Gall Bladder removal

It's nearly 12:00 noon here in Qld Australia and it's 15*C -- yeah, I don't know how to make that little degree's circle appear so I just use the asterisk. :) Winter is nearly over here and I know it's not as cold as in other places on earth but it's still enough to make me feel chilled to the bones and my age isn't helping any...

It's going to be about an hour and a half or so before the real estate agent comes in with an investor to check out this property we are selling so I've got the same time before I get out of my pajamas to help myself give an appearance of decency. Yes, I'm sill in my PJs and I love that I am -- haha! I've done loads of chores around the house in them and the warmth they gave me from since last night is precious to me hence the difficulty in taking them off.

Anyway, today is my mother's scheduled gall bladder removal at the Mater Hospital. Not so long ago, I thought that gallstones are remedied by merely taking off the gallstones -- not the whole gall bladder. I just realized about a few months ago that gall bladders are now taken off like appendix and tonsils because they say "you can live without it". My mom has mentioned to the GP during a visit that sometimes she has experienced some stomach pains and after an ultrasound, the gallstones were discovered. Her stomach pains are very mild compared to what I usually experience myself and hence I also had an ultrasound and discovered that I too, have those darn gallstones. But I'll talk about mine later on.

It was after my mom's ultrasound that my brother found this website where there is a "natural" way to cleanse your body of your stones by eating only apples and drinking epsom salt and olive oil. Both my mom, my dad and even my husband tried this cleaning diet and sure enough as the website told us to expect, there were some small stones coming out when they did their number 2s. Hmmm.... I tried my VERY best to try that diet but the appearance and the smell (am I the only one who can smell this?) of the oil makes me want to throw up that I couldn't even get one small sip through my throat. I just gave up on it, and just as well.

On my mom's next ultrasound, lo and behold! The stones were still there and the doctor was giving us this I-told-you-so look that speaks volumes. And so the referall for surgery was made. Three doctors all gave same recommendation, told us that a lot of people do get gallstones but only those who think they experience problems with them should think about the procedure. As it is, stones might block the ducts that gives out the bile from the bladder and cause pain, or it could travel and block other ducts and cause liver infection, or pancreatitis -- in short, better off without the gall bladder to prevent any of these from happening, is what I get they mean to say. So why not just take out the gall stones and not the freakin' bladder? Because, they say, gall stones will recur. Ohhhh. And it's a keyhole surgery where I think about 4 small holes will be made on the abdomen, and recovery is very quick -- some go home after the procedure. But of course just to be sure, the Mater Hospital would require my mom to stay the night for observation.

I might undergo the same procedure although I haven't decided when. I know I have to as I have in the past experience severe tummy aches that sometimes hinder me from walking at all. Hmm. I'll think about it.