During the COVID pandemic, before there were any vaccines, while everyone and everything was in lock down. Some email about my health scare.
Hi David & Gail, Kate passed on your call from yesterday. I hope you guys haven't been too worried about me. I'm fine and will be done with this shortly.
I had a "down the gullet" procedure at Stratford hospital on Wednesday June 24 (gosh it's getting to be weeks ago now) and was home that night. I had been feeling punkish, beaten up in the rib cage, etc. for several days starting on Wednesday June 17. Kate noticed that my pee was turning color to a vivid yellow. By Sunday June 21 it had turned sort of a tea stained brown and I decided to call my doctor the next day (Monday). I should have gone to emerg that day. Anyways on Monday June 22 they did a bit of triage over the phone at 8:00am and decided I needed to come in and talk to a doctor at 10:00. That doctor asked me a lot about my symptoms (I had a bit of a fever and other symptoms flagged me as possible COVID). She decided I needed tests that could be done next door in the emerg at St Marys hospital. So I was there by 11:00.
At emerg they swabbed me for COVID (that's a big pain in the nose) and until results come in I'm flagged as -- don't go near him unless you're fully gowned! Nobody thought I had COVID, the gall bladder problem explains the symptoms.
At the St Marys emerg they did blood and urine tests and an EKG (I was thinking heart) and quickly diagnosed it as a blocked bile duct -- the bile is backing up to the liver and into the blood stream and out in the urine. This explains my color (I was getting yellow skin and eyes) and my upset stomach.
They wanted to do some imaging to see where the blockage was and found late that day that it was blocked right at the stomach where the bile duct comes out around the pancreas. They needed to send me to Stratford for imaging to determine where the blockage was. They were trying to get me into an ultrasound but ended up getting me a CT scan at 9:30pm. I went home in the interim, Kate took me to the hospital that night. Shortly after the scan the surgeon in Stratford explained things (gall bladder is on the bile duct and the source of the stones) and I was admitted to the hospital. There are two procedures to deal with this problem. Unlike Dad's surgery of many years ago.
The immediate problem is to clear the blockage of the bile duct. Bile is produced by the liver and the bile duct drains it into your stomach. Near the liver on the bile duct is the gall bladder which stores bile which can turn into stones. The ejected stones can block the gall bladder itself or get into the bile duct and block that. Often the blockage is at the end of the duct where there's a tight sphincter.
The down the gullet procedure is sort of like the up the bum procedure but with finer instruments. They knock you out but the procedure goes pretty quick. They go down your throat into the stomach to open the sphincter of the bile duct at the stomach wall, clear the stone and any gravel/garbage in the duct. I had that on Wednesday after my COVID test came back clean. They would have done it Monday night but for the COVID test. For several days I was in hospital in isolation. On a drip for anti-biotics and some nausea medication. Kate couldn't visit me, because the COVID test. It was frustrating that it took 48hrs for the COVID test to come back.
The procedure is: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP): ERCP is a procedure that uses a camera and X-rays to look at problems in the bile and pancreatic ducts. It helps your doctor look for gallstones stuck in your bile duct.
Post op I had an awfully sore throat and hoarse voice but that cleared after a few days. No drugs, etc. were required. I was just sent home.
The second procedure, which I am yet to have, is to remove the gall bladder. That's a day procedure where they knock you out, inflate your gut and go in with a couple of key holes on your belly to remove it. I've just talked to the surgeon about that and he hopes to have that sometime in August. They're only just opening things for elective surgery (it's not an emergency .... unless I get another stone blockage).
The procedure is: laparoscopic gallbladder removal. This is a common surgery that requires general anesthesia. The surgeon will usually make 3 or 4 incisions in your abdomen. They’ll then insert a small, lighted device into one of the incisions and carefully remove your gallbladder
Anyways, that's the story. I'm fine. I never was in a great deal of pain. Just uncomfortable with an upset stomach.
Ps. I ought to have gone in sooner. I just put the discomfort down to too much sun, too much work in the garden, too much wine, etc. The pee change really pushed me to do something. I'll be more aware should there be a next time between now and the removal.
