Osteopathic doctor warned me to drink lots of water and get lots of rest after that first manipulation appointment. Well, yesterday I worked and felt great the whole day. Today I woke up and feel like I have the worst hangover I’ve ever had. The headache. The nausea. Just feel like I’ve been run over by a semi truck. So in my mind right now I’m thinking between the osteopathic manipulation and the accupressure, something is changing in my body.
Stay tuned...
A couple weeks have gone by since my visit to the hospital. I’ve traveled through quite the mix of emotions during that time. The most prominent immediately after leaving the hospital was frustration. Frustration that nobody knows what to make of my situation. Frustration toward myself that I should communicate better. Frustration that my family feels helpless. And so many other things. Even though I had these intense feelings of frustration I kept telling myself to think positive. I know that medicine is a science and it is not black and white. I know that my knew body can be a challenge at times. I’ve always believed things happen for a reason - even shitty stuff happens for a reason. We might not always know that reason in the moment and that can be frustrating.
I have a strong tendency to worry. When this pain happens, I worry about what is causing it. I worry if I will need another surgery. I worry about how much the medical bills are going to be. I worry that it is going to happen again. I worry about how these situations are going to affect my kids and the way they see the world or how they cope. My mind just goes crazy with worry. And I completely understand that worrying is not going to accomplish anything. And I completely believe it causes more grief than is necessary. I also believe the mind is a very powerful thing and such worrying can cause more physical ailments. Because of this, I am constantly reminding myself not to worry. I’m not a religious person but like I said I believe things happen for a reason and I believe in a higher power. There is no need to worry.
At this moment, we don’t know what is causing the pain, and that is okay. Maybe we aren’t supposed to know right now. What does it really matter if I need another surgery. Is that really the worst thing that can happen? I take care of kiddos everyday who have had countless amount of surgeries. Poor kiddos. And they have the best attitudes. The cost of medical bills can be super frustrating, but what does worrying about it do. Nothing. And we are so fortunate to have good steady jobs. And the ability to save and be prepared for these situations. And what if it happens again? Well, we will deal with it just like we have before. And maybe that time will be the time somebody figures something out. And for my kids. They are resilient. They are smart. They will see my strength, courage, positivity, and grace though these situations. It is so extremely freeing to let go of the things you cannot control. No matter what happens, life will go on and we will get through it and will be stronger for it.
With all of that said I still find it important to be an advocate for myself and to research and talk with people in similar situations. I’ve done some connecting with other people who have my genetic mutation and have had their stomach removed who also have had this weird abdominal pain. Since doing so, I’ve remembered that my surgeon told me it is very common to have gallbladder issues after the removal of your stomach, but more so if you’re really over weight to begin with. If that’s the case you usually lose a larger amount of weight is a very short amount of time. Which can cause issues with your gallbladder. So he usually just takes the gallbladder out with the stomach in those patients. At the time I was not a candidate for that. At least not on his recommendation. And I agreed with him. I’d like to keep as many of my organs for a long as I possibly can. But now I’m wondering if this is my issue. My most recent CT scan looks okay, but I’m wondering if I should pursue more imaging to rule my gallbladder out. So while in the hospital a couple of weeks, I spoke to the hospitalist about possibly working up my gallbladder. He didn’t think it was a bad idea. It would be good to rule out so we know for sure it’s not that. Cause that’s what we do in medicine. We make a list of all the things it could be so we can go through that list and cross the items off one by one. So he recommended I follow up with my PCP for pursuing the gallbladder as a cause to my pain. Anyway, the hospitalist is actually a DO and practices osteopathic medicine as well. I actually had an appointment with him today. He spent over an hour with me. He explained osteopathic medicine with info than I could ever absorb about our lymphatic system and the entire time doing osteopathic manipulative medicine with me today. I’m still not entirely sure what exactly that means, but he had a lot of insight and spent a very long time with me working on fascia release in my abdomen, and lymphatic drainage. I will definitely be going back.
My chiropractor also came to came for another acupressure session. I know I’ve mentioned him before but can’t remember how in depth I went about acupressure and what he does. Acupressure is very much like accupuncture, but there are no needles involved. It is all based on the knowledge that we as humans are made up of energy. Just like everything else. And sometimes things in our bodies or things that happen to our bodies cause a block in the flow of that energy. The accupressure or accupuncture helps to relieve that blockage so the energy can flow more freely again. When we have blocked energy within our bodies it can cause symptoms like pain or nausea. Way back shortly after having my stomach removed I was super nauseated. A lot of the time. I had more days of nausea than I had with no nausea. Dr Berg came to see if there was anything he could do to help me. And I know this all sounds super hoaxie and totally hippie but I was so surprised at the sensations I was feeling as he was doing his work to release the blocked energy in and around my abdomen. I remember after that first session feeling a world of difference for the better. I had a bit more energy. I had a appetite and the nausea was markedly improved. I would go into more detail about the sensations I was feeling but I think you all would really think I’ve gone bat shit crazy. So let’s just leave it at that for now. He did a lot of educating me on what he does and how the energy flows in our bodies and what helps with energy flow and what can cause blockages of that energy. And in the several sessions we’ve had since that first day we’ve chatted more and more about it all including grounding our bodies to earth and earthing and all sorts of non western thinking. Over time I’ve come to believe that this man is a true healer. He has a gift within his hands and I feel so fortunate to have crossed paths with him.
But let’s back track for a minute to last week. My chiropractor came, which was about a week after I was in the hospital. I just felt he could help me. So he came and went and I felt a tad better in general. As the next week went by I just felt like there was a spot in my abdomen that just felt congested and stuck. Not really sure how else to describe it. I made an appointment for today to see if we could relieve that feeling I’ve been having. As he did his thing and felt around my belly he located several spots that caused discomfort on palpation. Long story short he was able to help those spots. To the point where the feeling of hollowness where my stomach used to be has changed. The best way I can find to describe the feeling is full. It no longer feels there is a void there.
So between the acupressure and the osteopathic manipulations, I think we might be onto something.
Stay tuned...
