Gallbladder Woes

I'm still recovering from surgery on Tuesday. I'm doped up on pain medicine because it hurts pretty bad considering I have three incisions in my belly.  The trade-off, however, is that I'm probably not going to have all of these stomach issues anymore!! YAY!!


You see, I've been dealing with abdominal pain, nausea, and other stuff since Halloween. After a very wide gamut of tests that came back clear, they concluded that it was probably my gallbladder. The digestive center doctor was not a great one ... until he saw that I went for a second opinion ... they he became a very proactive doctor. Man I wish they could be helpful before you light a fire under their butt! Anyway, he referred me to a surgeon (who happened to be the father of a girl I grew up with). The surgeon said that he would do an exploratory laparoscopy and if he sees nothing else wrong, he would take my gallbladder out. Well, nothing else was wrong  so he did, in fact, take my gall bladder out.


He said that my gallbladder was covered with adhesions. From what I can tell (with my simple Google searching) is that adhesions are like little blisters that make your gallbladder stick to surrounding organs - like stomach and liver. When this happens, it not only causes pain, but it also could lead to infection. My gallbladder was very inflamed and if left in much longer would have probably become infected. So, timing was just right.


I'm in recovery mode now and boy do I feel loved! I had a wonderful group of people come stay with me and visit me in the hospital. I have gotten some great goodies, and I've been pampered by my wonderful husband (maybe I should fake it a little longer to keep getting his pampering ;). Anyway, I'm writing all of this in hopes to say thank you for all the prayers and gifts. Thank you for dealing with all of my complaining since October. Thank you for being there for me when I needed you!


What a great time of year to be reminded that we should be there for each other ... like Jesus was there for us on the cross! I pray that all of you out there can know that wonderful gift and appreciate it a little more like I have this week.


With love,
Kristen