Long week-- hubby was in the hospital

Last time I wrote the kids were off to school and I was hoping to get into some kind of routine. Well, we all need to remember that we plan and then God laughs and things go way different than you thought. That is exactly what happened this week. 

First a back story... about 3 months ago (in June) Bill started experiencing some discomfort and pain near his stomach and in the same area that he used to have gall bladder pain. To the doctor he went and after some x-rays they told him that since it had been 10 years since he had his gall bladder out it wasn't connected to that, that he had an ulcer, gave him acid reducing meds and told him to make an appointment with a gastroentrologist. He called for an appointment and the first appointment available was for Sept. 5.

A couple weeks ago, he was back at the ER with similar pains. They told him it was an ulcer, gave him acid reducing meds, and told him to see a gastroentrologist.  

Fast forward to last week. Bill was EXTREMELY tired all week. He had barely any energy and just felt like crap. On Saturday he woke up and was in extreme pain and went to the emergency room. Again, they did a cat scan, x-rays and blood work... told him it was an ulcer and to see a gastroentrologist. The only thing they did different was to check his liver as his bilirubin numbers had skyrocketed since their last check 3 months ago when he was in the ER, but they couldn't see anything wrong with the liver. They told him to come back if his symptoms worsened or he developed a fever. 

Sunday, he spent most of the day in bed. 

Monday morning he woke up with a fever of 100.4. So back to the ER at 9AM. It took them 3 hours to even get to him and then he was there getting blood work, fluids, cat scan, xrays, etc. until they finally decided to admit him at 5:30PM. The gastroentrologist came to the ER to see him and diagnosed him with a suspected blockage of his bile duct which was causing the liver issues. They wanted to do another MRI type test on Tuesday to confirm. 

Tuesday he had the MRI test in the morning and it confirmed that there was a stone blocking the bile duct completely.Oh and there was NO ulcer or evidence that there ever was one! The recommended treatment for this blockage was a procedure called a ERCP, where they put a wire down Bill's throat and balloon the area to open up and let the stone pass through. Around 2pm, the gastroentrologist came in to talk to Bill about the procedure and that they would put him in a deep sleep (since that was the hospital's policy) and that if he agreed then the operating room was waiting on them right then. I had to leave to go get the kids from school, and the doctor said he wouldn't need to speak to me after unless there was a problem. This was supposed to be a 30 minute procedure.  Well, we got back around 4 and Bill was not in his room yet. The nurse told me that Bill was coming back from recovery and the doctor wanted to talk to me. Crap. Basically, the procedure was not a success. They couldn't get to the blockage due to sludge in Bill's duct and his muscles kept spasming around the wire tube. After 30 minutes Bill's oxygen level started dropping rapidly so they called the surgery. He wanted to try again the next day under general anaesthesia. 

So Wednesday, Bill underwent the procedure again under general anesthesia. Thankfully this time the procedure went okay. It took about an hour. The gastroentrologist said that he found a 6mm fragmented piece of a stone that was stuck in the duct completely allowing no bile to move, etc. He considered the surgery a success and saw no reason Bill couldn't go home that afternoon, but that the ultimate decision was up to the doc that was in charge of the floor Bill was on because that was the hospital's policy. 

To keep this already long entry a little shorter, the doc on the floor didn't want Bill to go home. He said that is was because his blood numbers hadn't improved that morning and that he needed more blood work in the morning. Well that was a lie because no blood had been taken that morning because they tried in 4 different spots and his veins kept collapsing because he was dehydrated. Also he hadn't had the procedure yet so of course numbers wouldn't have had improved. There was some other issues-- including him contradicting what I had been told by the surgeon after Bill's surgery, that they didn't know if the blocked duct was the issue, that he thought Bill could go home, etc. Add in the fact that Bill wasn't given his blood pressure or depression meds the day before (that he takes daily) and some other issues Bill asked to be let go AMA (against medical advice). He came home that night. 

He is doing okay. He is dealing with some excess gas and aftereffects of the anesthesia. He has a followup with his gastroentrologist next week (the originally scheduled appointment for a non-existent ulcer). Thankfully, he said the pain that he was feeling when he breathed deep, ate, moved etc. is gone! So now hopefully he is on the road to full recovery.