I have felt sick for months. It began on an ordinary July day. I had stayed home sick from work to recover from an asthma flare, I woke up that morning feeling exhausted and knew that a sick day would be better than trying to work in that condition. I managed my asthma through the morning. It got to be lunchtime. I pulled out a yogurt and a string cheese and ate them. I was so tired that I went back to bed for about an hour. I woke up in a lot of pain and became ill. I was sick several times that day.
The next day I decided not to eat much to hopefully get my system back on track. I ended up needing to come home early from work that day because I was too sick. That was a Friday. I struggled through the weekend, relying on sports drink and saltines to get me through. On Tuesday, I broke down and called my primary doctor.
She thought that my recent round of steroids had caused some inflammation of the lining of my stomach and put me on a medication to treat that and instructed me to call her in a week. I dutifully took the medication and felt no better. I called her as instructed and she decided to refer me to a gastroentrologist. She even called and made the appointment for me. I was elated, now I would be getting better and could eat again! Boy was I mistaken.
Appointment day came. I felt awful that day. I rolled into a tiny exam room. The doctor walked in and we went over my entire medical history. He wanted to know every medication, every surgery. We talked for 20 minutes before he laid hands on me. He eventually told me to eat more and increase my fiber intake. At this point I was desperate to feel better, so I forced myself to eat more food and fiber. Three weeks passed and I went back to that GI to follow up, having followed his advice and not feeling any better. We had a conversation during which I realized he had no clue what was wrong. He recommended I see a neurologist. When I asked why, he claimed that I may have a second brain injury to blame for my symptoms. I did not buy this. The next day I made it my mission to find a second opinion. After some searching and calling around I found a new GI and made an appointment for the next week. I had hope again!
Appointment day came around and we went over my recent history. I told about the nausea and pain. I also told her how unhappy I was with my first GI. She was very understanding and did not buy the previous doctor's theory. She genuinely wanted to help me. Her first idea was to run a test called an endoscopy. She would sedate me very heavily and pass a flexible lighted scope from my mouth, through my esophagus and finally into my stomach to see what the structures of my esophagus and stomach looked like. Because of logistics, the procedure was scheduled for six weeks later. An eternity, but at least I was getting somewhere,
The day of the procedure was kind of a blur of rushing to get to the hospital on time and finally the procedure itself. The doctor was able to tell me that my stomach was inflamed but asked me to call her office in a week to get the results of biopsies she had taken. She also added another medication to treat any reflux that might be happening. When I called for the biopsy results, the doctor called me back herself. She said that the biopsies were normal. She asked how I was feeling and determined based on my answer of "lousy" that she wanted to get an ultrasound to check my gallbladder.
Now it's late and I will put this long story to rest for tonight. Stay tuned for part two, "Ultrasounds, Scary Scrambled Eggs and an Answer"
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