I was on 24 hour call for the Thanksgiving weekend. I worked from 4 a.m. Friday to 1 a.m. Saturday. I was driving kind of fast trying to get some adrenilan flowing to keep me awake going home when I saw a car flying up my bumper. I moved over to let him by and he moved over and turned on his red light. I looked down and saw that I was doing 85. When the Chp pulled me over he said I was clocked at 90. I figured I was going to get a ticket, but he just told me "I was almost home slow down." Then Saturday I was just finishing work when I had severe stomach cramps. I went to the emergency room on Sunday morning at 4:00 a.m. and had my gall bladder removed Sunday afternoon!

 

Wow Russ, that was some weekend. Glad to hear you're feeling better.

 

Your Gall Bladder?? but how will you be able too...... uhhh... make bile (?)?

Anyway, seems you've had a miraculous weekend. Good to see you're still around.

 

Wow, what a thanksgiving. Hope you're feeling well over the next week or so.

The gallbladder only stores bile, the liver produces it. It's pretty common to remove it if you've got problems, just like the appendix. What happens after this surgery is that bile from the liver isn't collected anywhere like before to be released to emulsify fats and such, since there's no place to store it. Instead bile just "leaks" down from the liver into the intestine. This means that you can't disgest fats as well.

I'm sure your doctor will (or already has) suggested a low fat diet from now on. I wouldn't be surprised if you have some very minor digestion problems or discomfort in the future, but the gallbladder isn't hugely necessary so you shouldn't experience any big problems.

Easier remembering things like this after the mcat than on the test itself

 

I've been on a low fat diet to control cholestorol for about 4-5 years, so I don't forsee too many changes in my diet. When I went to the e.r. last year for what turned out to be diverticulitus(spelling?) they found that I had gall stones, but they weren't bothering me at the time so they left it alone. It looks like I won't be driving for at least a week, and will be on light duty for 3 weeks to a month after that at work. I probably won't be able to work on my car until January. I probably won't make the next meeting, but I hope to make the Christmas party.

 

hate you...

glad to hear your feeling better, however!

 

Glad to hear you made it through your ordeal. At least you should be pretty much healed for Christmas. Take care and take it easy. - Bruce

 

Diverticulitis is also pretty common, especially recently. I forget what causes it but it's something having to do with the way food is processed before we eat it removing some nutrients (fiber?) that unprocessed foods are full of.

Definitely take it easy for a while. Don't stress about it, you'll heal better

 

Actually diverticulitis is also partly hereditary. My colon has what are called pockets in the lining. If food gets trapped in the pockets it can cause an infection known as diverticulitis. People who don't have the pockets don't get it. The secret to living with the pockets is to avoid constipation. I avoid constipation by eating lots of fiber. I don't know that anyone wants anymore info on this subject than that. This is probably a lot more than many wanted to know. Just to let you young guys know. I enjoyed hot spicy foods and greasy food when I was younger, now I've got to be more careful about my diet.

 

Sounds familiar. So many things can be avoided by just eating well, but I still doubt whether it's completely worth it I'm not ready to give up in-n-out, chow mein, barbecue chicken pizza... oh man I am hungry.