Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Gall bladder: the latest

Tuesday I saw Dr. Walton. At first he started talking about gall bladder cancer, which got me scared, but at the end of that topic, he said 'but I don't think there's any correlation.' Ummm, thanks for getting me all worried!

So anyway, after asking me more about my symptoms, he let me know that my HIDA-scan revealed that my gall bladder only emptied 18% of what it should have. He scheduled me for another ultrasound, which I did right after my appointment with him. The ultrasound revealed at least one gall stone.

I haven't talked to him after my ultrasound, but during my initial appointment he said that if I have gall stones, the only options are to live with it or to take it out. Basically, it's up to me to decide what I want to do. I'm leaning toward having it removed so I don't have to deal with the occasional pain and heartburn and so that the stones don't get bigger or multiply. That would cause my gall bladder to empty even slower than it already does.

If I have the surgery, I'm going to try to schedule it for the week of October 7, which is when my mom is off for fall break. I think I can hold out until then. :-)

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I'm glad you are going to have the surgery. No need to suffer when you don't have to! At least you don't have to have emergency gall bladder surgery, like some people do. You can plan it out.