Halloween ER visit

Let me tell you about my super fun day (sarcasm intended)! On Thursday Oct 31st at 4am I woke up in agony, much like waking up in labor with Noah. I didn't know what was wrong and I was helpless to end the pain. It hurt if I was laying, standing, sitting or walking. It was in the same area as my gallbladder pain was last year. The night before I had eaten barbecue chicken for dinner and a few hours after I had a stomach ache and had thrown up. Maybe this was related, it had been a new sauce and I was the only one to eat it so it might have been bad. At about 5:15 am I called Maria (my mother-in-law) and asked if she could take me to the ER while Ryan stayed with the boys. After getting to the ER I was taken back to a room almost immediately and then played the waiting for a Dr game. After all my vitals were taken and questions asked and what seemed like an endless amount of waiting, the Dr finally made his appearance just before 6am. He asked me all the same questions and then told me the game plan; he would give me a GI cocktail (something like mylanta mixed with a numbing agent) he told me it would taste terrible (not a lie at all, I wanted to throw up) but it would numb my mouth, throat and stomach. If the pain stopped that meant acid reflux, if not they'd try a different approach. So down went the awful cocktail and after about 5 min my pain was gone. I was incredulous! And I felt immensely foolish for going to the ER with nothing more than acid reflux. The shift changed at 6am and it took about 45 min before the new Dr came in to check on me. After hearing I was pain free, he gave me some prescriptions and sent me on my way. I filled the prescriptions and started the meds along with some tums for the immediate relief factor. I still felt ok, the tums were helping and I was getting ready for Noah's preschool harvest party. Then I threw up the pill I had taken. Weird, but upon reading the side effects, it wasn't unexpected. I took the liquid next, it was supposed to coat my stomach and help with pain relief until the pills started working. We went to the party and I really started to feel like crap. My pain was climbing back up the scale and I was sure I would soon be getting sick in the bathroom. We left early and sure enough I threw up again in the car (luckily I had one of those blue vomit bags in my car from when I gave birth to

Teagan). We got home, put Teagan down for a nap and I got in touch with Brianna to let her know I wasn't up for taking Rhys and Reagan today. I got on the phone and called my Dr to try to get in for a follow up and get something for the pain until the pills started working. She was full, if I wanted to wait until Friday at 130, I could see her. The receptionist told me my best bet was back to the ER or Urgent Care. When T woke up, we went to UC, after taking my vitals and asking questions the nurse went to get the Dr. She came back and said, the Dr wants you to go back to the ER. At this point I'm crying, can hardly stand up straight, and I'm ready to die from the pain. Ryan drives me back to the ER. As I'm coming in, the Dr who had come on at 6 happens to be in the hallway and asks what I'm doing back. Through my tears I tell him what has been going on since I left the ER at 7am. He orders IV drugs on the spot and gets me in a room. He also orders a full work up with blood work and  a CT scan. They hook me up to the IV and start the meds, the relief is amazing, the nurse tells me he knows they're working because my blood pressure just went back down to a normal level. They take blood, the imaging tech comes in and talks me through the CT procedure before he does it and then I'm back in my room, pain free and drifting in and out of sleep. The Dr comes in after a while and tells me two things, 1) my blood tests show abnormal liver (or maybe kidney, I don't remember) function and I need to see a gastroenterologist to find out why. 2) The CT shows that my IUD has migrated through the back wall and is no longer preventing pregnancy...awesome. He says they're just waiting on results from the CT and as long as they're normal he'll send me home but with some strong pain killers this time. After a while he comes back and says the results are in, it's not acid reflux, it's transverse colon diverticulitis. The part of my colon that sits just under my ribs by my stomach, has developed pouches along the wall that have become inflamed and infected. Hallelujah! I wasn't crazy, and I didn't go to the ER for acid reflux. He told me how great it was that I came back because I knew there was something more going on. He gave me four new prescriptions (two antibiotics, one for pain and one for nausea) and referred me to the gastroenterologist for further review of the liver/kidney abnormality and to follow up with the diverticulitis, and he told me to call my OB/GYN about the IUD. My day was a crazy, painful, whirlwind of a day but I'm so glad to have gotten it all figured out. Upon reading more about diverticulitis, I'm pretty lucky. If it's not caught early enough you will most likely end up in the hospital for about a week receiving antibiotics through an IV, and sometimes the colon wall actually ruptures causing all sorts of problems and requiring surgery. 

Today I'm finally starting to feel better and can actually keep down some food. A huge thanks to Maria for helping out so much with Noah and Teagan and thank you to everyone who checked in with me to wish me well and offer help. It has been wonderful to know I have you all in my corner. :-)