Yep, it's another doctor post. I'm just going to start off by saying this once...my current "personal physician" is an incompetent ass! I have continued to have attacks of severe pain on and off since the first one almost 2mos ago. The prilosec doesn't help. I've been following the SparkPeople recommendations on fat intake figuring that was probably what was considered low-fat since my stupid doctor gave me zero helpful information. Apparently that doesn't matter tho and my gallbladder simply doesn't like even lean cuts of beef or pork and every time I eat either, I end up with another attack. If I eat high-fat even one day, I pay for it. Even avoiding those foods for the rest of my life and sticking to a very low-fat diet was not going to cure this. There is no cure for gallstones except removal of the gallbladder and most especially, losing weight wasn't going to do a darn thing for it.
I ended up having 2 bad attacks last week and a couple of minor ones. At Chris's birthday party (still need to do the write-up on that!), I had another mild attack but couldn't tell if it was going to be a bad one or not so I had my mom drive me to the ER. We got in there and I made sure everyone knew that this had been going on for a while even tho this attack had passed, the results of my u/s, and my "doctor's" advice. I was told immediately upon examination by the ER Dr. that it could indeed be my gallbladder causing these problems and after palpitating, she sent for the surgeon to do a consult with me.
The nurses came in to check on me and let me know that the surgeon on call was one of the best and I was lucky to get in with him. He came to talk to me and had a good bedside manner although I'm pretty sure he thought I was completely nuts wanting to know how quickly I could get back to my exercise and KSW training. *shrug* He agreed that the gallbladder needed to come out and stated again that losing weight was never going to fix this, surgery was the only cure. He didn't want to have to do surgery right then if the pain had passed (it had before we even reached the hospital but I wanted to be seen as soon after an episode as possible). The good news is that my liver is still functioning totally normally and that if I keep to a very bland and low-fat diet and avoid trigger foods, he was confident I could stay out of pain until the surgery to remove it.
When is that?
Thursday!
Yep, he didn't want to wait long to do the procedure because even being cautious it can still be problematic and as I have been figuring out, there are a whole host of foods (pretty much everything) that will cause me some icky feelings even if they don't lead to a full on attack. It's likely the reason I've spent the last couple of years feeling off and icky in the stomach much of the time. This just means that yes, we are doing the right thing and I'm totally comfortable with the decision. After having done research when the pain first started, I had realized it was likely the gallbladder and when I found out yes, mine was filled with stones and I researched that and saw that the only treatment was surgery to remove it, I knew it was in my future.
So the end result is that I'm spending these last couple of days with my gallbladder eating really bland, boring food and trying to get things in order before the surgery. It is outpatient and it all goes well, I'll be home the same day.
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