Sorry I've been a bit absent.
I started feeling awful last Tues. It was nothing I could put my finger on. I felt slightly nauseous and very light headed. I told Brenda it was vertigo, because I didn't really know how else to describe it. I couldn't stand looking at the computer screen for extended periods of time because it made me feel sicker. Actually, it still does.
After my last reply to Steph yesterday at around 4 p.m., I decided to lay down and try to sleep off the nausea. I tucked a trash bag under the edge of the mattress in case I couldn't move fast enough. I had been settled on the bed for about 10 minutes when the pain hit. I felt like someone was sticking a dagger in, centered, just at the point of my sternum.
I got up and called my son to take me to the emergency room. I realized shortly after that I was really in trouble. I felt like I was passing out and the pain became acute. I went to the door to unlock it and sat on a bench right by the door and called 911. At that point I felt like I couldn't breath and I couldn't think or speak too well. The dispatcher was having trouble making out what I was saying.
I moved far enough away from the door so that I wouldn't block it if I passed out. The EMTs got here pretty fast, but it seemed like forever and I was having trouble getting enough breath to talk to them through the pain. They got me in the ambulance and started fluids and oxygen. My blood pressure had dropped to 70/40.
When I got to the emergency room, I couldn't talk and I couldn't focus. They had to get my blood pressure back up to normal before they could give me anything for pain. When they finally did, they gave me morphine. I HATE MORPHINE! I've hated it since my foot/ankle reconstruction back in Jan 1990. It didn't make the pain go away, but it did make my head and face feel like they were swelling.
The Dr sent me for an ultrasound and I was having trouble laying on my back for it. I felt like I couldn't breathe and the pain was excruciating. We got through it finally and they put me back in my cubicle. Now, I know that some of you have probably already guessed what the problem was. By that time I was beginning to have an inkling. I had just never experienced anything like it before.
Yes, I was having a full-fledged gall bladder attack. OMG! Now I'm afraid to eat. Apparently, what set it off was the sweet potato I had for lunch. I put 3 TBS of Smart Balance Light on it, and there was enough oil to put me over the edge.
Before I got the diagnosis, they had given me another hit of morphine and it was finally taking the edge off the pain. They sent me home with instructions to eat no fat and the name of a surgeon I'm supposed to call Monday. I had my rice last night with no Smart Balance and my oatmeal this morning with no Smart Balance.
I must have been totally tensed up because every muscle and joint in my body is sore. That's my story of the last few days. I am such a wuss!
