I had emergency gall bladder removal surgery Saturday morning.
I am an uninsured American.
That pretty much says it all, doesn't it?
Here's the story:
I woke up Saturday morning at 3:30 AM with severe tummy pains. I had to wake my mom up 45 minutes later and say that I thought we had to go to the hospital because I had never had such a pain in my life, and it wasn't getting better.
This could not have come at a worse time because my mom's vision hasn't improved to the point where she could drive. I should have called an ambulance, but, ya know, 20/20 hindsight. I somehow drove myself to St. Anthony's hospital - thankfully I knew where it was being new to Denver - and they got me right into the ER.
An IV, nausea and pain meds, and an ultrasound were ordered for me, and I was told that I had really big gallstones, one of which was stuck in the cystic duct causing all this pain, and that the only way to solve the problem was surgical removal of my gall bladder.
About 11:30 they took me in for surgery. I'd never had surgery before (besides my IVF procedures that weren't full anesthesia and weren't scary) and I was scared but everyone was compassionate and competent and that got me through it all.
Behold my monstrously big gallstones:
http://img.photobucket.com/...
Morphine is The Bomb, man. Kept the pain down to a dull roar.
I had a hard time keeping anything, even clear fluids, down for many hours, but eventually I could keep toast down and that was a good thing. The surgery was laproscopic, so I have 5 small incisions instead of one big one. Movement - getting up and down, coughing, sneezing, reaching etc. -
is an unmistakable reminder that I have recently had big knives in my tummy.
I went home yesterday afternoon and I slept in my own bed with my kitties. That was heaven. Mom made me a really good baked potato last night and I slept some more, and showered today. I feel immensely better being clean.
None of this was fun but kind doctors and nurses who treated me as a human, a human who was scared and hurting, was a blessing. At all times, people were good about informing me what was going on and why, and careful of my comfort and dignity.
So that's the story of how I got sick, and got treated, and am now on the way to getting well.
There's a whole other side of this.
I don't have health insurance.
I am guessing this could cost upwards of $10k or $20k.
How the hell I'm going to manage that is another thing altogether.
We should all be insured. I was treated as an emergency case because I was: I was in horrifying pain and throwing up. But what's going to happen next is I'll get a bill, and I think that's when the pain begins.
Someone tell NYCEve about this.
And everyone: please send your thoughts my way for continued healing and some way, somehow, to manage this medical bill.
I need all the help I can get right now.
Thank you.