leawalkerblog

Wow, the past week has been a difficult journey for me. I’ve been to the hospital and back due to abnominal pains. I’ll share this with you, hopefully to help those who have the same concern.

June 8 – I was brought to the emergency for severe stomach pains. I was given Buscopan through IV. Since it didn’t work, I was given Ranitidine and Ketorolac after an hour or so. I felt better afterwards. So the doctors allowed me to go home. With prescriptions for an antibiotic, pain reliever and to get an ultrasound.

June 9 – John and I went back to DMSF hospital for an ultrasound. When the result came back,  it said that I had “cholelithiasis” , a gallstone the size of 1.4cm. It also said that I had fatty livers. I’ve known about the gallstone a year ago when I had a physical exam. But since, I never had stomach pains I thought that with medication, it would dissolve. I was wrong. Infact, it grew by .3cm.

Ok, so someone told me to try apple juice and eating apples everyday so the gallstone will pass. I did that. For 3-5 days.

June 10 – We went to our family doctor and I was told that I had peptic ulcer also. So I was given medication for both the gallstone and the ulcer.

I felt a little better during those times . Life went to normal and I went back to working.

June 12 – A client arrived from Malaysia. Sometime during the day, my stomach started to bother me again. My client who has become a friend over the years told me to go home so I can rest. But I told her that we should finish everything we needed to do because she’ll be in Davao for a few days only.

June 13 – I felt better.

June 14 – We were in Samal island. John and I had to oversee the works on the new property we just bought. At 10 am, my stomach started hurting again. This time with severe headache (forehead and back side) and neckpains including my jaw and cheekbones.

Inday, a friend , gave me buscopan tablets. After trying those, I felt better. So John and I bought 10 more , just incase the pain comes back again. During that day, I took 4 more buscopans, (2 in the afternoon and 2 in the evening).

June 15 – We went back to our family doctor once again. This time he told me to get the surgery. Obviously, the pain has made my blood pressure shoot up to 160/100. Pain does that too! So that’s why I had a terrible headache yesterday, I thought.

June 16 – I felt better. So I went to work again. 🙂 I had this “stupid thought” in my mind that I’m ok so I should not go to the hospital. Maybe, it will get better with the medicines I’m taking.

But just incase I needed a surgery, we went to meet the surgeon who will do a laparoscopic operation on me. He also mentioned that I should have an endoscopy so they will know how severe the ulcers are.

I remember saying that if the pain won’t go away in the next few days, I’ll have surgery on Wednesday, 20th day of June.

June 17 – Sunday morning, I was ok. Then lunchtime came. John and I ate at Pancake House. I ordered hot choco and pancakes. Very wrong move. On our way to Samal Island with our clients, I had another attack. My staff told me to sit when she saw me looking pale. John said that I should just rest and let the staff do the works. I thought we shouldn’t have come to Samal today. 😦

By 4pm, on our way home, I started vomitting. John packed our bags and he admitted me to the hospital.

The surgeon and his team met with us that night. And explained that they will do the endoscopy by 7:30am, the next day. And the cholecystectomy by 9am. The lap-chole takes about 45mins to a maximum of 2 hours he said.

I felt better that night because I was given a pain reliever through  dextrose.

June 18 – I was put to sleep by my anaesthician, Dr. Lamansala, for the endoscopy. Dr. Lasala, the gastro enterologist did the endoscopy. The last thing I remembered was when they put something on my mouth where the tube with a camera will go in. I woke up after the endoscopy and I remembered John holding my hands going to the operating room. Then I was put to sleep again.

When I woke up, we were already in the suite room we reserved. I felt dizzy and weak. But I was glad that I woke up. 🙂 That was my fear in the past. That you know, I won’t wake up after the surgery. I thank God for another extension of my life.

My sister, Pearlie told me that John hasn’t had breakfast and lunch yet. He couldn’t eat because the operation took more than 3 hours. He kept on saying, that the doctor said that it will be for 2 hours only.

Dr. Batucan, my surgeon, explained that my gallbladder already had an abscess. They had to drain all the pus before they could take off the gall bladder. Plus the 1.4cm gall stone was stuck in my cystic duct.

If I waited a few more days, the gall bladder would have ruptured. And that would have been the end of me. Tsk.. tsk.. Kamuntik na talaga pala ako. I’m just glad that it wasn’t my time yet…

MY REALIZATIONS:

   1. I should never have taken the apple juice and ate the apples. True, those help. But when you have a small cystic duct and a big gallstone, it doesn’t work.  It put my life in danger. So I will never, ever medicate on my own again.

2. Hoping that it will go away is a stupid thing to say when it comes to one’s health. Never make the same mistake I did. I’m just glad that we went to the hospital on Sunday and not on Wednesday as scheduled or I would not be around to tell the tale today.

3. Don’t be stubborn. I was. And it almost killed me.

This has been a lesson learned for me. That you know, life is fleeting. And I should take better care of my health. And also, if your  job gives you ulcers, then it’s not worth it. Life is more important than all the money in the world.

I am recovering now. I still feel nauseaus and my stomach gets queasy from time to time. But it’s a lot better than  the pain I felt 2 weeks ago. I am still on medication and will be for awhile, specially for my ulcers and the blood pressure.

I am Php216,084.00 ($5,025.00) poorer. But I look at it both ways. I paid a high price for my stubborness. Or I paid a small price for another extension of my life.

I’ll concentrate on the latter. 🙂 Because God gave me a new lease on life….

Thank God.

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Thank you to my friends and colleagues who brought me flowers and fruits at the hospital. To Mita, for the cute little teddy bear too. 🙂

To my sister Pearlie and my family, for helping John in taking care of me.

To the nurses and my doctors, thank you.

And most of all to John, who never left my side. He hates hospitals and doesn’t like to be admitted when he gets sick. But he stayed there for days with me.  Love you.

And to all who prayed for me, daghang salamat. Thank you very much!

Lea C. Walker

www.davaoproperties.com