It was Thursday, about 3 in the morning when my sweetheart was shaking me awake and asking if I could do anything for the intense pain wrapping around her middle and into her back.  She said that she thought she might have food poisoning or something.  Her pain began as a heartburn type pain 2 hours earlier and then expanded quickly along the bottom of her ribs to her midback.  She had already taken some bicarbonate of soda, but it had done nothing.  She had had this feeling before and heat would ease it but heat had not helped either.

I crawled out of bed and into the hallway to grab my activator adjusting tool.  Using muscle testing I found her diaphragm was in spasm and several midback vertebra were being jammed upward by the diaphragm attachments.  I adjusted these and this calmed the pain some, but the area was still very tender.  Ellen decided to just tough it out the rest of the night.  The time period since the questionable meal meant that if it was food poisoning, nothing but rest, hydration, and care were in order.

By 1:30 the next day the sharp pain symptoms seemed to have settled down, but Ellen realized she was not bouncing back.  Usually anything like this that hits her she is fine the next day.  At this point we decided to check in with our medical doctor. 

We got in the next day and in the course of the history taking we mentioned that Ellen had been diagnosed with gallstones almost 12 years earlier.  The nurse practitioner jumped on this as a possible cause even though the usual gallbladder test of the abdomen that I had done the first night and she repeated came up negative.  The other possible concern was pancreatitis so she ordered immediate blood work and an ultrasound of the area as well as an appointment with a gastroenterologist.  She also ordered pain meds.

While this was all going on we were in the midst of that terrible storm.  The phones were not working at the office.  In fact the whole area was down.  I left work early to try to pick up the pain meds for Ellen around the corner at Raleys.  Ellen's angles were looking out for her that day.  When I got to Raley's Pharmacy they said their phones had been out all day except for a couple of minutes and so nobody's prescriptions had been able to get through.  Just in case, she checked anyway and Ellen's prescription from the doctor had made it through during those couple of minutes.  Her order was the only one that had gotten through all day.

Fast forward to a couple hours later and we have already had blood drawn and now were hidden away in the bowels of Radiologic Associates getting an ultrasound of Ellen's abdomen.  One problem...they couldn't find her gallbladder.  How does one lose a gallbladder?  There were no signs of a ruptured gallbladder as no peritonitis was present.

Ellen was still feeling so badly that she was taking nothing but water.  Food had been out of the question since Wednesday night.  Fortunately the pain pills we had picked up were helping, but her stomach was so raw that nothing solid was going to feel good.  Saturday night we started her on bone broth and Sunday I made her a light egg custard.  This made her feel more normal so she started to try to do some normal around-the-house activities.  This was a bad choice.  The internal upset was feeding back into her body making the muscles very unstable.  In short order her back went out so badly that she could not stand.  She spent the next two days in bed.

The blood work came back and showed high liver and pancreas inflammation enzymes.  Using me as a crutch Ellen made it to the specialist's appointment.  He didn't like the fact that Ellen had a history of gallstones 12 years earlier, and ordered an MRI to find that missing gallbladder that did not show up on ultrasound.  Spirit was helping out again as the doctors front office told us it would take at least a week to get approval for the MRI from our insurance.  A couple hours later she called us at home and said the approval had already gone through and we were scheduled for an MRI in four days.  More blood work was also ordered.

The MRI was an interesting process.  We were told it would take an hour.  Ellen had never had an MRI before and did not know if she would be able to handle the confined spaces.  We worked on the anxiety and got her into a space of trust, and the whole experience was a breeze.  I got to sit in the room with her just a few feet away while she relaxed and was told to hold her breath over and over.

A few days later we were back in the specialists office for the verdict... gallstones.  There were 2 stones trapped in the bile duct and one or more stones in the gallbladder itself.  The gallbladder had retracted and shrunk up against the liver so badly they were not able to see it with the ultrasound.  Now we knew she had stones in the gallbladder itself because they were there 12 years earlier.  But the trapped stones in the bile duct were the more problematic issue.  They were causing spasms of the duct and blocking up bile flow.  This is turn was triggering some pancreas and liver inflammation.  The gallbladder could not simply be removed, because the stones in the duct would cause an infection.  They had to come out first.

