Hello 2010

Needless to say this year started off interesting....or is it more accurate to say that 2009 ended on a crazy note. Regardless of the technicalities, on new years eve I awoke at 2 am nauseous and proceeded to throw up for 7 hours and endure severe abdominal pain.

For the first time in my life I had to call work, or more accurately, have Kevin call my boss and let her know that there was no way I would be able to be back in northern california for work at 8am on new years day. The call went fine and just a few minutes later I announced that I needed to go to the hospital. Now if you know me, you know that I don't go to the hospital ever. The most recent trip before this was 8 years ago when I had my ulcer and was incapacitated with pain, so understandably I have to be in a great deal of pain to justify going to the hospital. I was in pain.

Kevin, his dad and I arrived in the emergency room easily dealt with the whole Northern vs. Southern CA Kaiser issue and they took my vital signs. No fever, normal blood pressure and a very high pulse. Probably about 15 minutes later I was escorted into one of the rooms in the back to wait for the doctor. I was alone and not sure what was going to happen. After waiting about half an hour Kevin arrived and what a relief that was. A little while after a nurse arrived and proceeded to give me an IV, anti-nausea medicine and morphine. They started all of the tests and I had to wait about 4 more hours for the results. After the whole ordeal, the doctor informed me that all of the tests came back normal. Not what I wanted to hear. I would have been happier to be able to blame the pain on something but alas I was not so lucky. He guessed that it was some form of gastritis and that it may have aggravated my old ulcer but no real conclusions were made.

I was released, picked up a prescription and headed back to Kevin's parents house. I slept, only felt a little pain, until 9 that evening. All of the pain returned and I was about ready to go back to the hospital. The next thing I remember is waking up the next morning on the couch and Kevin asleep on the floor next to me. I felt "ok", this being a relative term since I was still in pain but could at least move around a little bit. I convinced Kevin to pack up the car and we headed back home around 10am. I was glad to be going home and glad the pain had significantly decreased.

We made it home ready to start the new year. In the week or so that has gone by I have returned to work. I am feeling much better although still sick. My stomach does not like it when I eat which is a challenge because I love food. I am on a restricted bland diet which is frustrating because it eliminates some of my favorite foods but it helps with reducing the pain so I will sacrifice for now.

Hopefully as the year progresses my stomach will fully recover and I will be back to eating my normal foods and living my normal life without ridiculous stomach pain, but for I will go and eat some pasta or a turkey sandwich to get me through the day.

I hope everyone had a more pleasant new years than I did and I am hoping that everyone has a fabulous enjoyable and healthy 2010. :-)