Innards update

[gwyn]

Today I saw my regular doctor to discuss the weekend's big events, and she very strongly encouraged me to get my gall bladder yanked. The ultrasound they did apparently hadn't come back with full results yet when I checked out of the hospital (are you supposed to say "discharged" yourself? Is check out just for hotels?), so she had them in her hands and they did find some definite gall stones, along with the CT scan showing the wall was extra thick and I had forgotten in my drugged condition that they also mentioned there was fluid around the gall bladder. I learned a lot -- I'd always thought gall stones and such were a thing totally related to a high-fat diet and being overweight, which I am, but not as much as a lot of people I've known who had theirs removed. You can imagine my confusion -- here I am eating a relatively decent diet with lots of grains and fruit and veg, and being overweight but not too much, and a regular exerciser, and they're lecturing me about eating a half a piece of fried chicken... but it turns out that it's common in women like me -- fair skinned, 40s and 50s, and it's usually inherited (which I'd never know about because I don't know my family history). And attacks like that are common for people who have lost weight or who *don't* eat a high-fat diet, because the gall bladder is basically trying to squeeze the fat out that you ate and not doing a very good job of it. Making stones, instead.

Anyway, it was all very interesting, but also, freaking me out, because I went upstairs and made an appt. to see the surgeons, and now I'm in full panic mode and the car is already in motion with the emergency brake released... and. Bleh. It isn't the cutting that freaks me out -- it's the everything else. Being hooked up to machines, catheters (ugh!!! to me, the biggest nightmare of all), not knowing what's getting pumped into you (hmmm, though I wonder if they'll give me more Dilaudid...), people get septic infections and die all the time (that's what killed my mom during her cancer treatment)... I can't stand it. The cutting and organ removal aren't my idea of fun, but they're not as big a deal to me as the rest of the shit.

I don't want to do this, but as my doc pointed out, better to reduce the risk now than to have this happen again when I'm traveling or something. And I know she's right. But i still don't wanna do it.

***

On a more positive note! The lovely soundingsea has a love thread going on over at her LJ. I've never put my name in the ring before, but I guess I must be feeling needier than usual what with all the exciting events in my life lately.

***

Don't think I'm ignoring your 5 Things requests -- it's gonna take me a while to get through so many of them, but you are still welcome to make requests if you wish here. Just bear with me, because some of them are hard!

Now I'm off to DL and watch some vids so I can make recs.

Comments

[movies-michelle.livejournal.com]

Let me know if you need any help or anything around the time of the surgery. Driving. Shopping. Moral support. DVD delivery. Whatever.

You'll come through it like a champ

[kormantic.livejournal.com]

Then you'll be pain free, hooray!

[obsessive24.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm really sorry to hear this. I mean, it does seem like it'll be better in the long run, but I'm really sorry that you will have to go through the whole hospitalisation/incapacitation process. Best wishes.

[klia.livejournal.com]

Any chance they could try lithotripsy instead?

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear of the tribulations. But if it helps, I'm gall bladder free for 5 years and I don't miss the painful little bastard one bit. But I do miss the painkillers, mmmmmm, sweet painkillers. If only you could have them without - having to have had pain first!

[elinora.livejournal.com]

Ah yes....

I was overweight and went on a low-fat diet and three months later I was rolling on the floor in the emergency room begging for painkillers. Stupid gall bladder. They couldn't take mine out fast enough...

[falzalot.livejournal.com]

I know it's spooky, but really, with the laporoscopic stuff, it's not that bad at all. I was stuck in the hospital forever because one of the stones blocked off my bile ducts and made me turn yellow. I was originially scheduled for a walk-in&walk-out procedure the week after.

[rainkatt.livejournal.com]

A woman I worked with had the surgery, and I think she was off work for three days, and that counted the actual surgery. She was so happy when it was done. She was slender, Hispanic, in great shape, with a healthy diet, and young, so there's no predicting, really. I think you'll feel so much better... but I do understand your issues. I feel exactly the same way.

Ouch!

[zorrorojo.livejournal.com]

I had my gallbladder out at 13. It runs in my family. All the women with the exception of 2 had to have their gallbladder removed before 20. Some were overweight, some not. All fair skinned, light haired and light eye color. I didn't know that was a factor.

It is about the worst pain I've ever felt. Worse than broken bones and worse than burns because it's constant.

I hope you feel better soon and schedule the surgery as soon as possible!

[vagabondage.livejournal.com]

::Hugs::

So sorry to hear you have to have surgery. That must be very frightening. I'm thinking healthy and strong thoughts for you.

::more hugs::

[the-shoshanna.livejournal.com]

I picked a friend up after her gall bladder surgery (outpatient; she went in that morning and they called me a few hours later to say Come get her), and I'm here to tell you: they gave her the gooooooood drugs. In case that helps make the prospect better! And certainly by the time I arrived, a few hours after her surgery, she had no tubes or machines or anything hooked up to her. She was just relaxing in a reclining lounger thingy, flying with the fairies.

[wolffire.livejournal.com]

Ug. But yay?

I am a surgery phobe as well. I narrowly escaped going under the knife at the tender age of 20 which is when I found out that I have a real and visceral reaction to seriously contemplating being completely out of it and having a team of relative strangers cutting me open.

That said, I also hate pain, nausea, and not being able to be active and productive. Giving enough of any of those states, especially if as dramatic as what you described, I'd find a way to deal with it.

Each of us is different in how we face down our fears. I hope you find your way through this. Know that I am holding you in my thoughts and sending you healing vibes.

[fishsanwitt]

Sending ::hugs::

[keiko-kirin.livejournal.com]

Surgery is yuck, but pain is yuckier! I hope it goes well and recovery is quick. Sending good, pain-free thoughts your way.

[dine.livejournal.com]

while contemplating all the attendant details is stressing, so is being in excruciating pain. I'm glad you're going ahead with surgery, and just wish I were closer to support you in more than a virtual fashion.

*hugs* I know things will go swimmingly, and they'll probably give you the good drugs, so there's something to look forward to!

[melinafandom.livejournal.com]

My mom had her gallbladder out laproscopically in her late 50's. She went in at 4 pm and was home at 9 pm that night! She recovered quite quickly -- I think she was out of work for a week.

A lot of surgeries these days where they expect you to be out of bed quickly (including my back surgery) they either don't catheterize you at all, or have it in/out when you're under. Same with the breathing tube. The only thing I was hooked up to when I woke up from surgery was the IV (well, and the stupid blood pressure cuff and thingie on my finger, but at least those are on you rather than in you :)

[sherrold.livejournal.com]

I know our "really, it's not that bad" comments can sound a little dismissive and stupidly rah-rah. All I can say now is find out all you can about the procedure, so that you know what you need to be stressing over, and what issues you can let go of.

Your surgery will be up on the hill, so we'll be by -- if you want, Nicole can calligraph "gall bladder" on your tummy so they don't forget what they're there for.

I wish you didn't need to go through this. And sometimes I wish I really were religious and believed crap like that "god never gives us more than we can bear" because it would be nice to believe. Instead, you and me, we're taking it on the chin these days. But no one who's ever met you doubts that you're strong enough to take this on, phobias or no.