1-28-94
(9am) I got a little rest. (Every three hours I had to get up, pop another pill, drink Gatorade, and piss more blood.)
I do feel better, so maybe the worst is over.
(3pm) Miranda took me to the doctor. (She has been great!)
The doctor says I don’t have hepatitis. (That is a relief! (I was scared I had given it to others!))
He says I am passing a gallstone. (Eventually I will probably have to have my gallbladder removed; but he says, for now, I need to go into the hospital’s out patient ward. He is going to knock me out, run a tube with a lite and camera down my throat, and suck the gallstone out. (It sounds simple and I should be home tonite feeling good.)) (The gallstone is blocking the bile duct, which shut down my kidneys. (That is what is causing me to piss blood.))
(9pm) I was just barely awake through the procedure and don’t really remember anything until he shook me awake in the hallway. He said he got the stone, but he wants me to stay in the hospital over nite for observation.
1-29-94
(9pm) The day is a blur of morphine and sleep, but I remember the doctor bringing in a surgeon. (She said I need to have my gallbladder removed, but I am not strong enough to go onto the table today. (Maybe it was just the morphine, but I would swear she is the most beautiful woman I have seen in ages!))
1-30-94
(10am) They have decided I am strong enough to slice open. (I got to take a shower. (It felt good getting rid of four days of grunge!)) (Th surgeon says they will be using a new technique where they run a lite and camera in through the belly button, and I should be home tomorrow.)
(2pm) The new technique didn’t work. (My gallbladder was so full of stones and impacted that they had to make a bit cut and pry it out. (Two and a half hours on the table.) (The anesthesiologist said my lungs are so bad he had a hard time keeping me alive.))
1-31-94
(Noon) Last nite was hell! (I begged for more shots of morphine and endured the pain. (The doctors had written on the chart that I was having the new technique, so the nurses were giving me a low dosage of morphine.))
Finally this morning they figured out I had been spliced open and they brought in a pain pump and got my morphine dosage up to the point where the pain is bearable.
(10pm) The pain pump has made a big difference! (There is still gut pain and it’s hard to move, but I think part of it is that I have been in pain for so long I can’t cope with it as well as I did at first.)