According to my discharge note I have:
ABDOMINAL PAIN ETIOLOGY UNK
"This means that the cause of your abdominal pain is not clear. Most causes of abdominal pain go away on their own. However, appendicitis or other significant problems are still possible, but surgery and further tests do not appear to be needed at present. Follow up with you physician and re-evaluation are extremely important."
In other words, they poked and prodded and ultrasounded me and all the important parts look normal. I have a normal looking liver. There are no pockets of fluid or blood in my abdomen where they should not be. There are no gall stones or sign of thickening of the gall bladder. My kidneys are all clear. My heart is not enlarged and looks good. My aorta is unusually anterior (ie feels enlarged) but is of normal size.
They have no idea what is wrong with me and hopes it goes away on its own.
Anyway, now I am not obviously dying on anyone it is someone else's problem.
I am depressed, starving, exhausted and in some mild discomfit but its sunny. Its still sunny.
7 comments:
I suppose we should applaud the good news that there is nothing glaringly awry. Except that you can't eat.
I hope your next post reports a resumption of eating (without hideous aftereffects). And continued sun.
When are you scheduled for a follow-up visit?
I don't have a scheduled follow-up because my doctor expected me to be better by Monday. I am not better.
I am also afraid of eating and won't eat until someone tells me what is going on. I can't relive that bout yesterday... it was just awful.
The family is eating pizza for lunch while I sip tea and chicken broth. It is still sunny :)
Oh Shannon, this just sounds really intolerable. Do you think your doctor could get you an appt with a gastroenterologist FAST?
Have they considered a gall bladder attack? This sounds positively frustrating and awful. I hope they figure it out soon
Wendy
Wendy, I have started googling and I thought the gall bladder sounded very promising. However, they ultrasounded my gallbladder and said it looked normal, no stones, normal walls and no thickening. Nothing to blame there.
The Attending mentioned that his ED ultrasound was for ER Diagnostics only and "if your physician is still concerned about the gall bladder they should order a full abdominal ultrasound" which is in fact what the Resident recommended to me on discharge.
I just want a gastroenterologist. STAT.
I have entered that sublime place of starvation where you aren't really hungry anymore and you start to wonder why people eat at all. Food? What a distraction.
That said, I did nibble a piece of garlic bread and spit it out. Someone should sell garlic bread flavored gum for people on fluid diets.
Heather, it is lousy. I sit on the couch and have imaginary dialogues with a gastroenterologist in which I present MY case in pseudo medicalese and help him make a quick and easy diagnosis which leads to a prescription and a big meal of pizza and garlic bread and pound cake and ...
see where my mind goes if I let it. Still, a recent 1/4 cup of applesauce has me full of energy.
Well, I'm glad that it is nothing life-threatening, but it is obviously life-altering at this time!! I know I posted this before, but have then done a stool test for C.Diff?? I can't spell exactly what it stands for, but it took two weeks for them to finally diagnose it, and my sypmtoms were so, so similar.
The fastest way to get help is to get to the hospital. Pretend you are so dehydrated that you passed out!!!
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