Gallbladder... be gone!

So that's the prognosis... surgical removal of my "abnormally functioning" gallbladder. When I got the call today I was nervous and most of all relieved.... relieved to know what the heck this was all about! It was driving me crazy having this terrible pain and not knowing what it was. Now at least I know that I have a defective organ that needs to be pulled out through a little laparascopic hole in my stomach.

Photo Break!!

My Health; why it sucks.

Let's start off by saying this.... today I got an upper GI endoscopy. For those of you who don't know what that is.... here's how it went.

Traded in the track jacket (go penn state!) for a paper gown.

Had an IV put in my delicate little hand.

Was prepped by 3 nurses while simultaneously being grilled about my tattoos, eyelashes, and earrings.

(Said prepping included a painful blood pressure cuff, oxygen being pumped into my nose, and a plastic O put in my mouth and strapped around my head like one of those torture gag things.)

While I was knocked out the doctor put a tube down my throat with a camera and looked at my esophagus, stomach, and part of my intestine and took a sample for biopsy.

Ta da! I woke up not long after in the room where I started!

SO.....After putting my clothes back on the doctor came in saying I had a bunch of tiny ulcers and that he took some tissue to biopsy but he though that was not the cause of my pain.

Now I have to go on tuesday and get a HIDA scan.... which will further test the functioning of my gallbladder.

WISH ME LUCK!

Ps.... I have been in so much pain the last week it's nuts....

OK. So it's been a while right? It's hard to have motivation to write when no one really knows I have this blog. So I'm going to do a quick update on my life. (in order of importance)

GOD: More in love with Him than ever! I belong to the most amazing church that has made memphis feel like home more than I ever thought it could. I help out with the youth group regularly and love it! (wasn't I a teenager like a minute ago?)

TJ: More in love with HIM than ever! (funny how that happens right?) We've had our rough moments but by the grace of God we pushed through and what a wonderful man! Sweet, handsome, and funny. What else could I have asked for?

WORK: I work at The West Clinic. It is one of the top cancer clinics in the mid-south. I love the patients, but my job stresses me out to no end. I started out as a student in the lab drawing blood. I LOVE PHLEBOTOMY. Some people think it's sick to enjoy sticking people with needles, but they just don't get it... I enjoy sticking people WELL with needles... and hearing them say "I barely felt that!". Well on the last day of the clinical portion of my schooling a position opened up at the front desk and I had to decide if I wanted to do what I love (phlebotomy) somewhere else, or be at the front desk of a clinic I love. So here I am.. working the toughest, most stressfull job I've ever had. But you know, it's all worth it when a patients face lights up when they see me... or when they heartfully thank me for fighting the hospital to get their biopsy done in a few days instead of a few weeks.

SELF: Two days ago I did the most selfish and wonderful thing. I joined a gym. I have a treadmill and a weight bench... but coming home after 8-10 hours of stressful hard work never really puts me in the mood to use them. The second I get home my energy starts deteriorating. The gym I joined is amazing....I felt instantly comfortable and relaxed. I love it! I would spend hours there a day if I had the time. Why can't I get paid to work out? Then I'd be thin and rich. Would anyone like to fund my dream?

So there it is... a very detailed and boring update on my world. Come back... It will improve I swear.