A Long Thursday

We've had a bit of excitement in our house this week. At 4:45 Thursday morning Ben woke me up with a horrible pain in his upper right abdomen. He just couldn't get comfortable, and after doing some research on the internet I thought he was probably looking at kidney stones or gallstones. We got dressed and headed over to the emergency room via his parents' house, where his dad and uncle Larry were able to give him a blessing. The emergency room was completely empty so we were seen almost immediately. Not that it made the whole process much faster. The ER doctor came in and after a bunch of poking and prodding decided that It was probably gallstones, but that they needed to do an ultrasound to be sure. After that the nurse came in and said that Ben couldn't have any pain medication until after the ultrasound and that someone was coming in a few minutes to take him to ultrasound. An hour later, they finally did come and take him to ultrasound. When he came back, Ben said that the technician found gallstones, and the doctor came back a few minutes later and said that it was gallstones and Ben would need surgery to get his gallbladder out. We asked if he could have some pain medication and an hour later someone finally came to give him some meds. To make a long story short, they admitted him into the observation unit of the hospital and he finally got into surgery at about 5:30 that evening. When he got back from surgery he was coherent and feeling much more comfortable. They did the surgery laproscopically, making only 3 small incisions. Apparently his gallbladder was completely blocked with a stone about 1 centimeter in diameter. No wonder he was in so much pain! He spent the night in the hospital and came home yesterday morning. He's really doing very well. He's a little more sore today than he was yesterday. We had to go to the grocery store yesterday to buy some more low-fat ingredients. With the removal of his gallbladder (which stores bile--the stuff that breaks down the fats in the food you eat) we're not sure how he'll tolerate fatty stuff. So at least for the next two weeks he's on a low-fat diet. Although he didn't feel too much discomfort from all the walking around yesterday, I think he's feeling it a little more today. He'll probably go back to work Monday since all he has to do is sit at a desk and work. Altogether, we feel very blessed. It could have been much worse. Ben had a very skilled surgeon and he's recovering very well. We're so grateful for all the prayers in our behalf. Trust me, we've felt them.