"Pristine Gall Bladder?"

My stomach and throat had been bothering me for a few days, but I didn't think much of it until yesterday morning when I woke up to a very sore and swollen throat. The pain in my stomach became worse as the day wore on, and by the time Suzanne called to say she was about 45 minutes away, I could barely get in the shower. We visited for a while when she arrived, then I started vomiting (no correlation). I could not prepare the dinner I had planned and sent Wayne and Suzanne up to the marina restaurant without me.

I laid down for an hour, unable to sleep or move as the pain increased to a "9" on the scale of 1-10. I finally called our clinic at home to see what they thought I should do, and the nurse told me to get to the emergency room.

Well, I certainly did not think an ambulance was necessary, so the security guard came and got me on the golf cart and drove me to the restaurant where Wayne and Suzanne were just starting dinner. There’s no way I could have walked. Wayne called a cab, for which we waited about half an hour, then drove for half an hour to Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware; by this time I was in agony and second-guessing the ambulance thing.

My heart sank as we walked into the jam-packed ER, but mine was the first name called and they got an IV and pain medication in me as quickly as they could. To make a long story short, all the lab work came back normal, and as she did the ultrasound on my abdomen, the doctor declared my gall bladder to be "pristine." They think it was a case of gastritis - an irritation in the stomach lining without an ulcer (I've never experienced it before) - and believe the sore throat was caused by stomach acid backing up. That makes sense, because it was unlike any other sore throat I have had.

We returned to the boat at 2:30 a.m., sorry that we had to leave Suzanne alone on the boat our first of two evenings with her, but thankful that I did not need to be admitted for something more serious.

Two trips to the ER in less than a month! And to think I’ve only had one other in my adult life, 22 years ago. I should be covered for a long time now, right?