About a week and a half ago I started feeling some movement under my right rib. It wasn't painful. If anything, I found it oddly pleasant. But it did worry me. I looked at an anatomy chart and realized that under my right rib is my gallbladder. Until then, I had no idea what a gallbladder even was, now I know that it releases bile to help digest foods containing fat. It is helpful, but not vital. A person can live without one.
About three maybe four days ago, the feeling in my gallbladder became unpleasant and has been increasingly more painful.
Looking online, I am pretty sure I have one of these:
These are gallstones and they are surprisingly attractive.
I have a doctors appointment tomorrow where I will find out for sure. If it is in fact a gallstone and I have to have it surgically removed, I hope to keep the stone.
I feel mostly okay at this moment, but the pain comes in waves. Sometimes it is so bad I can't stand up or even think straight.
The pain seems to get worse towards the evening, but this morning was pretty bad as well.
From what I've been reading, I think what happened was that the gallstone had been loose in my gallbladder, but then a couple days ago became lodged in a duct, which caused the pain to begin.
Anyway, the past few days I've felt pretty miserable. I can't tell if I am being a baby, or if my misery is reasonable. Since late yesterday afternoon I've been staying in bed, because it seems to help.
The thing about stomach pain which is so difficult for me, is it is more than just physical pain. Since the digestive system is so closely linked to the nervous system (think of how certain emotional states cause certain feelings in your stomach or bowels.and vice versa) I've also felt emotional discomfort.
All that being said, it isn't fully bad. As i mentioned, the pain comes in waves. So when the pain isn't, like right now, I get to experience the fun of laying around in bed without feeling as if I should be up and doing something.
It really makes me feel for my mom who has had chronic pain for something like 7 years now.
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2 comments:
Oh man, that sounds really bad. I hope you can get it sorted out quickly without too much trouble. Do you want me to send you a thermos of tofu noodle soup?
Maybe in the end it will turn out to have been a dodgy burrito and we'll all have a good laugh.
Conversely in the end it could be a brain aneurism and we'll all have a good cry.
I passed a kidney stone last summer, and it was a real, real bitch. If it feels anything like that, I'm real sorry. I always wanted to turn my kidney stone into a wedding ring. I'd like to be able to say that I founded my hypothetical wife's wedding ring in my kidney.
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