My "Angry" Gallbladder

Your gallbladder, WHERE and WHAT is it, for that matter?  It's almost like asking where is Indiana and only being able to answer, somewhere in the mid west. We know its in the body somewhere near the liver, but, where's the liver exactly? Now that would have been my response a few months ago...but today ask me ANYTHING!

your gallbladder...i will not show you an unhealthy one!

    This tale begins a few months ago with being awakened  at night with a slight pain on the upper right side of my body just below my breast. Me being the expert self diagnosier' that I am (not!) decided I was severely dehydrated, which is almost always likely since I do not drink enough of anything! Bad bad Keli but Im working on this... There were a couple of these episodes where I suffered mildly, always with the pain going away after drinking lots of water and never hurting during the daylight hrs.

my home away from home

  Fast forward to April and Good (bad) Friday. I had a houseful of company for Easter, with a bit of stress surrounding the events of the weekend and had made a somewhat rich dinner. About nine that night I was immobilized with pain and suffered for hours through the night, a pain worse than childbirth and there was no prize at the end of it! My friend Sue, who was visiting at the time said she had witnessed similar pain in her mom and thought it could be gallbladder related.  You are probably wondering...Keli why didnt you go to the ER? Not to offend any medical folks reading this, but I usually avoid Drs whenever possible. I also have a high pain tolerance and just didnt go. I suffered and the pain subsided eventually and I lived.
   Life continued on reasonably well, However I was worried so I began researching gallbladders, remedies and all kinds of info. Everything I read pointed to the the possibility that the pains I was having were gallbladder related. I researched natural ways to cleanse and cure them if they are diseased and read and read and read! I educated myself and began making the changes necessary to help heal my ailing gallbladder. I was fine for about 9 days since my last painful episode and then on April 14th was hit with a severe attack in my sleep. I suffered all night, finally knocking myself out with 2 sleeping pills and woke to no pain, only to have it come back with a vengeance on Sunday morning at which time I begged John to get me to the hospital...and if i had had a scalpel at home would have been tempted to remove the blasted thing myself!!  

  They got me in, performed an ultrasound and lab work and guess what? Determined it was my gallbladder! Dr's hate when patients self diagnose using the internet....but really all it took was me typing in the google search bar "Pain under right breast" and boom there was all the info describing exactly every symptom I had been experiencing! I love the internet for finding answers and I really LIKE morphine which I had never had before my ER visit! It helped with the pain! They reported back to me in the ER that my liver enzymes were over a 1000 and  should only be at 40! This had the Dr's concerned! They admitted me that day, ran a more thorough diagnostic test early the next morning called an MRI-CP (which puts you into a narrow tube of loud noises for 30 minutes!) imaging the area where my pain was and determined it was my gallbladder! I ended up in emergency surgery that day!

 Spring retreat~ April 15-18,2012

  The last time I was in a hospital as a patient was 44 years ago. Thankfully I have been a reasonably healthy person, with out many health issues...and now I was thoroughly being poked and prodded on a fairly consistent basis! Its like its own land, the hospital, and I was now one of its newest citizens. To be quite honest, I was not terribly confident in the hospital here in St Augustine so I had tucked in the recesses of my mind , should I ever need a hospital it would be Baptist Medical Center in South Jacksonville, and that is where I went. In retrospect I feel it was a decision inspired from on High! From the moment we walked into that hospital to the moment we left, I felt such peace!  They even warmed blankets for me to be wrapped in when they took me down for my MRI test (so I wouldn't be cold) Everything about this place was warm, from it's Dr's, nurses and caring staff. When your life is put into the care of others, and you're fortunate that its kind, efficient and competent care, trust me feelings of thankfulness and gratitude surface quickly!
   So to finish this tale....It was not too long after my surgery that my surgeon came to see me for a follow up visit. He said he was pleased with the outcome of my surgery, declaring to me he had successfully removed my "ANGRY" gallbladder!  He had been able to remove it laparoscopically (the other way would have caused scaring)
  But wait...did this man just call one of my body parts ANGRY? How does ones body parts become angry and why? Wow this was far too complex a thought in my  drug induced stupor to deal with in that moment but certainly worth further introspection on a rainy day.
   All I knew now was that I would never have to experience that horrific pain that had landed me in the hospital ever again and that my now "lonely" liver  would be needing some immediate TLC and attention because it would be working overtime with out its EX ..."Angry" Gallbladder!
  

Keli's "ANGRY" EX gallbladder...good riddance!
by John D. Shaw
 (not the cause of it,however!)


A few Links with regard to the gallbladder:

The gallbladder 101:
http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/picture-of-the-gallbladder
Natural cleanse:
http://www.gallbladdercomplete.com/

Laparoscopic Gall Bladder Removal:
(not for the fainthearted)
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1merv_laparoscopic-gall-bladder-removal_shortfilms

Cooking Healthy : http://www.skinnytaste.com/