Fish and Gall Bladders

This is a picture of our fish, Jermaine and Grover. Jermaine is the one on the bottom right, Grover top left. For Valentines day, Dave and I did cheap creative gifts for one another. His gift to me was this mini aquarium. I had told him a long time ago I wanted some fish, and since we can't get a puppy right now, fish are a great alternative. So he surprised me with this cute aquarium and then we went and picked out fish together. It was fun, and I was so thrilled to have a pet...even if I didn't get to interact with them at all. Well, alas, Jermaine and Grover are no more. They didn't even last as Norvells for a month. You see, as you can tell from the picture, Jermaine wasn't "all there" at times. He wasn't eating, and he just swam up and down at the corner of the tank. Dave and I began to refer to him as our "special" fish. The morning I took this photo, about 3 hours later as I was walking into the kitchen, I turned and looked to see Jermaine sinking to the bottom of the tank upside down. He would sink a few inches, then wiggle a little and move back up, then sink some more, then wiggle, until he finally sank to the bottom. As I watched this unfold, his eyes bugged out of the sockets right in front of me! He finally came to rest on the bottom of the tank. Sad day for Jermaine. Grover stared at him for a while. I refused to take him out of the tank, so I waited till Dave got him home to send him to his porcelain heaven. Well...a few days later, Grover picked up some of Jermaines habits. Not eating and swimming at the corner of the tank. I started to worry, of course. Monday morning I awoke to see he had met the same fate as Jermaine. Upside down at the bottom of the tank. Sigh...what can you do.

In other news....pray for me as I am going through some medical testing to determine the cause of some stomach pain I have been experiencing for about 7 years. It comes every 4-6 weeks or so, and is intense. Is usually lasts all day, sometimes a few days, and worsens if I eat. A few weekends ago it was so severe that Dave and I decided to go see a specialist to determine what was wrong. I had been to my regular family doctor, who had given me a few home remedies to try. But alas, no relief. The specialist took blood (and we all know how much I love getting that done), which all came back fairly normal except my inflammatory levels were a little high, which could suggest ulcers. They also did a sonogram of all my GI organs. Normal. Monday I am getting a CCK Hydascan to test the efficiency of my gall bladder. Basically,the give me an IV (another thing I just love) of fluid that causes my gall bladder to contract and release, fill and empty a few times to determine how efficiently it works. If it isn't working efficiently, alas...the cause of my pain. It's a two hour long procedure, so my sweet husband is taking the day off to help me and be my moral support. My immediate family will understand this. I am an absolute wimp when it comes to anything doctor related.
A prayer request would be that this Hydascan determines the cause of my pain. You see...we have a rather large deductible on our health care insurance, so we have to pay full price for this very very expensive test. I have a hard time justifying taking away from our savings for a house down payment to have a dumb medical test, but as Dave had to tell me numerous times, my health is more important then a house in a few years. But, in all seriousness, I really hope that it is my gall bladder and I can just have it out and be done with it. Pray that the test goes well, that I don't cry out of fear of the needle (a very probable possibility) and that the Lord has mercy on our bank account as we go through this "guess and check" method of determining my pain.