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In January, 2003 I went to work one day, not feeling the greatest, but I felt like I could make it through the day. About noontime, I became very ill; I threw up, had a high fever, and could barely walk. I called my husband to come and drive me home from work. He wanted to send me to the doctor’s office. I hated to go to the doctors so I convinced him that I would be OK, and all I needed was to get to bed. It was just a bit of the flu.
The next day I was feeling a bit better. My boss was upset that I took
half of the day off, so I decided to make up the lost time by working
extra hours. I was still feeling sick, but not throwing up, so I decided
that I could make it. I would work 8-12 hours a day, come home, and
directly go to bed. I was warned by the receptionist that I would cause
some serious damage by doing this to my body, but I did not listen. One day at work, I became violently ill with vomiting and finally I decided to go to the doctor's office. He said it that I was probably coming off a bug that was going around, cave me some industrial strength antacids, and blood work. If I was not feeling better in a week, come back. By that time I was getting a lot worse. My blood work came out normal. My doctor thought it might be gallstones because I was having bad back problems too. So they sent me for an ultrasound. Oddly, it was quite painfully having it done because my stomach was so sore. I went back to the doctors a week later to find out everything was normal. By that time, I was vomiting about 4 times a week and barely eating anything. I was put on a strict diet and was on 5 different medications. Nothing was working. Well, maybe I had an ulcer. or gastritis. Or maybe I was pregnant. But every thing was turning up normal. So I was sent to a GI specialist. My GI doctor thought it be best, since I was sick for such a long time, I should have an upper endoscopy done. That turned up normal. By this time, I was dropping about 8 pounds a week. I could not keep anything down. I would not eat for days, surviving on nothing but orange juice and crackers. Then I went through another gall bladder test, upper GI barium swallow, more blood work, another pregnancy test, and a cat scan. I was getting to know the hospital staff on a first name basis. Everything was normal. I hated the word normal. I knew something was terribly wrong and cried every time something came back with the dreaded “normal” word. I got all types of advice. Others tried to "cure" me. I felt like a science project of my family, friends and co-workers. I needed to pray more. I needed to eat nothing but cookies. I needed to be yelled at. I needed to have counseling. I needed to eat by my blood type. I needed to be force fed. I needed to work harder. All I knew was I needed to find out what was wrong and I needed to get better! Something was clearly wrong. At that time I dropped 45 pounds. I was always on the small side, and I’m short, so a loss of 45 pounds is a lot! And I was still loosing weight. My GI doctor decided to do a gastric emptying test. This test showed that I had gastroparesis. It was a bittersweet feeling, I understood that it was not a problem that could be corrected easily by drugs or surgery, and I would probably live with this problem the rest of my life. But at the same time it was an answer, and that was the only thing that I wanted.
My GP had progressed so rapidly that my GI Doctor decided
to send me to see Dr. Hasler at the
A week after my surgery my husband and I went to see
Dr. Hasler. I was placed on Domperidone. That did not seem to relieve my
symptoms so I had him do an endoscopic procedure involving Botox.
The Botox was not a miracle cure, but now I am able to eat a few
bites of sugar and carbohydrates a day, as well as drink water.
I have also gone to see a chiropractor to help with my stomach
problems. This has helped me with the pain that gastroparesis can cause.
Since my j-tube placement 6 months ago, I have gained 17 pounds!
It is so much more comfortable to have a bit of padding around my bones!
And I am able to work full time at my job, as well as doing freelance
design work and taking care of my wonderful husband.
Even though I still hope and pray every day for a cure, I pray
more for strength to equal this path I must take. I have learned how to
deal with GP on bad days. I have learned to be thankful for the good
days. I have learned the importance of helping others and asking others
for help. I have learned on how to put my faith and trust in God when
all else seems to be hopeless. I have learned on how much my husband
truly loves and cares for me. I have learned on how to fight against
this condition rather than be a victim of it.
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