Gallstones......AGAIN!!!

so last night I experienced more of a sleepless night like I did the night before because o my back pain. today I went into my GI doctor, and told him my syomptoms I was having and he felt arond in my upeer rib cage area and all around my abdomen and didn't feel anything abnormal.

he did say that after some one has had gallstones, especially a big one like I have had that they are sometimes likely to get little ones in the bile duct, and in the liver, so that is why I could be in so much pain all over. I guess it only makes sense!

so I am going to call on monday and schedule yet another MRI for my liver, to be checked out, and i the mean time I am just going to take my pain pills he gave me when I need them. this is just crazy! I thought I was truely done with gallstones!

then the next thing we have to figure out is my throat! so we will make an appointment to see my ENT doctor soon. these appointments never end, one year I will be like a finely tuned piano and everything will work as it is supposed to! altogether!!

so there we have it, an answer to something, now we just have to get the for sure answer, and then take care of it and hope that I never get them again! so I am going to get my MRI scheduled for May 12th since I am off that day, and then we will see what that test show, then we will go from there for our next plan of action....

I just want to feel good and for one day have something not hurt, I know one day that is going to happen. one day in my near future! I am just getting tired of feeling this way. mainly in my stomach or side! would be nice!!

update on work and more

so I haven't updated this for a little bit, this week started off not very good, and things have evened out. I just hope to see some improvements. towards the end of the day on monday I had some shirts sitting in a basket by the fitting rooms and I was helping a department manager with her shirts she needed clearanxce stickers put on. anf our ZMS walks up to me and says are you going to hang these shirts? and I told her that I went to find hangers but couldn't find any so she took my drinks out of the cart and zoomed off with it and didn't say anothe word, rude jerk!!!

so by this time I had 5 minuteas left of y shift and I grabbed my things and walked to the back with tears filling my eyes, and I walked by the managers office, and my favorite assistant manager happened to be in there,, her name is TJ, and she is so nice. so I sat down with her and asked her if she had a few minutes, and in the mean time my favotire ZMS walks in, her name is Jen, she is so kind, so they both listened to what I had to say and they said they would talk to carolyn and see if they couldn't get things solved.

I also want to see about getting in a different depazrtment, because I am so tired of how I get treated over there. it is like everyone else gets away with everything, but once I am there there are major problems!

a while back I had a fellow co-worker of mine ask me why I am so quiet, and I simply aswered i don't know because a certain person was standing near by, so of course I couldn't tell her the real reason. but there are a few people I won't open my mouth around, and so I just don't talk, and she is always around those certain few people or those certain few people are always around her, so I don't like to say much until after they are gone.

on a totally different subject, there is a little boy that I have been follwing his blog, his name is skyler. I have been inspired by him and many others to want to volunteer at a hospital, so I went online to see which hospitalks had open oportunities for volunteering, and ther primary childrens riverton location does, so I applied there and I am just waiting to hear back from them. I hope that I can get on with them and gain an understanding as to what goes on inside a hospital so I can do that one day for my permanent profession.

so I wait and seee....also I contacted a lady about service projects for primary childrens for down town salt lake city, and I am currently waiting to hear back from her, and get the information in the mail so I can get that wonderful service project going. I am headed in the right direction of what I want to be doing as far as helping people as best I can until I get to where I really want to be one day, it's truely amazing how I feel from contacting these people and I hope I can go further...

I will post more when I have heard back from the lady at primary childrens.

until then...have a great day!!!

Acid Reflux Issues

so tonight I just have overall not been feeling the greatest. my head doesn't feel right, and I have been clearing my throat nonstop! this is really getting old!

I have a bad feeling as to what is happening in my body, because it seems that with doubling my dose of dexilant things are not getting better, and I am having new symptoms, such as a dry cough.

I am judt really getting tired of not having an answer to anything, or a solution to this problem! it is really getting frustrating!!

tonight I ate dinner, which seemed to take longer than normal because I had to clear my throat so mmuch, then after that I took my pills and drank some stuff and I fwelt like I had to burp, so I tried and some of my milk came back up, not all the way but it started to. this is all caused by the acid refulx, and LPR.

I just want to feel good!! I don't know when that day is ever going to get here. lately I have been having pains in my spine, and in my left side in my lower abdomen, and in my hip, and part of my back area. mainly in my hip and abdomen area though, and my spine feels weird about half way down everytime I bend to grab something off the floor, or below eye level, it really is getting old!

oh and I wake up with a sore throat every morning, as a matter of fact my throat is sore right now, and I just don't feel the best I could feel.

I really would like to know what is causing all of these issues. as far as I know the last time I heard we got my GERD symptoms under control, and I no longer have gastritis, but now I have this other issue, and it is getting way old!!

maybe one day I will have everythingall figured out and I will be on the road to recovery and feeling better!

