did not have gall bladder disease, like the nurse practitioner at my general doctors office had told me, Dr. H continued to talk, but I didn't hear ANYTHING except, more tests and no answers today. I was very glad that Ben was there to catch the rest as I tuned out. So, he set up the appointment and we were off to find an answer on another day. i was hoping that would be Monday, since that was when my appointment was.

So, the weekend came and went, and I settled into the knowledge of no knowledge again. I was grateful that I had been to see Dr. H. He had been the perfect doctor to see. Some other doctor might have just scheduled the surgery and not taken another look at my scan. I would have been gall bladder-less and still in pain! That would have truly been devastating.

Monday arrived and I was READY! I woke up with high hopes of a great day with the kids and a helpful doctor in the afternoon. However, when Ruby woke up, we had a little kink in our day. Both of her eyes were swollen, goopy, and pink. UGH! K and Bells were arriving within minutes. I immediately called my brother and told him not to bring Bells just yet. I sent him a video of Ruby's eyes and he opted to wait until after I could talk to a doctor before exposing Bells to what might be a contagious pink eye. K however was in route and it was too late for his mom to make alternate plans that fast. She called her husband, who works nights, and he did his best to get K as soon as possible. But that was going to be a few hours.

So, my great morning had turned into a game of defense. I had Ruby upstairs and K downstairs in hope that there would be not passing of whatever was ailing Ruby. I literally broke a sweat running up and down the stairs to check on each of them and keep them out of trouble. It was not an easy task. When K's dad did arrive, it was the fastest pick-up ever. Very little chat and they were off to the car to get away from my obviously contagious house. I put Ruby in the car and headed off to find out that it indeed was pink eye and it was very contagious. So, there would be not Bells or K at my house for 24 hours while I took care of Ruby and lysol-ed everything I thought she might have touched or breathed on.

It turns out that the pink eye was a blessing in disguise. When I arrived to see my new gastro doc, Dr. A, I learned that I would need not only an endoscopy but also a colonoscopy! I wasn't going to just relax and cuddle with Ruby on her sick day... I was going to be very busy doin' my own business! HOW FUN!!(That was sarcasm in case you couldn't tell by the caps typing.)

I spare you the terrible details of my "business" Tuesday and jump right to the day of the tests. I wasn't going until the afternoon, so I had the kids in the morning. I was, ummm, a little grouchy. I hadn't eaten since before 9:00 A.M. on Tuesday. On top of that, even though Ruby's eye was looking better, she was now showing some lovely colors coming out of her nose! K was going to be at my house all day, because that's how it is on Wednesday. I had to figure out how to keep the kids happy, myself busy to not think about how hungry I was, and figure out how to get Ruby to the doctor again.

Somehow, with the help of Ben and my mom, I made it all work out. I took the kids to the park and ran them ragged. I took them to the grocery store with me on the way home. That was stupid. Not because of the kids, but because I wanted EVERYTHING!! Got home, left K and Bells with mom, took Ruby to the doctor, and came home. When I got home, Ben had arrived and was feeding K and Bells. Ruby joined them and I was off to take a shower. After the shower, I wrote up the kid's day sheets, helped get everyone to bed, kissed Ben, and headed off to my appointment.

Mom was my driver. She and I prayed together before I went in. We forgot to pray for the nurses giving me the IV and that was a BIG mistake. Four nurses and SIX attempts at finding my vein later, I am bruised like crazy and I can remember MOST of the procedure. According to everyone who has ever had a colonoscopy and an endoscopy, I was supposed to have a wonderful little nap. THAT, didn't happen. It was terrible people. TERRIBLE!

When all was said and done. Dr.A said everything looked fine. He gave me a diagnosis of IBS and Fibromyalgia. Both of which are difficult to treat and there is NO cure. In fact, according to this wonderful world wide web, SOME people think that neither of these are REAL. They are just a made up diagnosis for people that can't be given a real diagnosis. This is not what I wanted to hear.

Don't get me wrong. I know that as far as a diagnosis goes, this is a good one to have in comparison to what Dr. A. could have found. It is just exhausting to know all of the work and life changes I have ahead of me. Diet is something I have struggled with literally since elementary school. I have NEVER been tiny. Losing weight has always been a battle. It always seems to take me FOREVER to see any tiny little change and I always have to work really hard to make that happen. Everything that I have read says that diet and exercise are crucial to getting these two issues under control. I guess I just have to figure it all out.

Over the last few months, I have also been battling a bit of depression. DR. A says that is very common because the gut and the brain work very closely together. If the gut isn't feeling good, then the brain will respond in kind. I am trying really hard to pull myself out of this funk. I'll be fine and then all of the sudden, I am very, very low. I'm overwhelmed by all that I have been through and all that is to come. I am praying daily, but lately I find myself at a loss for what to pray for and the right words to pray. I'm trusting that the Lord knows my heart and will do what is best.

Thanks to everyone who has been praying for me. Please continue to do so. I will do my best to keep things moving around here as normal. I'm still Walking the Land looking for God's plan in all of this. I know I will understand in time. May He use me and this experience to his Glory! Blessing to you all!