The tale of a stone

It all started the Monday before Thanksgiving. Pain that can stop you in your tracks. After 10 hours and 3 Vicatin, I felt better. That same week on Friday, the pain came back, but only lasted 2 hours and only took 2 Vicatin to go away. I knew this pain; it was not a stranger to me. It was my gallbladder. I did well with how I was eating, and tolerating the never really gone pain in my upper back until last Sunday. I was ironing a blouse for church, when the pain came back and took me to my knees. This was severe. It wouldn't stop. I took 2 Loratab and all of a sudden had trouble breathing. Les called my doctor (who happens to be a close personal friend) and she said go to the hospital. After juggling kids, we went to the hospital. They monitored me, gave me more medicine, and decided I should stay after talking to a surgeon and doing an ultrasound on my gall bladder. I was able to go home the next day, but was still in a lot of pain. I spent Tuesday at home resting and sleeping, but not really feeling any better. I decided to go to work on Wednesday (have I mentioned that I am stubborn) which turned out to be a very bad idea. As the morning went on, I felt worse. I begin to turn yellow. I knew something wasn't right. I called Les on the way home crying, because I was in so much pain. I called my Dr. and she got me back in the office and they sent me to the hospital for more testing. This time the blood test showed something that worried them- elevated liver enzymes. This could have been caused by a number of things, some very serious, that would cause the baby to need to be born. They admitted me, again, and begin trying to figure out what was wrong with me. Lots of blood work and another ultrasound of my gall bladder revealed the cause- I had a gall stone lodged in my common bile duct, which was blocking my gall bladder from emptying and also causing my pancreas to be irritated which is where the majority of my pain was coming from. Now the scary part. I needed to have the stone removed. The procedure required x-ray. I am pregnant. I am so thankful that God is in control. He provided the perfect doctor that has done this exact procedure on pregnant women before. (I would need to be sedated, and a tube run down my throat into my stomach, so they could get to the stone and remove it all this guided by x-ray) One hurdle, he was at a different hospital. This meant I needed to transfer to a different hospital to have the procedure that would make me better. Lots of paper work, conversations, and headaches later, we arrived at the new hospital at 8:10am for my procedure that was at 6:30pm. I was put in L & D triage while they figured out what to do with me. They finally go all the confusion sorted out and put me on a monitor, started an IV and gave me some pain medicine. This is where the fun started, or maybe I should say the contractions. Yes, I was having contractions every 10 minutes for hours. They just wouldn't stop. The wonderful nurses and triage Dr. figured out that I was dehydrated. Did I mention I had barely ate or drank anything in the last 24 hours. Dr's orders! It was a blessing in disguise! I was very nervous about the procedure and this was a wonderful distraction. About 3:30 pm, I finally got to a room. At 5:45, they came to get me to take me downstairs for the procedure. My nerves are totally on edge at this time, but the people who worked with me were wonderful. I filled out the paperwork and was took into the room. They could see that I was scared, but God is in control of all things and He reminded me of that in that room. Everyone was very kind and understanding of my fear. They patiently waited for the L & D nurse to come to monitor the baby during the procedure. The doctor was very concerned about making sure the baby was shielded from the radiation of the x-ray. He just talked to me to put me at ease, but I think the most comforting thing was when the doctor asked me if I had prayed. I knew at that moment that everything was going to be okay, because God had hand picked these people to meet my need. He was in total control that day, every detail. From the contractions, to the triage Dr. who knew my Dr. , to my friend who works in the NICU working that day. The whole procedure took about 12 minutes and the baby came through with flying colors. I feel so much better and am almost back to normal. I just thank God that He has put people in my life to take care of situations like this. Who knew a little stone could cause such a problem? My God did, and He had a plan to handle it even before the first pain.