The morning started at very nauseating again, and I stayed in bed at Mom and Dads most of the AM after forcing some food down. I had 2 doctor visits today - one with the OB/GYN to check another issue (turns out to be minor), and one with the surgeon.
The surgeon said my incisions were healing up really well, and I could bath or swim - yea! She also said the throbbing on my side where the gall bladder was is very normal as well as the loss of appetite. Most people lose up to 15 lbs after the surgery. Now, I had called her office 2x prior and had 1 visit with another surgeon. Why the heck was this the first time hearing this? She said my gallbladder biopsy was very irritated and inflamed, so it gave me some confirmation that I made the right choice to get it removed. It wasn't obvious if it was a problem for the pain, but since it was definitely inflammed on such a bare diet, it was time to go. She did say the nausea was very abnormal. She recommended gas drops to see if that helped relief gas (one of the side effects of the surgery, and unfortunately, one of the huge side effects of my juice boxes which I'm back up to 5 on, since I started losing my hair). Diarrhea is another side effect of both. The joys. She seemed to think I was recovering 'ok' but not 'thriving' and wanted to see me again in 2 weeks to ensure I was getting better. I still can't lift over 15 lbs for 6 weeks, so that sucks with the kids. The surgeon also recommended getting a GI test to watch how things move through my intestines. She was concerned about how they felt during the surgery (I was backed up big time after 5 weeks of hydrocodone to control the abdominal pain). So, I've called and asked to get that scheduled. Best to get everything checked out.
I noticed my hands were trembling a lot today, and looked up Zoloft - the new med I was on. Apparently, it causes nausea, tremors, and diarrhea, and usually subsides. I'm on my second week, so I figure I'll start using the Xanax the dr. prescribed, and gut it out. It takes 3-4 weeks usually to see the effects, so I'm hopeful the stuff I'm feeling will go away as I further recover from surgery and get used to this med. If the effects don't go away in 4 weeks, I'm going to try a new med. At least I'm sleeping through the night with the sleeping pill; that makes life better. Wish I could sleep in, but that doesn't happen with 2 kids :)
On another note, my eosinophil counts doubled with last weeks food trial of strawberries. No abdominal pain, but definitely noticable in blood work. I called the immunologist, and asked him about the patch testing he had wanted to do for the chicken, before I try it. I told him to look at my strawberry labs too. So, he called and had a nice conversation. He wanted me to try another week of strawberries and see if the eos raise further. If so, no more strawberries. If not, then it's probably ok. Eos can rise from outdoor allergies, post-surgery, etc. so it's not super clear. I have my labs tomorrow for eosinophils. Then Monday, I get a 3rd round of environmental allergy testing and patch testing for meats. I see the doctor on Wed and Fri to see if I produce a reaction. I'd be more than happy to give up strawberries if that's what's causing this. I will miss chocolate covered strawberries, but it's not worth the hell I've been through. I'd give up a lot at this point. I hope we can find the allergens through these food trials. It's nice to have someone to talk to about this. He seems very interested in my case (it is really food allergies, so he's learning something new with my case), and really wants to help. I meet a different GI doc at Loyola on May 7th, the same day as the Endoscopy at Northwestern. I hope to find someone I can relate to better than the team at Northwestern. Fingers crossed.
Thanks for the continued prayers. I'm very hopeful things will get better soon!
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