The latest hospital adventure

Do you remember the post I wrote last June about Brock calling us in the middle of the night with severe stomach pains? Erin took him to ER, and brought the girls here to stay with us. He was basically told they could not find anything in their testing of him, and I think they diagnosed him with acid reflux.

Well, same thing happened this morning. We were sound asleep, it was still dark, and the phone rings. I couldn't tell at first what the conversation was about after Dennis answered it. I thought he said something about the heater, so I thought his office was having problems. My dream must have been mixed into it. I soon learned it was Brock, again, with those awful stomach pains.

My hero of a husband quickly got dressed, picked up Brock and took him to ER, so Erin could stay home and get the girls up and ready for school.

Turns out the ER doctor pulled up his chart from 7 months ago and told them his gallbladder was bad back then! They took more tests today which confirmed that first diagnosis from last June. This new Dr told Brock he would definitely need to have his gallbladder removed.

The strange thing is, they were told last June that the tests turned out fine. Yet on that report, we learned today, it was written that his gallbladder was the culprit.

If there is any upshot to this story...I got to spend the afternoon with Elora again, and it did remind me of an episode we had with her the last time her dad was at the ER.

Thankfully Brock has a consult with the surgeon tomorrow afternoon. We are hoping they can schedule him quickly for the surgery. The surgery that should have been scheduled 7 months ago!

Not to minimize Brock's suffering, but one of the consequences of today was that I missed the funeral of Gib Hutchings. I have many fond memories of being in their home when I was a teenager. They would sometimes leave me in charge of their 4 children while he and his wife would go out of town. Great family.
If anyone reading this post was able to attend, please tell me about it.
I would love to have a copy of his program for my journal.

19 comments:

Logan and Amy said...

I am sorry to hear about Brock. I can't believe they didn't let him know 7 months ago. Is he still in the hospital? Keep us updated.
Amy

Lisa said...

OUCHIE WOWIE! That's all I can say. That sounds like pure PAIN. Poor Guy. On the bright side, lots of time to draw during the recovery period if he can sit up or keep his eyes open.

I know it's a big pain, but sometimes when these things happen, it brings something into our lives that we never noticed before & some part of the experience elevates us somehow to another place. A better place.

Anonymous said...

Thanks again to you and Dennis for all your help today. I don't know what we would have done without you. Here's the little thing I wrote on my own site for this incident. Thought you might like to see:

Oh My Gall Bladder

So remember this past summer when I had a guest strip week because I had to go into the hospital for some severe stomach pain? It was the the culmination of some stomach issues I'd been having for a while. I had a million tests done--xrays, ultrasounds, blood, etc. and the doctors told me "Nothing wrong with you, why don't you get an endoscopy?" which is doctor for "That's all the tests we can think to make you pay for here, why don't you go across town and make sure my colleague maintains his country club membership."

So I didn't go do that. (Okay, that's not the real reason I didn't go--the real reason is that I didn't want to spend the money and I didn't want to take any more time off work. Stupid, I know.)

So about 4:30 am yesterday morning I wake up in excruciating pain again and a couple hours later I was back in the ER. I told them about my prior experience and they looked up my records. I started feeling a bit better (thankfully), but then the doctor came back and it went something like this:

Me: All my tests last time came back negative.

Doctor: Actually, no.

Me: No?

Doctor: No. One of the scans they did showed that your gall bladder wasn't working.

Me: No, we made sure. We asked and made sure that there was nothing wrong and the doctor kept telling us I was fine. I gave him a hard time about it, my wife gave him a hard time about, my MOTHER-IN-LAW gave him a hard time about it and he said I was fine.

Doctor: I can't say what happened there. Maybe there were two doctors and they had a disagreement. I want to do an ultrasound.

Me: Okay. Fine.

Doctor: I'll give you some IB Proufren for the pain as well.

Me: When I was here last time they told me that IB Proufren would be bad for my stomach.

