I had my appointment with the surgeon today. After hearing my symptoms and pressing on my abdomen, Dr. Watkins said he's not sure I have a gallbladder problem. I have gallstones--the ultrasound showed that--but 30% of people with gallstones don't have gallbladder problems. I may be in that 30%. He said that there's no sign of inflammation on the ultrasound, neither fluid nor thickening of the gallbladder. My friend, Dr. Annie Skaggs, had told me not to have my gallbladder removed if there's no inflammation, and Dr. Watkins agrees. He said that we should try a prescription for Pepcid twice a day for a couple of months to see if that helps. We can reassess then. He said that he could take my gallbladder out, and it's pretty safe to do so; but he's not inclined to remove organs without more evidence that it will help. Matt and I were both relieved to know my surgeon wasn't overly eager to slice me open and hack bits out of me. I asked about the possibility of digestive problems after gallbladder surgery and told him that my Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) had gotten better only relatively recently and that I don't want to return to life with IBS. Dr. Watkins said that gallbladder removal sometimes makes IBS worse. Yet another reason to try to keep my gallbladder! I don't have answers. But I have a prescription and an expert opinion. So I'm going to take my medication and continue/renew my weight-loss efforts and healthier diet as Dr. Annie recommended.
I had a little digestive/pain episode on Sunday afternoon, but before that it had been quite a while since my last episode. And my episode on Sunday didn't end with my vomiting. Stretching, a warm bath, and strangely enough breastfeeding Lucy kept the episode from escalating. Now I've got the Pepcid, so maybe that was my last episode. That would be nice.
