Many have called/texted inquiring about what happened after hearing from my mom and wife so I decided to just post an update here.
Since Tuesday morning, I've been at the hospital for an infection in my digestive system. 2 x-rays, a cat scan and a sonogram all returned negative results on my stomach, gallbladder and pancreas but an MRI showed elevated numbers in my liver. After numerous tests and meetings amongst the doctors, they concluded that a small gallstone is the likely culprit, although nothing had shown up on any machine exams.
Their conclusion is that the small, yet undetectable gallstone is creating a partial blockage in my bile duct thus creating these elevated numbers in my liver which are helping detect the infection.
ERCP (Endoscopic Retro Cholangiopancreatography) is the procedure used where a flexible camera is inserted through the mouth, down the esophagus, into and through the stomach which is where the opening of the common bile duct exists. So, though it seems excessive and highly intrusive, this is a simple enough procedure for the doctors to perform on a patient with a normal anatomy. Unfortunately, I'm not that patient.
As a gastric bypass patient (of the Roux en-Y variety), most of my stomach had been stapled closed meaning that any direct line of passage to the common bile duct has been cut off.
So what I'm now looking at is a hole in my stomach so that air can be pumped into the sealed portion of my stomach and they can perform a sonogram-like procedure to best determine the route best successful.
First part has been done today. I sit here with my new hole until Monday when the second (and hopefully last) part takes place keeping me out of commission for the foreseeable future.
Sorry for the lengthy post and I hope all I wrote is accurate since its a combination of my doctors words and some online searching.
I hope to see you all soon enough.
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