It's been a little over a month since my surgery. The procedure is called a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, a fancy way of saying they took out my gallbladder. A few months prior, I was experiencing really horrible abdominal pains. It felt like my intestines were strangling themselves. Since most of the pain happened in the middle of the night and disappeared by morning, I thought it was due an upset stomach. Then, for about 2 weeks in January, the pain became consistent. After a trip to my PCP and to the ER, I still had no diagnosis. My blood tests revealed nothing and I could not schedule an ultrasound until after my birthday. Poor R bought me a heating pad which became my constant companion for 2 weeks.
I worried that the pain would interfere and spoil my birthday plans, but they miraculously disappeared by then. After a lovely weekend celebrating my birthday, I went in for an ultrasound. The tech was a young woman about my age. She didn't seem to have many patients, I still don't know why I had to schedule the ultrasound three weeks out. She told me that my gallbladder was impacted by gallstones, but the report would not be official until a week later.
I spent the entire week googling "gallstones." When the report became official, my PCP referred me to a gastrointerologist. He spent a good 5 minutes with me. He told me that I had a gallstone the size of a dime, pressed on a few areas near my gallbladder, and asked if I were in any pain. Since I was no longer experiencing pain, he recommended an elective surgery to remove it. Then he asked me which surgeon I wanted. I let him choose.
I called the surgeon's office and scheduled an appointment. 3 weeks out again. Because I wasn't in pain, he didn't need to see me immediately. It was a very long wait, R and I discussed the option on many occasion. We decided to remove it because he couldn't bear to see me in that much pain again.
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