Moab Trip/ My Mom's Birthday

so this weekend we actually had soething fun that we have had planned for a long time, and I have been looking forward to it so much! my mom and I went to moab for the weekend for her birthday, and it was so much fun! we went to arches national park, and saw many beautiful mountains, and arches!

then on my mom's birthday we went to a dinner before we drove home. it was so much fun, and the people in moab were so kind, even the people in the last resturant we went in. we also did some shopping this weekend along the streets of moab which was a blast! I so enjoyed every minute of this trip and so did not want it to end!

the rocks and mountains we saw up there were just breath taking.....here are some pictures from our trip.



my mom and I at the entrence at the Aches National Park







after the trip home I had a few presents for my mom to open, and she LOVED them. I can't wait for her to use the new pan I bought her. we are going to use it tonight! then I bought her a bracelet and a necklace that have a heart charm on the end of them. they are very beautiful! I will have to get a picture of her in them.

we had such a great time, and her birthday was so much fun! what a great day it was!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I LOVE YOU!!

Test Done.....Just waiting for results.....

so this morning my mom and I were on our way to my doctors appointment, and I have to say that the drive there was entertaining, the drivers were all slow as usual, and we were trying to get there fast to make in there on time...and my mom had this chect in the back of her car that had ice melted in the back of it, well at one point traffic was stopped so she had to hit her breaks, and the chest when flying, and poured out all over the seat of the car. so I had to reach back and grab what was back there and make sure it didn't get wet, then move the chest in a better spot so it didn't move again. and I was trying not to laugh, because I knew my mom was not thinking it was too funny since her back seat was now full of water (which I cwertainly don't blame her) but it was the situation that I was laughing at not the fact that we had half the water spilled on the back seat, and all over everything.

so then we go to my doctors appointment to a lady that was almost like a former co-worker of mine who was not too friendly this morning, and kind of a loud mouth person. so I filled out the paperwork and was sent bck to put on my lovely hospital gown for the test.

then I went back to the room where they had the table for the test and waited while they got the stuff ready for me to drink...which did not taste too bad, I thought it was going to taste a lot worse!

so I was laying on one of these tables.....



or should I say standing, and they moved it and angled it as I drank the different cups of barrium they gave me, it was very interesting, and at times I felt a little pressure and at times I felt like I needed to burp. which they did let me burp at one time, but it wasn't like a big one, just a little one because of the little air bubbles inside of me.

oh and I might add that while I was drinking the dtuff the radiologist asked me why I was clearing my throat, and I was thinking in my mind you are really asking me that question????? so I said that is whay I am here is to figure this out!! and he said nothing! as I was standing on the table still drinking my stuff. I think I made him feel kind of dumb, because he could clearly see I had a problem, and I think I was bugging him, but would I really be in there if I wasn't clearing my throat that bad????

OR maybe they should have people over the age of 30 working in there who don't ask questions about the patients issues!! it really bothered me, and I think if I have some one ask me how their service was, or if I get something in the mail about that I am going to comment on that! it was totally rediculous, becaus honestly, all patients are in there for issues, in one form or another, and mine is just visable!! I am sure I am not the ONLY person out there with LPR....man I sure hope they send me a comment card, I am not going to take peoples crap!


so I finished the test in about 30 to 40 minutes and was on my way out the door, and nothing really sounded good to eat. in fact I almost felt like I was going to throw up, but I ate a biscuit from the cafiteria and some hashbrowns...

now to hear back from doctor heiners office and see what they say....

I have done further research into why I may have LPR now, and I have researched the medications I have been on since last september, one of them being prednisone, that is a steroid for asthma and an anti-infmaitory drug and a form of an antirejection drug for some organ transplantions. I was on that last september because of the fire we had in herriman and I could not breath. so I looked up the side effects and sure enough, here is what it listed for the gastrointestinal side effects of the drug, so i know for sure now that it is not my topamax, and that it was this drug because these issues with the throat clearing started really being noticable I think after this drug.

abdominal distention, abdominal pain,anorexia which may result in weight loss, constipation, diarrhea, elevation in serum liver enzyme levels (usually reversible upon discontinuation), gastric irritation, hepatomegaly, increased appetite and weight gain, nausea, oropharyngeal candidiasis, pancreatitis, peptic ulcer with possible perforation and hemorrhage, perforation of the small and large intestine (particularly in patients with inflammatory bowel disease), ulcerative esophagitis, vomiting.

so I believe it was this medication and not my topamax, so we will now just wait for my test results and go from there and decide what to do. my throat has been terrible the last two days, so I do not know what is wrong and I really wish we could figure something out!!! maybe one day we will get this all figured out and my throat will be cured??? just maybe!

well I hope you all are having a great day! I will update again soon!

Dr's Appointment in Place!

so today, after calling my doctors office a few times, and leaving two voicemails for my doctors nurse, I did talk with her, and she did say that my doctor agreed to do the barrium swallow! what do you know, he actually listened to me????

so I go in for my test on the 11th at 9:15 AM, thankgoodness I do not work that day, so I can just go home and rest the rest of the day if I have to if the stuff they are going to give me for the test makes me feel weird afterwords.

