Friday, January 14, 2011

Quick Update

Thanks, everybody, for your comments and concern for Kate. She seems to be doing just fine. She doesn't believe me when I tell her that she didn't want to eat!
A couple of you commented about my choosing to drive to the vet clinic, as opposed to him coming out here. Dr. Mark would have come if I had asked him to. (Particularly if I hadn't been able to get the trailer out, if the roads had been worse, or especially if Kate had been too sick for the trip.) But he has far better facilities at the clinic, it's cheaper (I had JUST finished paying them off for last year!), and sometimes a trailer trip will actually relieve some of the symptoms of gas colic. So going in worked on this particular occasion.

After that night we had another cold snap, then two inches or so of snow, then a warm spell. On Wednesday, we saw a night of freezing rain--school was actually delayed three hours, which has only happened a handful of times since we moved here to E-burg, twelve years ago. This weekend is supposed to be in the 40s!
Unfortunately, I didn't get to take advantage of the extra non-work hours yesterday, as I decided to show my sympathy for Kate with a late night trip to the Emergency Room myself, with a gall-bladder attack! Spent the day in hospital, but am home today, as it is only a half day at school, so I figured I'd take it easy and start my long weekend early.
What's interesting to me is that my symptoms were exactly the same as my supposed "cardiac event" that wasn't, back in the summer of 2008. But this time they didn't focus so exclusively on my heart, so the other diagnosis (gall stones) was easily confirmed with some tests. In 2008, by the time they had ruled out heart attack (after two ambulance trips and two hospitals), the symptoms had subsided, so no one ever came up with an alternative explanation. The best my doctor seemed to be able to do, after the fact, was "GERD"--gastro-esophageal reflux disease--and that was what we went with for all the subsequent, minor episodes. But this week changed all that, and it looks like I'll be scheduling a little surgery soon--get it over with before riding season gets under way!

8 comments:

  1. I hope your surgery goes smoothly. And Im glad to hear that Kate is doing well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad they finally figured that out! Hope the surgery goes well and you will be all healed up in time for the weather to get nice.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You poor thing! I've had a couple friends who had their gallbladders out, and if that's what's giving you trouble, removing it will apparently make your life deliriously wonderful. Good luck!

    Glad Kate's recovered. I'm sure she lost a few pounds in her ordeal and she deserves to be set free in the hay loft to make it up. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. i'm so glad kate is feeling better. my prayers are with you all.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm glad Kate is feeling better but so sorry you had to take her place in the sick ward! I do know one person who had their gallbladder removed and she couldn't believe what a difference it made in her life (for the better) - hopefully you'll have the same good experience.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm glad Kate seems to be OK - that's a relief. Gall bladder pain can be very bad - hope you can get the surgery over with and feel better soon.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oooh! Poor you. Gall bladder pain and all that oes with it, is no fun. I had my gall bladder removed about 12 years ago. The surgery and recovery were easy and fast. I hope it it for you, too.
    The weird thing that changed afterwards is that I'm not able to vomit anymore, no matter how nauseus I feel.

    ~Lisa

    ReplyDelete