I’ve been having gallbladder attacks for the last ten years. They started when I was living in Japan, and they hurt like a mother back then; however, they became please-please-please-gouge-my-eyes-out-to-divert-the-pain painful after giving birth to Lily.
In September, a gallbladder-attack trip to the ER turned into a five-day hospital stay because my liver was out of whack (something to do with my gallbladder or pancreas… I forget). I was there so long that I became best friends with the consulting surgeon (meaning that if I saw him at Walmart, I would say hey), mostly because he really liked my baby and would come by and chat a lot. He worked really hard to convince me to undergo a cholecystectomy:
Dr. Park: You may want to have your gallbladder out.
Me: Yeah… okay.
So I did. It was laproscopic, so I only have a few very small cuts on my belly:
The surgery took an hour or so, and my only memories of the procedure involve feeling utterly and completely jubilant… a few minutes before the surgery. Before they gave me the general anesthesia, they gave me Versed (or something similar). The nurse told me it would make me feel like I had drunk a glass of wine. What she really meant was that she was going to get me double-rainbow-WHAT-DOES-IT-MEAN, high as a kite!
My memories:
- exclaiming over and over how much I adored all of the vibrant colors and streamers and balloons and giant crayons in the operating room
- telling every medical professional in earshot that I was so, so, SO drunk… whoa…
- telling the surgeon he was my best friend, forever, seriously
- asking if I could take some giant balloons home for my daughter
- being laughed at. a lot.
Also, I apparently woke up at some point and asked if I had given birth yet, and whether I could hold the baby.
My first memory after waking up after the surgery was a nurse yelling at me that, “YES, THE SURGERY IS OVER!!!” in a manner that led me to believe that it was not the first time I had asked.
Anyway, because the surgeon and I are BFFs, and because Tim is going to be a pathologist, Dr. Park gave him some pictures of the surgery. I’m so pleased to present them, because I love me some good, gory, medical photos.
This is a photo taken inside my abdominal cavity – they are lifting the gallbladder (small white sac-looking organ in front) away from my liver (big red organ):
This is a close up of the gallbladder – they have cut it away from my liver and are almost ready to remove it.
This is a picture of my gallbladder outside my body. They took a peak inside to see what was causing all the trouble, and it was a whole bunch of garbanzo beans, obviously. Just kidding – those nasty suckers are gallstones. There are 17 in this cross-section view alone, which means I’ve likely been toting around well over 50-75 gallstones. Impressive.
The little gallstones are actually the most problematic. They are the ones that get stuck in places they shouldn’t be, like my common bile duct. This causes the gallbladder to intensely contract. The contractions feel just like labor contractions, only higher up and with no breaks – it just keeps contracting. Needless to say, I was not sad to bid this organ adieu.
My grandmother, father, and sister Cami have also had their gallbladders removed. Apparently we’re just not good at bile-storage, or something.
The surgery was Tuesday. I have to admit I’m a little more sore than I anticipated (read: my belly feels like somebody took a chainsaw to it). It’s okay, though. I can always take some oxycodone and hallucinate me some more giant crayons.
12 comments:
Ewww, I'm kind of missing the photos from Karen's visit. :/ Actually, with your explanation of the photos, I found I could "stomach" them. It's amazing what a little information can do.
I am SO glad you no longer have a gallbladder with it's pain inducing gallstones. I hope you heal quickly!
I would request a "control" gallbladder for comparison, but I'm pretty sure I figured out what was wrong without it....
Bye, bye gallbladder...and where do I get some of those drugs? I like large balloons and floating crayons. I do not, however, like pictures of surgery! Yuck!
Yep been through it... Glad you're out of pain my friend! I wish they'd given me the picture they let me see only for a brief moment of the huge ugly thing they pulled out of me! You are lucky to have small incisions... Mine was a whopper! Luckily I have good skin and still as big as it is, the scar is very faint. Sorry to hear you've been going through horrible times... Especially all the while being a mom! You are super woman! Wish I could bring you dinner, and chick movies to watch with ya!
P.S. Dang you look amazing!!!
Ha ha ha - Jynjr, that may or may not be Heidi Klum's belly. ;-)
I found the pictures most interesting and I must say you have a flawless looking liver. Hope you are feeling back to your normal self soon1
They say that the gall-bladder is responsible for causing negative emotions. I'm looking forward to meet the new improved loveable you. Not that you could improve all that much. You were already there almost. Or maybe it was the spleen that did that. Either way I'm covered.
If I were there I would bring you at least 10 giant balloons. And maybe a fluffy unicorn. And maybe a small planet.
So sorry you had to go through this. I truly wish I could have been in the operating room b/c I cannot imagine the things you would say when you're on drugs. Given the whole sleep talking issue which may or may not be my favorite thing about you...
10 stars. Would remove again if I had another one. I can't wait to eat fried ice cream with you at the next fair.
I just guess the gall bladder is highly over-rated in Dickeyville! I did find the pictures very fascinating and wished that I could have been there to help with children and fix your meals and wipe your brow! Sorry for the pain. Glad you hallucinated happy stuff!
I can't stop looking at your gallbladder even though it's making me a little sick to think about.
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