Bye Bye Gallbladder...

...You won't be missed. Last Monday, after 6 month of sickness, pain and medical tests, I finally had my gallbladder removed. I'm not recommending surgery...but I'm so relieved to have it gone. I started having classic symptoms of gallbladder disease at the end of August, but was originally diagnosed with an ulcer. Then an ultrasound revealed that I had gallstones in December. But apparently my symptoms were not typical enough and my doctor wanted to run many more tests. Which after months of pain and not eating, all lead back to my gallbladder (see my past entries) which is apparently also lazy, meaning it didn't function properly.

So...it's finally gone. And good riddance! The surgery went really well and my surgical team was fantastic (note how they used little hearts to dress my incisions...hilarious!). I came out of anesthesia smoothly and with out nausea (which is not my history with surgery).

The surgery was done laporoscopically, so the pain has been minimal (I just feel a little like I've been in a knife fight) and I was home from the hospital the same evening. The first 24 hours went smoothly, but I ran into trouble on the second night. At about 3:00 am on Wednesday I woke up in terrible pain, nauseous, and feeling like my bladder was going to explode, but not able to urinate (I know, I sound like I'm 80). My wonderful husband rushed me to the ER, where they gave me a chest x-ray and a CT scan to rule out any serious issues like internal bleeding...everything looked fine, so they were able to relieve my bladder (I'll leave the details to your imagination) and send me home feeling MUCH better. Last night we had a similar scare, but by this afternoon I was feeling much better.

All in all, this surgery was worth it (it was really a piece of cake), and I know that before I know it I'll feel my old self again...and I'll even be back to eating my favorite foods again soon...cheese...chocolate milk shakes...pasta...mmmm