More doctors, tests, and no fun...

I should be going to sleep but I have a lot of things going through my mind so I thought I would write some of it down.....the last two weeks have definitely been hard. I have really not felt we'll and been in a lot if pain. I haven't slept and I haven't eaten very well. Pretty sure I lost the 4 pounds that I have gained in the last 6 weeks. Poor Chris has been eating frozen chimichangas for dinner all week. Now, don't take that the wrong way, Chris knows how to cook and can follow a recipe, and he make the best spaghetti around, but he has been really busy with finals. His last one is on Wednesday. Woo Hoo! We have been studying flash cards for the last couple days. :) Now I really got off topic....anyway it started almost 2 weeks ago. Monday was my day off and I woke up feeling terrible. My stomach hurt so I just stayed in bed until I absolutely needed to get up. I had an MRI scheduled and I couldn't eat for 4 hours before hand. (I actually drank a couple Ensures at 6 and 7 in the morning). The MRI was at noon. I had to drink 3 big bottles of contrast, which wasn't bad at first, but the more I drank, the worse it tasted, by the 3rd one I was starting to feel nauseated, in addition to my stomach hurting. I also had to have IV contrast, and they could not get an IV started. They were pulling out all their tricks and almost gave up when they finally got one started. I had to lay on my stomach with my arms above my head for 45 minutes. They brought me out a couple times so I could move my arms a little but. They were cramping up from being in that same uncomfortable position for so long and were sore for like 4 or 5 days after. I came home and went back to bed for 2 hours. They were trying to see what is causing my pain. A few days later I came back and showed nothing except a cyst on my ovary, which if fine and will probably go away on its own. I guess I should say that the week before I had to do a test called a Small Bowel Follow Through. You drink some barium and they take a bunch of X-rays as it moves through your system. Only I didn't drink it, they put a feeding tube down my nose and pushed the barium down the tube. It was much faster and they said doing it that way gave them a much better picture. We were looking for any fistulas but they told me right then that it didn't show anything. Even though it was good news, I was really disappointed. I was even more when the MRI didn't show anything.

Ok so I had a whole post written that somehow got deleted and only left what I wrote above, so I am going to attempt to write it again but I can't guarantee that it will be the same...

The next week on Tuesday I had a horrible night. I literally did not sleep all night. The next day I went to work because I didn't think I could find someone to work for me last minute. It was an awful day because I was so exhausted and still in pain. I went to scouts that night (Wed) and came home after only 35-40 minutes. When I got home I just cried. Chris had to help me get ready for bed. I was in so much pain. I made Chris find me some percocet that I had left over from like a year ago because the other pain medication I had was not working. It helped a ton but my GI doctor here does not want to give me narcotics because he thinks that I will get addicted. I have taken them on and off for years and never gotten addicted, obviously, if I still had some from a year ago. I called the girl I was supposed to work with the next day and she said she would be fine doing everything (Thursdays and Fridays and not nearly as crazy as the other days of the week.) It helped me to stay home and the last few days have been better. I have slept a little better as well. I just cannot function when I am so exhausted so I really love those good nights where I sleep most of the night.

I think I said this before but a fistula is an abnormal connection or tunnel between two organs, or between one loop of the intestines and another, or somewhere outside the body. I used to think you only got them from inflammation, but they can also be a result of surgery, where there is a weak spot. They can be really hard to find, and hard to heal.

I went to one doctor last week who referred me to another doctor this week who is going to refer me to a colorectal surgeon. You have to find the fistula in order to know how to treat it, and since we haven't found it yet, she said it is most likely higher up, and that the surgeons usually take care of that. At one point, my GI doctor had mentioned that if we do find one, we could use Remicade to get it to heal (an IV medication). I'm not really happy about either one. I don't want surgery, but I don't want to take Remicade because it's not good to take if you want to have a baby. And I was told we need to take care of this before I have a baby.

I went to my primary care doctor also this week because my GI wants her to manage pain medicine. She did give me some percocet that I can take when it gets really bad and that I was thankful for.

I'm still not sure what is causing all my pain but I suppose it could be the fistula. I think it could also be scar tissue because it is right along my incision where I have pain every time. According to the scope and MRI, there is no inflammation.

The night that I was really sick Chris gave me a priesthood blessing and in it he said that the Lord has placed Angels around me to help me. This really comforted me. I listened to the Mormon Message video again that I shared a few posts ago, and I love the part where President Eyering says, "The Savior has promised Angels on our left and on our right, to bear us up, and He always keeps His word." I love this part and know that it is true.

On a happier note: My mama is coming to see me tomorrow!!!!