Here I Go Again

Exactly 11 months after my gallbladder removal, I was doing wonderful. I had no pain. Ever. I felt like a normal human being. I had forgotten what it felt like to be pain free. PURE BLISS! I developed a head cold and stayed home from work. I was laying on the couch and then BAM!! Pain in my right side. Then I started to get nauseous and totally lost my appetite. The pain is around my rib cage and goes down to my groin and abdomen. I went to urgent care to see a doctor, fearing that my appendix was about to explode or something. There was blood in my pee, so she unofficially diagnosed me with a kidney stone and prescribed me some pain medication and some medicine to suppress the nausea. I am scheduled for a CT scan this afternoon to see what the hell is going on. This is so reminiscent of my life almost 3 years ago. I was laying on the couch only to be bombarded with this pain in my right side that no doctor was ever able to diagnose for over 2 years. I had a CT scan, 2 ultrasounds, and several blood and urine tests only for everything to be normal. I am scared to death that I will go in for this CT scan, have nothing show up, and be told "just ride it out, it will go away" or "it's all in your head, take some Xanax". I think it's pretty obvious that I have developed some sort of mental trauma and anxiety over that entire experience, because I am so depressed and pissed off beyond belief and SCARED that I will have to go through it again now. I sound crazy. Please send positive thoughts my way today, that my CT scan will give me some answers. I haven't been able to eat much for 4-5 days (yesterday I did eat some pizza! that was awesome) and I just want to go back to feeling healthy like I was a week ago.

Gallbladder Posts

I've noticed that in the past few weeks my blog traffic has increased, specifically to my posts about my gallbladder surgery.

Here are some examples of the Google searches people are conducting:

21 year old with dysfunctional gallbladder
foods you shouldnt eat with a dysfunctional gallbladder
phantom gallbladder pains
dysfunctional gallbladder why do i need it removed?
dysfunctional gallbladders
gallbladder surgery blogs
gallbladder was chest pain everyday

I just want to encourage people who come across this to please feel free to leave comments! I will answer ANYTHING about my gallbladder surgery. I was SCARED. TO. DEATH. of mine because of the fact that I conducted so many Google searches beforehand and read so many horror stories. They were not realistic.

Today is 3 months + 4 days post surgery and I feel 99% better. I only experience pain in my surgery site when I eat foods that are VERY greasy, and it only lasts for a few minutes. This is the only reason I am not saying I am 100% better. I also ate 4 ounces of french fries last week with no consequences.
I am also back to running regularly and lifting weights with no pain. I feel absolutely amazing. If you have a dysfunctional gallbladder like I did, don't sweat it. Just get the sucker removed and you won't regret it.

Grateful

In 2 days, it will be three months post gallbladder removal. I FEEL AWESOME.

No more sharp pain. No more gnawing, constant pain. No more random bouts of nausea and/or vomiting. I can exercise. I can eat anything I want with no consequences (besides fried food, but I'm confident I'll even be able to eat that in a few weeks).

Sometimes when I am working at my desk in my office, it suddenly strikes me that I haven't felt ANY pain in several hours. I am so thankful to have a pain-free life. I will never take it for granted ever again.

Almost 100%

Today is exactly 11 weeks from my gallbladder removal!

The last two weeks have been wonderful. I am now able to eat cheese (yay!) and regular portion sizes of food. I haven't been feeling nauseous for a few weeks and I haven't been feeling the "roller coaster" in my stomach as much, if at all.
Two weeks ago I also began exercising again. I can run and lift weights comfortably with NO discomfort in my surgery area. HOORAY!!!!!! :)

Yesterday, I was feeling slightly ambitious. Chad and I stopped at In-N-Out burger our way to Bill Maher's show in San Jose and we got an order of animal style fries. I had a few bites and then I felt very sick. The full on nausea and stomach "roller coaster" feeling returned.

So.... at this time I am still unable to handle fried food. But everything else is wonderful. I AM PAIN FREE AND I FEEL AMAZING EVERYDAY!! TAKE THAT, YOU STUPID WORTHLESS GALLBLADDER!

Gallbladder Surgery: Phantom Sharp Pain pt 2

An update to my previous blog.

I started to take 2 extra strength Tylenol in the morning. It reduced the sharp pain A LOT. I feel so much better. Today in particular, I haven't really felt anything at all except for some intermittent pain just to the right of my belly button (where they actually pulled the gallbladder out of my body).

Everyday I remember how I went almost 2 years with constant gnawing pain and I had completely forgot what it was like to feel no pain at all. It feels amazing and I hope that I never take it for granted.

Gallbladder Removal: Phantom Sharp Pain

Update on my progress from my gallbladder removal....

I've noticed in the last week or so that I've been experiencing intermittent sharp pain in the area around my surgery site throughout the day. Today, I called my surgeon's office and spoke with his medical assistant about it.

She explained that during the surgery, they actually snip off the nerve endings. About 6-8 weeks after the surgery, people can experience intermittent sharp pains as these nerve endings repair themselves and grow back. I was told to ride it out for another month or two and if I notice that it gets worse or more frequent, then to call back.

I also have noticed that I get sick after spicy food. I start to feel all kinds of weird pains around my right side (back and front) and after 4-5 hours of eating said spicy food, it subsides.

I also get sick after fried food or food with a lot of cheese.

I'm making note of this so that if anyone stumbles to my blog while searching for information about gallbladder surgery, then maybe this can help.