As I sit in class I begin to daydream about the next couple of weeks coming up.
Sophomore year is almost over and I can’t wait to start my summer vacation out in the woods of my YMCA sleep over camp. I scurry off to the cafeteria as the bell for the next period goes off. Afterwards I begin to feel extremely uncomfortable. Pain starts to elevate in my stomach right under my rib cage. I try to take big deep breathes to calm myself down but nothing is working.
I finally ask to go to the nurses’ office. While there my body is now sweating a lot and feeling very fatigue.The nurse checks me out and says that I need to go home because of how sick I really look. Little did I know that this was the beginning of a chain of gallbladder attacks, and the removal of my gallbladder.
Then one night after ordering a soft taco from Taco Bell with some of my friends the pain I experienced after eating the meal becomes the most intense I’ve ever felt. Since I can barely walk or move I finally ask my Dad to take me over to the ER. While waiting for a doctor in the emergency room at the Milton Hershey Medical Center I am given a G. I. cocktail to help with the pain.The resident doctor explains to me that they have found gallstones lodged in my liver and gallbladder bile ducts after I took a CT scan.
As the days go by the pain gets worse after each meal I eat and how fatigue I feel in general. I finally get an appointment with a Pediatric G. I. surgeon specialist. During the clinic consultation the surgeon shows my parents how my skin and eyes are turning yellowish, which meant I was jaundice.
Something was wrong with my gallbladder and or liver.I was scheduled for surgery to remove my gallbladder then. After I woke up from surgery was where I realized that they had cut me open about 4 inches under my right rib cage. I was upset and confused at first because I thought that I was only going to wake up with a very small laparoscopic scar instead. Later the doctors informed me on how my gallbladder was too inflamed to take it out that way.
So weeks go by as I watch my body slowly recover. A month later and I’m feeling just as rotten, weak, and fatigue as I was before the operation.My parents caught on quick that something was really wrong since I couldn’t keep any food down. I was then readmitted to the hospital. After another CT scan and MRI, the doctors found more gallstones that were stuck in the bile ducts that should have been removed during the surgery but were not because of my high risk of bleeding to death. I receive several endoscopy surgeries to remove all of the preexisting gallstones and sludge.
Once my body feels better and I can actually keep food down, I start my first week at Camp Shand as a Volunteer.Since I had to miss staff training because of surgery, I’m assigned kitchen duty so I don’t have to strain my body or scar. A week later I’m excited to find out that my friend Ashley and I are in charge of a resident sleep over cabin. I really enjoy the experience of being a junior counselor by interacting with all the children throughout the day of camp activities. I noticed that my body is adapting to the camp schedule even though the pain after eating hasn’t truly gone away.
I brush off the idea that it could be anything more serious since it’s only been a couple months after I got cut open. In conclusion through these painful experiences it has helped me become more conscious when there is something up or wrong with my body. You can’t just stay in between the lines all the time and listen to what everybody else has to say even if they’re a professional. I believe that if you stick with your gut feeling it will show you the right pathway to go. You got to speak up and listen to what your body has to say to you no matter what.
In the end it will thank you later.
