Well, it's all set, on December 8th, I get cut again for my cholesystectomy - surgical removal of the gall bladder. I've been having pain in the upper right quadrant of my abdomen since mid-July. In July I was having what I called "attacks", pain so severe that I was doubled over in pain, it was worse than anything I remember from my time in the hospital for my transplant. Gall stones. That was the diagnosis. Each time I passed one, it was an attack. The only thing to help - two vicodin (or the duladid they gave me at the hospital). So by the beginning of August I was no longer having "attacks", instead it was constant low grade pain, as it has been for the past few months. The foregut surgeon and my transplant doctor both agreed that the gall bladder needed come out. The general view is that once you have gall bladder issues you will always have gall gladder issues. Additionally, because of my compromised immune system there is a great danger if my gall bladder gets blocked and infected, as my body can't handle that sort of infection. So out it comes. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. I'm still dealing with ITP and my blood platelets have been bouncing all over the place from 14k to 82k to 46k to ?. We went back and forth about whether I needed a splenectomy as well (the last ditch treatment for ITP) but after an incredibly painful bone marrow biopsy, we backed off of that. Cholesystectomy only. Uggh. But I still have to deal with the ITP. It's not such a good idea to go get surgery (even laproscopic) when your blood doesn't clot so well. Luckily I have B+ blood which make it possible to use the WinRho treatment for my pre-surgery treatment. Which is good, since the only pre-surgery treatment for ITP, IVIG, gave me chemical meningitis last time.
As a result of all of that silliness, I have 4 Dr. appointments before I go for the surgery. The first two weeks of December are going to be busy. Two pre-op appointments, 2 blood tests, and 1 surgery. Additionally, for most people, gall bladder surgery is an out-patient procedure, I will be staying in the hospital overnight. Good thing I have no sick time and no vacation left.
Really, I guess the question other people might ask me about this is "How are you feeling about all this?". Really, I'm not sure. In some respects, I think I'm numb to it all. After all I have been through, this just seems like par for the course. I'm used to it, and to some degree, I'm starting to expect it. Expect the problems. Perhaps as the surgery comes closer I will start to get nervous, but I really don't know. At least this time, a saw won't be part of the surgical equipment.