I just really hope I have some answers from this test as to why I am clearing my throat (besides it just being the LPR) and having a burning feeling on the left side where my stomach is, and having a pain where my sternum is, and a weird feeling between my breast when I swallow liquids and some types of foods.

I just want answers.....then find the solutions to fix the problems tht have been ongoing.

I just want to feel good, and to feel like a normal person again, is that ever going to be possible???? sometimes I don't think it will ever be possible. maybe one day it will though! and maybe one day I will actually have a doctor that listens to me the FIRST TIME! not the second, third, fourth, or FIFTH TIME! I wonder what dr. heiner will be like when I go to see him in a few weeks, especially if my results come back with something not so good on them. Iam just anxious to see what these results say, so I can have a clearer understanding, and some peace of mind as to what is truely going on inside of my body.

I just hope that by the time I go to see my doctor, I won't want to ring his neck a few times....maybe I will feel more calm, who knows?? but he still thinks I need to go off my topamax, and with him knowing I haven't gone off of it...well I have been through a lot this past month, a cold, and work, and well......my doctor who put me on topamax said that it is not causing any of my issues to he still wants me to continue taking it. so we will see what my GI guy says to all that!

at least my appointment is set, and all I have to do is show up for the test....

I have been taking my dexilant twice a day, and I am still clearing my throat as much and having issues, so I don't think it is helping, but we shall see where I am at in another week!

Frustrated.......

so this is a post where I am going to vent, just a little....not too much, and it is not about work either.....surprisingly, it is actually about my GI doctor that I am really frustrated with!!!

I don't know maybe it's because I am on the lovely thing that every girl goes through every month, but I have no idea, or maybe I am really frustrated because I haven't had the problem solved aince the beginning of time, and I have suggested things to this doctor to do to check for what I have..

so today I was reading on the internet to see what the barrium swallow checks for, and well sure enough is covers the larynx, the esophagus, and the intestine, and maybe one other organ....isn't it interesting, I have suggested that to my GI doctor months ago and he said that wouldn't show anything.

so boy am I going to make a phone call monday morning or what???? because I am now officially ticked, because this issue, WHICH I ADDRESSED MONTHS AGO, AND SUGGESTED THE BARIUM SWALLOW, could have been done, and we could have fould the LaryngopharyngeaL Reflux A Lot SOONER!!! I really wish the doctors would listen to their patients, but my doctor didn't do that, and boy is his nurse going to get a calm, ear full from me, and that is no joke. I will demand that I get the barium swallow, because I suspect that there could be other underlying issues with my esophagus too, trust me I know my body better than my doctor....he doesn't know everything like he thinks he does!! I will just show him in two weeks!!

tonight I did start the double dose of dexilant as my lovely GI doctor suggested, so when I go see him in a few weeks, we shall see if his suggestion worked..or if it didn't to help with the LPR.....

lots of information yesterday.......

yesterday was a good day at work, it was busy, and I got a lot of things done. yesterday when I was on my first 15 minute break I made a call to my GI doctors office, to see if they had received the results from my ear nose and throat guys office, and I got the nurses voicemail, so i left her a message, and she called me back a short time later letting me know that they had received the results, but that doctor heiner had not yet had the chance to look over them yet, so she said as soon as he looks over them she will give me a call back.

well it was after 5:00 that I received a call from my GI doctors office, and the nurse for my doctor was very nice and said that he did see the LPR, and would like me to up my dose of dexilant to one in the morning and one in the evening before I eat and see if that helps. then he wants to see me in a few weeks to see if anything has changed. so I am going to start that tonight, and we will see if he has helpped me yet a gain, no thanks to my ear nose and throat doctor diags=nosing the problem!

also I made a phone call to my neurologist dr, reichert, who is a wonderful guy I think. I left a messae with his front desk people to have him call me because I had a question on my topamax. so I also received a call from him at about 6:20 that evening, and I asked him my questions I had regarding the medication topamax. the questions I had were wither GERD was caused by the topamax, and then my other question was if any of his other patients on topamax have had this side effect, and he assured me that none of his other patients on this medication have had this side effect, and that this is not a side effect of topamax.

I told him that my GI doctor told me he wants me to stop taking topamax, and he said he wants me to keep taking it because it is not causing my GERD, or LPR. I told him that he is the 5th doctor that has told me that it is not the topamax, and so he said then I would have to agree with the other 4. he is so wonderful, and I thank him for always giving me the time I need to talk to him on the phone, HIMSELF!! it really means so much to me to have a doctor call me back themselves!! I really like that and I think that it shows that they really care about their patients.

now if only doctor heiner could learn that from doctor reichert......in my dreams, that is never going to happen. it will be interesting to see how the next appointment with him goes. as soon as I have that appointment I will update. the next option I want to talk to him about, if this lates issue is not resolved in a few weeks is the surgery for GERD, and LPR. I have heard it is a quite successful surgery. so if it comes to that then so be it, but maybe by then things will be fixed for good!!

and who really knows how long these problems have been simmering in my body, perhaps maybe years??? I guess we will never know the true answer to that question....