Crazy Week #2

We started off the weekend with our normal Saturday activity of attending Shauna's softball games. During the 2nd game, Charles started not feeling well. (On a side note, I hadn't blogged about the fact that we had taken Charles to the emergency room at 3am Saturday morning of the previous weekend. He was in extreme abdominal pain. I was sure it was gallbladder issues, but they couldn't find anything and sent him home at 9am.) We went to lunch and he ate a bit but still wasn't feeling great. His stomach was bothering him again. We were scheduled to have my parents down to celebrate Mother's Day a day early and we went ahead with that. We bought a fabulous brisket that the Pattison Area Volunteer Fire Department cooks every year for a fundraiser. We had the brisket for dinner but Charles didn't feel like eating, so it was just me, my parents, and Shauna. I felt really bad about eating without him. About 7:30 Charles said we needed to go back to the hospital. So, pack clothes for Shauna and drop her off and at my parents for the night. Being a Saturday night, it was CRAZY at the emergency room. We waited about 2 1/2 hours before we got taken back to a room. We saw an amazing doctor this time who immediately asked if they hadn't done an ultrasound the previous week. We told her they didn't and she asked what time we'd been there. Well, apparently, there isn't an US tech there after 1am, so that's why we didn't get one! This time, that was the first thing she ordered, along with the order to not eat or drink anything in case emergency surgery was needed. At 12:30 the doctor came in and confirmed Charles had gallstones and would not be going home. They admitted him and he got a room about 2:00am. He sent me home to get some sleep. I headed back to the hospital bright and early on Sunday. About 2:00pm, the surgeon came to see Charles and said they would operate on Monday. I asked if that meant he could eat now since he hadn't eating since noon on Saturday. They allowed him to have just liquids, some broth (which Charles wouldn't eat), jello, and shaved ice. About 8:00pm, we were told they'd do the surgery at noon on Monday. Luckily, they kept Charles on mor.phine and Toro.idol so he didn't hurt anymore. On Monday, they ended up coming in to get him before 9:00am, so that was a pleasant surprise. The surgery usually takes 1 hour, but it took 2 1/2 hours. I was started to freak out a bit when the surgeon finally game out to talk to me. Turns out that the gallbladder was hemorr.ghagic and was huge - like the size of a baseball! Very lucky for Charles, we had an amazing surgeon who was patient enough that he worked on it before he gave up and just sliced him wide open. They were very worried about infection because of how bad it was. Charles had to stay that night in the hospital and was told he'd probably be staying two more nights because it was so bad. However, he did remarkably well (we did lots of walking around the hospital floor) and was able to go home on Tuesday evening. He still can't go to work or drive for the rest of the week, but he's recovering quite nicely. I am so lucky that I have my parents nearby because they were able to take care of Shauna for us. I took her to school each day, but they picked her up and she spent the night with them.