“I had no idea I had gallstones….if I’d known about it, I’d’ve tried a flush and rigorously watch my diet, but I hadn’t any symptoms prior to THE attack that I’d had shortly after eating dim sum in a Chinese restaurant (which is a lot of fried stuff, and which I’ve since discovered is a common trigger.) Anyway, I got an attack, right there in the restaurant, and wondered what in the hell was this????!!!!
I’m really, really reluctant to go to doctors, so I figured I’d wait and see. Eventually, the pain was so horrible (as you all know too!), I did end up in the ER, which is when I found out it was gallstones. (And by the way, it took hours before they gave me any pain meds…bummer…but what a blissed out joy that was when the meds kicked in!) So, yes, I had Gallstones (plural!) stuck in a duct and my liver was in bad shape. (I’d waited a ridiculously long time to go the hospital from the onset of the attack, so my liver was effected.) I had to have the down the throat procedure to remove the stones. I didn’t have any opportunity to research the surgery or even really understand the entirity of the situation. I was woken up at like 4:30 a.m. that next day after the first procedure, and told I was off to the operating room. My husband didn’t even know and was home with our daughter. I called him right away and begged to put off the surgery until he could arrive. He finally made it, after having to get someone to stay with our daughter.
I had the laproscopic surgery and went home in 2 days. I passed out in the hall on the way to the bathroom, that first night (very scary!), but otherwise recovered fine. I’ve since read on the internet about it, and know that many people have digestion issues afterwards, but I’m totally fine.
I would’ve liked to understand it better, and be able to make an informed decision, which is really hard to do around the culture of surgery in a large metro hospital, but it turns out that the surgery was a complete success for me. And while I was stuck (pun intended) in this predicatment, I decided that rather than fight the process (as I say, I really, really distrust Western medicine), I knew I needed to go with it, and yield to it and accept it. So I guess the strangest part of my experience probably was giving in to this system and realizing how I’d changed my attitudes to be able to flow with what was happening to me. I’m convinced though, that not fighting it contributed to my successful experience.
I thought I’d share my story, if it helps anyone out there in a similar circumstance.
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