Am I dying? (GI problems, pain and more–HELP!)

You may notice I haven’t been active online for the past few days.  I’ve been deathly ill and mostly just trying to get through recent days.  It started Wednesday afternoon when a wave of nausea came over me and I began vomiting non-stop for hours.  Even when there wasn’t any more bile in my system, my body was trying to get rid of something.

Along with the vomiting was severe pain in the center of my stomach.   I knew I was dehydrated, so just after we put Emma to bed at around 9pm, I asked my husband to take me to the emergency room at Virtua Memorial in Mt. Holly.  Thank goodness our next door neighbor was able to come over and sit for us.

I knew there would be a fair amount of waiting in the ER, and there certainly was.  Once I finally got a bed, I waited hours before a doctor came in to see me.  The nurse on call was great, and she hooked me up with zofran into my IV.  Finally, the worst symptom was temporarily relieved.  The pain I could handle.

After a while, the zofran started wearing off, and so we had the idea of treating the pain which might be causing the nausea.  The nurse gave me half the dosage of a serious pain medication that the doctor prescribed, again intravenously.  She told me it might make me feel sick.  Great, let’s try it!

It was awful.  Within seconds, the medication came over me from head to toe and my whole body jumped.  It knocked the chills right out of me and I did indeed feel like I was going to be sick.  Whoa!  Then she told me junkies pay hundreds to get this drug on the street.  I don’t remember the name of it, but why on earth would anyone want to have that feeling willingly?  It took a minute or two, but the sensations dissipated.

I had no idea the Gallbladder was this tiny.

The blood tests came back and my white cell count was elevated, signaling a possible infection.  The doctor didn’t want to take any chances so she sent me for a cat scan.  I hate scary cat-scans, especially while high on this weird junkie drug.  After it was done, there was more waiting for the report, and then there was a shift change and I met the new doctor.  There was a laceration on the liver and a question of gallstones in the gallbladder.  The doctor didn’t seem to think the gallstones had anything to do with what I was in for. 

It was recommended that I follow up with my physician the following day, but Thursday and Friday I was in bad shape, utterly exhausted and weak.  I fought to keep my eyes open during the day.  The pain seemed to go down from a 5 to a 1 or 2 over the weekend, but since Monday it has come back.  I am not nauseas, no diarrhea, and I’ve been eating pretty much normally but I am keeping it bland.  The last thing I had eaten Wednesday was a salad, so I thought it was either food poisoning from that or a stomach virus, but every medical professional I ask says a virus typically doesn’t last more than a few days.  I’m going on six now.

My AF began, but never really came.  I’ve been menstruating very lightly which is unusual for me, and I am not pregnant.  Whatever I have is messing with my whole system.

I saw my regular doctor today and she went over the reports from the hospital, but has no idea.  She told me to take Prevacid and sent me home.  No ultrasound needed, no referral.  But the pain in my stomach is hard to ignore.  If you’ve ever been punched or hit hard square in the stomach, you know the feeling.

I know it’s a long shot, but I thought maybe someone might have experience with these symptoms or know someone who has.  Basically I am desperate, tired of the pain both figuratively and literally.