The specialist set Ellen up for a procedure in which he would go down her throat and up into the common bile duct and scoop out the stones.  Amazing.  Once that was done then we would go to a surgeon to see about having the gallbladder removed as it was going to keep throwing stones out into the duct otherwise.  The whole process was only going to take a couple hours total and then we could go home.  It almost worked that way...almost.

The day came and the procedure went as planned.  We got some nice pictures of a 10mm black stone the doctor pulled out of Ellen.  She was feeling g ood so we went home...for about 3 hours.  Then the pain hit.  The pain pills did nothing.  The pain kept building until finally I decided to take Ellen to emergency.  The emergency room was a zoo.  Fortunately, the triage nurse decided that since Ellen had just left the hospital a few hours earlier (combined with Ellen throwing up while we were talking to the nurse) that Ellen would get in right away.  This was good because she could barely walk from the pain.  More blood draws and another ultrasound and finally the emergency nurse took pity on Ellen and got her a really good pain drug.  It worked and the pain settled down.  Now we just had to wait in emergency until a doctor could find the time to look at the results and tell us what needed to be done.  Finally 9 hours later they found the time and told us "not to worry, gallbladders just do that some times."  We could go home...well Ellen could.  I had to be at work in an hour and a half.

Well here we are 4 or 5 weeks into this journey.  We saw the surgeon a few days ago.  Initially the earliest appointment we could get was 6 weeks away.  Pushing it with our gastroenterologist because of the ongoing pain got us in to see the surgeon in only 2 weeks.  Not surprisingly he recommended surgery.  The new information I got in that interview was a complication I was unaware of - scar tissue.  According to the surgeon, each time you have a gallbladder attack, it forms scar tissue.  Over time this contracts the gallbladder to the point that it can no longer function as a gallbladder - much like the scar tissue of liver cirrhosis.  All it does it serve as a place for stones to form.  Worst yet, the scar tissue can form adhesions to the duodenum and liver and cause a whole new set of problems.  So the gallbladder and the scar tissue have to be removed.  Now we get to wait for insurance approval for the surgery and then an actual surgery date.

Life is a journey.  Over the past few weeks Ellen and I have explored dozens of emotional triggers for her pain.  We clear them out and her pain goes away for 8 to 24 hours then another emotional trigger pops up.  This is learning on the fast track.  The learning gained almost makes the pain worthwhile - almost.  Fortunately the memory of the pain will fade while the growth made will last and yield powerful changes for the better.  We are looking forward to that part of the journey.  In the mean time we keep engaged with whatever presents itself.

I hope none of you need to take this particular journey, but if you do, just take it one little step at a time.  Learn what you can and appreciate and receive the abundant support that is there for you.   

Take care of yourself.

Good Journey,

 

 

david@fairoakshealth.com

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About Dr. DeLapp

Dr. DeLapp has been a philosopher, non-force Chiropractor, medical intuitive, and health innovator for over 30 years.  He began experimenting with  medical intuition in 1972 while studying physics at UC Davis.  In addition to physics he designed and completed an individual major in the philosophy and psychology of education.  Shortly after he choose to pursue a career in the only truly health oriented profession available at that time, Chiropractic.  He graduated with honors in 1981 with his doctorate and opened a private practice. 
Since that time he has continued his research into the effects of consciousness and learning on health. 
He developed the Biomagnetic Retraining system for correcting movement abnormalities. 
Since 1991 he has focused on developing a powerful system for uncovering and assisting the mind-body connection in health and personal growth.  The in-depth coaching, guided by the subconscious direction from the body, is called Heartflow and the simpler mind-body retraining for health and unfoldment he has named Gracework.  Both are available at Fair Oaks Health.

Dr David DeLapp DC
Chiropractor

Ellen Flowers FGM
Spiritual Life Coach

 

Somatic Therapies

 

Lorena Morales