Complications

So, I have been feeling great and than I had something happen. The area where my gallbladder used to be started hurting. Very suddenly one morning on my way to work. Unlike on a normal day, I couldn't find a correlation between this pain and food. And it kept getting worse. Therefore, I kept getting anxious. I was scheduled to fly to West Virginia for Memorial Day, so I went to Urgent Care to get to opinion of a doctor and find out if this was something ER worthy. I HATE going to the ER and will do anything to avoid it. The doctor didn't believe it was anything, told me it was probably a stomach bug. I asked her to please test my pancreatic and liver enzymes. In my head, I was thinking that if they came back fine then I would know it was probably unrelated to my gallbladder removal. They took my blood, told me to have a safe trip, and said they would call me when they had the results. Two days later, I get a call and my liver enzymes were perfect. However, my pancreatic enzymes were elevated. Granted, they weren't SUPER high (lipase = 416, amalyse = 140), but it was enough to where she suggested I get an ultrasound of my bile ducts when I got home to make sure I didn't have a gallstone or some other blockage that was pissing my pancreas off. When I got home from my trip to West Virginia, I called my primary physician and he agreed to have me come in and talk to him that afternoon. He called my increased pancreatic enzymes "pancreatitis" (that sounds so scary!!!) and referred me to a GI doctor with the recommendation of getting an EGD (esophagogastroduodenoscopy). He was glad that I had this mild episode of pancreatitis documented. I also had a repeat blood test, which showed that my lipase was back to normal (200) and that my amalyse was at 136 (only 6 above normal - practically normal). So whatever was going on with pancreas went away almost as fast as it showed up. Jeez, man. I went to visit a GI PA and talked to her for a while. She then relayed all of my information to my GI doctor, who suggested that I might have 1 of 2 things: 1) A gallstone. I don't believe this. When Dr. Vierra removed my gallbladder in 2011, he told me that I had absolutely no gallstones. However, just because I didn't have them then doesn't mean I might not have one now. When you no longer has a gallbladder, and your liver develops a gallstone, it will just sit in your bile ducts, therefore causing a blockage of pancreatic enzymes and pain. For doctors, this is the most probable cause of post-cholecystectomy pain. They see very often so I don't blame them for thinking this is the cause. They are just going by statistics. It's just hard for me to believe. 2) Sphincter of oddi dysfunction. In my crazy mind, this is what I have convinced myself that I have. I have read a lot of about it on the internet (because obviously the internet is the best scholarly resource ever... ha!) and I feel like this fits my symptoms better than a gallstone. This is where your bile ducts "spasm" and can cause pain and the slow down of bile, sometimes resulting in pancreatitis or liver problems. It can come and go. I'm not really sure how this is treated. I have read a lot of inconsistent blogs about how people had their SOD dysfunction treated. Bottom line: on Thursday, I am going to the hospital as an outpatient to had an EGD performed. This is where I will be placed under general anaesthesia and my doctor will stick a tube down my throat into my stomach and take pictures of my insides. By looking around, he will be able to determine if I have a blockage in my bile ducts. If I do, then he will then perform something called an ERCP (Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography). This is when he will be able to insert dye into my bile ducts and take an ultrasound. He then will be able look at whatever is in there and treat it right there on the spot. If he initially looks around and finds nothing in my bile ducts, then it's probably a safe bet that I have SOD. I have no idea what happens after that, but hopefully they can come up with a treatment plan if it does turn out to be SOD! As always, I have a million things I am anxious about. Here is a list: 1. When googling other people's ERCPs experiences, I read nothing but horror stories about how people ended up in the hospital for 2 weeks with severe pancreatitis as a result of the procedure. This freaks me out. It is said that ERCPs are always the most successful when you have them done by someone who is specially trained in the procedure. My doctor (Dr. Michael Mendoza) is apparently an expert in these procedures. According to his LinkedIn (yes, I am a stalker), he actually trained other people who do to ERCPs at UCLA. Maybe this means I won't get pancreatitis again (but much worse this time) and I can just go home after I wake up from the procedure. Before my gallbladder surgery, I googled it constantly and read a bunch of horror stories but I turned out fine. I hope I have the same experience this time. 2. I have to be put under general anaesthesia. I already had this done when I had my gallbladder removed, but I am scared of throwing up. The first time, I was only a little nauseas and then was okay and ate the evening after the procedure. But then the next night, I threw up all night... and again for almost 3 days until my surgeon called me in a prescription for nausea medication. I don't know if this happened because my entire digestive system was like "WHERE IS THE GALLBLADDER? I DONT KNOW HOW TO WORK ANYMORE AHHHH" and just threw up or if was residual from the anaesthesia. Either way, I don't want to throw up again for 3 days. 3. What if they look inside me and find a scary tumor and I have cancer and I am going to DIE AHHHHHHHHH. I know, this is very very unlikely. But seriously??? What if they do?? I just want to know I am healthy. :( In the meantime, ever since my visit to the GI doctor, I have restricted my diet to less than 10g of at per meal. Most days I don't even eat 20g of a fat a day. After about 2 days of this, I feel 98% better. Despite the results of this test, I have decided that this is my life now and I am going to have to eat this way for a while. In a few months, maybe I'll try to reintroduce more fatty foods in my diet and see what happens. I will update this blog after my test and hopefully my experience can help someone else who might be having the same problems as me. Thanks! :-) --Megan