Doctor: Didn't they also tell you that your gall bladder was fine?

Me: Right.

So...out my gall bladder goes. This should be fun. Ultrasound also showed a stone. It's official: I'm old. Time to go trim some ear hairs.

Anonymous said...

Oh dear Jill. Our prayers will be with Brock. We have a copy of the program for Gib's funeral. It is in an envelope to be sent to Wilma Hill, but I'll take it out and give you a copy of it. Dad and Susan

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear about Brock. I am glad they finally told him what was wrong.

I think I know this man. Wasn't he a patriarch?(SP) If so I think he was the one that gave me mine.

Anonymous said...

Jill & Brock~
I had my gall bladder removed last February, and like Brock, I felt that it made me officially old. I can't believe the dr's last time said you were fine. The first dr I went to told me I was just constipated...well I'm sorry but pain like that isn't constipation. I had the laproscopy surgery and I recovered really quick. I hope that is what they are able to do with Brock. Just after I had the surgery I wasn't able to take ANY pain medication because the anesthesia made me nauseated...and so now I know what it feels like to be stabbed, literally stabbed like 5 times. But other than that, it only took about 4 days or so to recover. I was in and out of the hospital on the same day. I hope all goes well with Brock. Keep us updated.
Ammy Moore

Grandma Honey said...

Thank you very much for all the comments and concern. This is so very nice. Brock came home yesterday afternoon and then he will see the surgeon for a consult this afternoon.

Amy Nielson said...

That is the same thing that happened to me with my gall bladder!! Except mine was really bad chest & back pain. They told me nothing was wrong the first time and then when I ended up in the ER again (at a different hospital) they told me that my gall bladder was bad. Do you mind my asking what hospital ER he went to?

Amy Nielson said...

Also, my parents went to Gib Hutchings funeral so my mom could tell you about it.

Grandma Honey said...

Amy Nielson..
I thought a lot about you yesterday because I know you are going through something very similar. I even tried to find a picture of you and Brock together at "home play school" I'm still looking for that.
Brock went both times to Clovis Community. We are all amazed with the honesty of the Dr yesterday when he said the first doctor clearly messed up. I thought doctors tend to all stick together, especially working at the same hospital. He showed them the report where it said his gallbladder was bad last time and they also showed him where the Dr had written the patient was fine and sent home.
One of the reasons I wanted to attend the funeral yesterday was so I could see your mom, as I knew she would be there!

Rebecca said...

Oh dear! I hope all goes well with Brock. I put his name on the Salt Lake Temple prayer roll. Keep us informed.

grandmapeg said...

Well, at least Brock still has a sense of humor (officially old now and ear hair) :-) Tell him good luck with the surgery!

Jennifer said...

I know what that feels like. It is very very painful. The surgery is easy too. I went to Clovis Community with my pain. My pain was really bad I thought I was having a heart attack because of the terrible chest pain. They gave me morphine and it all stopped. They did lots of xrays and ultrasounds. Good luck and the surgery is simple, just a couple of hours.

Dennis said...

What's wrong with ear hair?

-Den

Kathy's Red Door Welcome said...

If Dennis doesn't know what's wrong with ear hair then he must be really really old. Hope Brock gets to feeling better soon.

Amy Nielson said...

I'm glad that the Dr admitted to the mistake of the other Dr. Our first trip to the ER was to Clovis community also where they found nothing wrong so when it happened again we went to St Agnes and they were able to diagnose my problem. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of faith in the Clovis Community ER dr's anymore. I hope his surgery goes well. If he can request a surgeon, I've heard wonderful things about Dr. Michas. He will be doing my surgery in a few months.

Richard said...

Thanks for posting Gib's obit.

Ronnell said...

Tell Brock I had my gallbladder taken out in December of 2007 and it was a breeze. In fact, I was at Publix the next morning grocery shopping.

Grandma Honey said...

That's incredible Ronnell!!!

Look what happened last night

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