Which,of course now, is none.
So I’m back from gall bladder surgery. It was not completely without a hitch. The surgery portion seemed to go fine, but I had two problems with the anesthesia. First, they could not put the breathing tube down my throat, and ended up causing some significant injury to my throat in order to get it in. The nurse said that may actually take longer to heal than my surgery incisions. But they got it in eventually.
Then something in the anesthetic didn’t agree with me and I ended up having problems keeping my oxygen level up after the surgery, so they kept me overnight for observation until the anesthetic finally wore off.
I’m fairly sore, not as sore as I thought I might be, but definitely sore. I feel like I’ve been in a fight where my opponent worked my abdomen and ribs over. It doesn’t hurt if I sit still and don’t breathe, but any deep breaths or hiccups are no fun at all.
But it’s all over now but the healing. And they say the healing will go pretty fast. I’m expecting to go into work tomorrow.
Thanks for all the kind wishes. It’s good to be home.
9 users commented in " Of all the gall! "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackOoh, hiccups. That hurts me just thinking about it.
Here’s hoping your recovery goes well, Cos.
Cosmic: Home???? Heck, I would have milked that for at least three days around pretty nurses.
Very, very happy to hear it man. I know Mrs. Andy is going to be extra proud that you pulled through (if you know what I mean). I guess Dadman’s “whammies” pulled it out for you.
Seriously, I am ignorant (as if you didn’t know). The gall bladder is an organ, and organs secrete stuff don’t they? Do you have to take something from now on to make up for what’s not being secreted? Or, is a gall bladder just a left-over from monkeys or something that we really don’t need?
Heh, I feel like I’ve milked things too much already just by being sick so much. I’m starting to wonder how much longer my new boss is going to put up with my being out, or working from home. Since she took over as my boss I caught a nasty flue, walked into a pine tree and scratched my cornea, and now had a gall bladder explosion. That’s in about 10 weeks. She must think I’m totally lame by now.
Those are the same questions I asked my doctor when I found out about the gallstones and the recommendation to remove the gallbladder. He said that the gall bladder really only does one thing, and that is to dump more bile into your intestines when you eat enough fat to trigger a hormonal reaction. He just said that I should eat less fat is all. But, as he pointed out, I should eat less fat anyway.
He did say that based on the gall bladder’s appearance and the huge number of stones in it, that I should expect to feel a lot better in general once the surgery all heals. Apparently my gall bladder may have been the real cause of several things I’ve been struggling with for years, including:
1. Acid reflux. He said that gall bladder disease can generate many of the same symptoms as acid reflux, and that with the gall bladder out, I may see a reduction in those symptoms, particuarly the chest pain.
2. General unlocalized back pain. For years I have had on-again/off-again pain and tightening in my back, which I had always assumed was due to my kidneys. It has been bad enough on occasion that I’ve gone to the doctor and had kidney scans which revealed nothing. The doctors weren’t sure if that was simply because I was passing small stones or if there was something else wrong, but all tests came back negative. I suppose if I had talked to a gall bladder expert, they would have recommended ultrasound scans of my gall bladder years ago.
3. General lack of energy. This is a classic symptom of gall bladder disease. And to be fair I have been noticeably low on energy for at least the last 18 months. If this turns out to be the cause of that, I will be very thrilled. I used to be a pretty high-energy guy, but for the past 18 months or so, I’ve really had to push myself to get major efforts underway.
I hope he turns out to be right. I should know in a week or so. At the very least I have to say that my constant sense of tightness and unease in my back that I’ve just gotten used to over the years does seem to be less pronounced, if not gone entirely. So I’ll say so far so good.
As it turned out, I did have two very nice nurses. And both of them were quite attractive.
Welcome back. I now expect you to have a little less gall…
Heh, don’t hold your breath… the gall bladder doesn’t produce the gall, it just holds it temporarily, which means that now my gall will simply be more direct and frequent.
I hope you have a speedy recovery. I’m glad to hear it went ok.
I am glad to hear your surgery went well! I look forward to even more Cosmic comments!
Cosmic: “General lack of energy”, “tightness in the back.” Heck, I probably need to visit a gall bladder expert. I thought I was just getting old.
Life is okay without eating fat (well, kinda). You will do fine without it.
I appreciate the info. Did you get a phone number from either of the cute nurses?
Just kidding.
Good deal! I hope your worthless stoned gallbladder has been the underlying culprit of other junk you’ve been dealing with. I am very, very happy for you.
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