What an exciting time it's been in the Rohde house! Just when it seemed we were starting to get things under control and running properly, the Lord and his sense of humor had to come in to play. About a month ago, I starting having pains around my stomach and was getting nauseous. This was nothing new, as this has been a plague since high school, but this time it was enough to bring me to tears. I called my doctor and went in for some blood work and an ultra sound. Turns out...I had gallstones! I included the picture above to give you a reference of where the gallbladder is. If you can't see it too well, it's that green grape thing in between the stomach and the liver.
Many have asked "What is the gallbladder and what does it do? Can you live without one?" Well, according to Wikipedia "The gallbladder (or cholecyst, sometimes gall bladder) is a small non-vital organ which aids in the digestive process and concentrates bile produced in the liver." It helps digest the yummy, fatty foods you eat. Gall stones are crystalline bodies formed within the body by accretion or concretion of normal or abnormal bile component. They range in size from a spec of sand to the size of golf balls. Unlike kidney stones, you can't pass a gallstone. There is no way for it to escape from the gallbladder. So, in my case, the only thing they could do was remove my whole gallbladder!
The procedure is called a cholecystectomy. They did go in laproscopic style and sucked it out. If you would like to see pictures of what the whole thing looks like and how it is done, you can look it up online.
I went in on Friday, March 6th and was there for the day. I was at St. Mark's Hospital and the nurses were fantastic! I was in surgery for about 45 minutes and then spent the rest of the day trying to come out of the anesthesia! I went through almost 4 bags of saline before I could go to the bathroom and go home. Mike was there by my side the whole time I was in recovery. He was almost a little more stressed about it then I was!
I now have four war wounds on my abdomen and am still sore and stiff. I went back to work today for the first time since the operation, and it was a little rough. But, I am noticing a difference and there isn't the same pressure as there was before. OH...and my gallstones were about the size and look of Kix cereal! They let me keep one!
