March 19, 2011
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Cholecystectomy
For those that have been wondering…
Yes, I am having surgery.
My surgery if scheduled for April 1st at 6am.
I will be the first surgery of the day – not sure how I feel about that.
The surgery is known as a Cholecystectomy.
It’s basically a minimally invasive out patient laproscopic removal of my gallbladder.Why?
About 4 weeks ago I began having random, unpredictable SEVERE episodes of pain.
They seemed to come without warning and would cause me to double over, cry, scream and wish I were dead.
I also was not able to “breathe through the pain” like they sometimes tell you to do because I could not breathe during this painful episodes.
Imagine someone stabbing you in the upper abdomen directly under your rib cage and twisting the knife over and over for 20-45 minutes without relenting while a 1,000 lb man sits on your chest restricting your breathing.
Welcome to my world.Turns out it’s my gall bladder, which isn’t working at all.
There are a few small stones, but no more than any normal person has on a normal basis.
The problem is moreso that my gall bladder is not filling up with bile like it is supposed to in between meals.
It is remaining 100% empty and tightly contracted all the time.
The painful episodes are either severe contractions or my body attacking my gall bladder because it now views it as a threat – or both.Here is what an ultrasound image of a healthy gall bladder looks like after 8-12 hours of not eating:
The dark blobby shape is the gall bladder full of bile. It looks dark because the sound waves are traveling through the bile easily.
My gall bladder is not healthy and not full of bile.
This is an idea of what mine looks like:
Hard to find, incredibly small – no bile whatsoever:
I am grateful, however, that my gall bladder does not look like this:
LOL
Anyway….
So the following image on the left is the procedure I am scheduled for.
There is a 1/40 chance I might need the procedure shown on the right, which is the same thing, but much more invasive, bigger scar and much longer recovery time.
It is a major surgery either way and I will be under general anesthesia.
Yours prayers are most welcome and appreciated.
- Tasha
