So, here's a quick catch-up of my downward health spin since Noah was born, and how I'm handling everything (spoiler: not well). I don't even know that I'll ever share this site anymore, but I'm tired of the same old vents in my facebook groups, and I'm sure people are tired of listening. Plus, this way I'll have documentation that's dated of my symptoms, which will hopefully come in handy.
So, rewinding back to 2017. My amazing second child, Noah, was born in January, after an incredibly rough pregnancy, where I was all but bedridden do to symphysis pubic dysfunction (SPD), a super painful condition that made any movement feel like I was being torn in two. That, plus awful reflux that could only be cured by drinking milk, meant that I gained a whopping 60 lbs by the time I gave birth.
By the time Noah was born, I was so excited about eating normally and getting physical activity again, that I jumped right in. A month after he was born, I committed to healthy eating and weight loss and was able to drop about 4o lbs in the next 3 months. Unfortunately for me, that apparently kickstarted the formation of gallstones and I suffered a gallstone attack at the end of May. I honestly thought I was dying and had to drag the whole family, including a 4 month old, to the ER.
Once I was diagnosed and given something for the pain, I was set up to meet with a GI doctor the following week, and recommended that my gallbladder was removed, a decision I still regret. I was told it was very low risk and if I didn't remove it, I would likely suffer life threatening complications.
I mourned the restricted low fat diet I now had to follow, especially with summer coming up, but knew I didn't want to risk another attack before my surgery on July 5th. The surgery was uneventful, though lifting restrictions meant that I couldn't carry Noah for almost a month, which was super hard. My mom came to help, which was huge, and I made it through the rest of the summer.
That is, until August. Right around the start of the school year, I suddenly had what felt like a gallstone attack, except I had no gallbladder! Terrified that I'd screwed up things from the surgery, we quickly headed to the ER where I was given some pain meds, told it was likely a leftover stone that hadn't been caught, and that I just wasn't fully recovered from the surgery yet. It was a long night (I think Evan stayed awake until 11!) and told to stick with low fat eating a bit longer.
The next month saw me start my 9th year of teaching, 4th grade this year. It was a stressful start, but still fun, and I naively thought my health issues were behind me. I set up an appointment with a GI doctor for mid-September, to talk about what happened at the ER and next steps. He thought that since it had been a month, I could try to add a little fat back into my diet.
That weekend, we headed to Tahoe to celebrate my birthday. We had lunch and I tried to get a somewhat low fat choice, but it being my birthday, and having just gotten the clear from my doctor, I was a little less careful than normal. Within a couple hours, I began to feel awful - nauseous and in pain. I remember we went to a lakefront beach and I was just curled up on the blanket watching the water. Finally, I begged for us to just go back to the hotel. Ed took Evan out for some food and I threw up and figured I had a stomach bug.
But the pain and nausea just kept building. Suddenly around 2 in the morning, the pain just exploded. I ran to the bathroom, sick from both ends, and feeling like I was dying. I was in so much pain I knew I'd never make it to the car, and begged Ed to call an ambulance. I was taken to the local ER where I was given something for the pain and tests were run, which showed my liver enzyme numbers were incredibly high. Something was wrong, they just didn't know what.
To be continued...
