Princess Number Two Illness Guess - Gallbladder

 As you know, if you follow my blog at all, that Princess Two has come home from her mission in Taiwan early due to some weird illness and symptoms. 

We had a few interesting experiences and I think we know what the problem is but aren't sure what to do about it. 

Since she arrived home, her stomach cramping that she had most of the past year started to go away some and she thought maybe it was that she could sleep longer and get more rest but a few weeks back, I made some stir-fry with shrimp and used lots of olive oil in the process. That night, princess was rolling around on the floor in pain. 

The next day, she ate more and once again was on the floor in pain. I didn't know which night she was in pain or what she was eating.  I know she had been eating lots and enjoying the foods she hadn't eaten in a year but those two nights were the worst pain she had in weeks. 

Forward to my bunko night. Princess joined me and on the way in, she mentioned that she had really bad pain in her right shoulder right under the scapula. I touched the are when she sat down and wondered what she could have done to have such a big pain. She said it didn't hurt like a pulled muscle just really bad pain. 
 
Forward to an hour later when I am at a table with three women and one says, "Do you want to hear a funny story?" she then tells this story about how she had her gallbladder out two months ago and her dad had been having right shoulder pain in the back for months and went to a chiropractor, a Dr. and a massage therapist and nothing was helping. She told him when the Surgeon went to take out her gallbladder, he asked if she had been having any right back shoulder pain as that was common with gallbladder issues. She then said her father was getting his gallbladder out in the morning. 

I got chills. No one heard princess tell me her shoulder hurt. The woman was sitting in the exact spot Princess two had been when we talked and I touched  her hurt shoulder. I don't know if she had told me at any other time, I would have put two and two together. 

We had family down to welcome Princess home a week later and I mentioned to a friend that we thought her problem was gallbladder. My sister-in-law was standing behind me. 

She reminded me that my 18 year old niece had her gallbladder out over a year ago because she kept having similar issues for months. The Dr.'s diagnosed her with Anorexia but the mom told them she ate the same as her 8 other children if not more. She had all the tests to check out the gallbladder and they all came back normal. She even had a scope down the throat which showed nothing. 

Until the surgeon actually went in and took it out, everything looked normal. When he took it out, they realized it wasn't and that she would have had problems ongoing. Since then, she has been fine. She does take some medication but that is because she was so young. They don't like taking the gallbladder out in people under 19. It was a life saver for her as she couldn't eat any meat.   
 
We went to the clinic and got some tests ordered. Once again, we went back to our bland died of no milk, not much dairy, limited chicken and fish, no red meat or pork, and mostly fruits and veggies cooked with little or no fats. Princess felt better.

She had an ultrasound which didn't show stones. She then had a Hida-scan ordered and it showed normal. 

From there, I thought perhaps we were off but still can't get that nagging thought that she is like my niece and needs to figure it out. So, I call the Surgeon and make an appointment.         
 
We decided to do a test on our own and see what she can and can't eat to have a reaction. The first night, I made shrimp again. She had pain that was tolerable but did have mild discomfort.

Night two, we had an early Christmas dinner with the women of my church. We ate, Chicken cordon bleu (which has ham and cheese wrapped in chicken with breading) baked potato with butter and sour cream, veggies, gravy, salad with ranch dressing and cheese cake for dessert.    

By midnight, early morning, she was up in my room cramping in pain with tears in her eyes. She said, "This is the pain that I had almost every day of my mission. It hurts so bad." We almost went to the ER but she put on a movie and I rubbed her back as the pain was radiating from the gallbladder area to the back. 

After that, we decided she didn't need to test it anymore. She had me tearing up with the thought that she was nauseous and in pain for the past year and no one took her to get tested or fixed. 

I am sure she has the EXACT same issues as my niece. It must run in the family. I have a sister, my mom and a cousin who all had long fights with gallbladder issues before having them out. I have a friend who had a miscarriage and her gallbladder out and a cousin and friend that had them out while pregnant. 

I figure we should get this taken care of while she still has insurance through the missionary group and perhaps she can go out and finish the work she started to do. However, she wants to go somewhere warm! :-)