Well, That Was Unexpected

There's not much to say about our Sunday except, 

Well, that was unexpected

I should really back up to Thursday when all the "fun" started. Thursday morning I woke up to work out and had a funny in my tummy. Not too long after I decided working out was soooooo not happening I was running for the bathroom. And so began another epic stomach bug. That's right, I said another. That's because this is the fourth time I've been sick since December. And it's not just some 24 hour in and out and on with your life. No, we're talking a week to a week and a half of racing to the bathroom soon after I eat anything. This time around I lost 8 pounds in 8 days. Yea, not good. 

Anywho, it all began on Thursday and came and went and then came back and went. Just as I thought I was starting to feel better it would return with vengeance; just like the other three times I've had it. It was miserable. I started feeling "better", or at least like I could function, Saturday evening. I must have spoken too soon because early Sunday morning around 1:30am I woke up with dreadful chest pain. It was so excruciating I thought I was having a heart attack. In fact, come check my computer's history and you'll see that I was Googling the symptoms! After a few hours of writhing around in pain I finally took a baby aspirin and was able to settle down enough to get another hour of sleep before the babe started making noises.

When I officially woke up for the day I knew I wasn't in the clear yet. The pain seemed to have migrated down to the space between the top of my rib cage. After consulting with the mama (and the family nurse) we decided it would probably be good to head to Urgent Care. The WONDERFUL people at Urgent Care were quick to tell us there wasn't much they could do and sent us on our way to the Emergency Room. Have you ever been to the ER? It's not a quick trip. David and I both came prepared with reading material and settled in. 

After about an hour of waiting in the waiting room they put us in a room where we waiting another hour before we saw the Nurse Practitioner (NP). She ordered some labs and an ultrasound of my gallbladder before making any predictions. Cue more waiting. The ultrasound showed that my gallbladder looked normal other than some tube was constricted which she thinks means I recently passed a gallstone (perhaps that's why I was absolutely MISERABLE the night before!!). My lab work did show elevated liver enzymes. To jog your memory my sister and aunt both have autoimmune liver disorders and my mom has recently had some screwy liver numbers in her lab work. So, while hearing it was my liver wasn't good news, it also wasn't entirely surprising either.

According to the GI doctors on-call, with my history of kidney issues and my family's history of issues this could mean autoimmune hepatitis. Could. The NP wanted us to stay the night at the hospital, but said that nothing would be done until the next morning any way. After being away from our sweet girl all day and hearing we would be staying at the hospital only to get in early the next day, we decided to head home.

So, what now? I'll be calling the GI office today to hopefully get an appointment with their doctors to find out what's really going on and the next steps. Until then we continue to ask for prayer as all of this comes on top of my recent kidney issues. I know that God is with us every step of the way and is using this experience to work in us and mold us for the future and with that knowledge there truly is nothing to fear!