My 21-year-old baby, Katie, is at the hospital and may be having surgery this afternoon, and I am too far away to do anything to help her. But pray.
She called me this morning and told me about feeling nauseated all night (but not actually being sick) and having stomach pains and pain in her shoulder. She said she'd been constipated but had gotten over that. She's been struggling lately with what she thinks might be lactose intolerance. I suspected she was still constipated and suggested she take a laxative, have a hot bath and walk around. And asked her to call me later.
Fortunately for my wise daughter, when she got worse instead of better, she called TeleHealth Ontario, a free service where you can talk to a nurse and get advice on whether to see a doctor or not. The nurse told her to see a doctor, so she did. (Her boyfriend's mother came and drove them. Thank you, Tammy!) The doctor checked her out, including pressing on her where her gallbladder is. Katie screamed in pain! The doctor then told her to go to the hospital for further tests. It could be an inflamed/infected gallbladder, or it could be a gallstone. Surgery might be needed.
She called me this morning and told me about feeling nauseated all night (but not actually being sick) and having stomach pains and pain in her shoulder. She said she'd been constipated but had gotten over that. She's been struggling lately with what she thinks might be lactose intolerance. I suspected she was still constipated and suggested she take a laxative, have a hot bath and walk around. And asked her to call me later.
Fortunately for my wise daughter, when she got worse instead of better, she called TeleHealth Ontario, a free service where you can talk to a nurse and get advice on whether to see a doctor or not. The nurse told her to see a doctor, so she did. (Her boyfriend's mother came and drove them. Thank you, Tammy!) The doctor checked her out, including pressing on her where her gallbladder is. Katie screamed in pain! The doctor then told her to go to the hospital for further tests. It could be an inflamed/infected gallbladder, or it could be a gallstone. Surgery might be needed.
The last I heard from Katie she was waiting to be seen at the hospital. She said she'd call me again when she has access to a pay-phone. So I'm waiting and waiting, and feeling guilty that I'm not with my daughter when she really needs her mommy. And feeling guilty that I gave her such bad advice. (I certainly didn't know that shoulder pain was a real symptom; we both thought it was a red herring.)
Nothing to do but wait and pray. And thank God she called TeleHealth.
Nothing to do but wait and pray. And thank God she called TeleHealth.
Poor sweetie!
ReplyDeletePrayers headed your way.
Daddy XXX
How's Katie doing now? Is she feeling better? ~ Mary Ann
ReplyDeleteThey sent her home late last night, saying they thought it was a virus of some kind, but Katie thinks she may have passed a gallstone while she was waiting to be seen by the ER doctors. Certainly the sharp, intense pain she described doesn't sound like any virus I've ever heard of. She still has tummy pain, but the sharp pain is gone and the shoulder pain has gone, too. I told her to just take it easy and, if it gets worse again, to go back to the hospital.
ReplyDelete