Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Well, here it is.

Tomorrow's the day: I'll be having surgery to remove my gallbladder. I'm glad it'll be over with soon.

The surgeon, bless his heart, offered to excuse me from work for 3-4 weeks when he found out that I will be getting paid for my time away. Since the surgery will be laparoscopic, that much time off should be more than adequate for complete healing.

The house is clean, the pantry is stocked, and new soft pajamas and slippers have been purchased. After tomorrow I won't have to do a thing but rest and recover. I plan to download some new books onto my Nook, and will probably end up reading a lot for the first few days. This morning I had to go to the hospital for pre-op stuff: blood samples taken, an EKG to make sure my heart was working right, and a chest x-ray to see if my lungs were clear. Apparently all that stuff is necessary prior to being put to sleep.

Other than a few last minute tasks I need to do tonight, I'm pretty well set. I expect I'll be blogging a bit more in the next 3 weeks thanks to a combination of free time and narcotic pain relievers! Stay tuned..

5 comments:

  1. I have no idea where a 'gallbladder' is, or what it does, but having it removed sounds pretty nasty. I hope all goes well for you; and that you enjoy (if that's appropriate) your recovery time off.

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    1. Thanks Cro! The gallbladder is a pear size organ that sits beneath the liver and stores bile. When hard stones form inside of the gallbladder, it can lead to intense bouts of pain. And if a gallstone gets stuck in a bile duct, it can turn life threatening. Since I have a bunch of stones, my GB has to go. It's a non essential organ so.losing it is no big deal.

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  2. Prayers for you to get well soon and to get finish the surgery fine. You have taken a nice idea to spend your time without bore to take rest!

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  3. Having gone through this exact same thing (gallbladder removal) myself a few years ago, you truly have every ounce of understanding and care from me, dear Jennifer. I hope dearly that your procedure went smoothly and that you'll be complication-free in the long run (not surprisingly given my body's propensity to develop chronic illnesses, I was hit with wicked bad post colectomy syndrome after my surgery, which I wouldn't wish on anyone, let alone such a dear and wonderful person as you).

    Rest, rest and rest some more and prepare for a what will likely be longer recovery time (mine with six months, though there again, the overall state of my health played a substantial role) they you were told, my lovely friend (and please know that I'm always here if you need someone to talk to about this surgery or anything in the world).

    ♥ Jessica

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