I once had a gallbladder. It functioned properly for many years, allowing me to eat which ever fattening foods I wanted. Then I had a child. During my pregnancy, I was nauseous I vomited the entire 9 months, day and night. And the nausea and heartburn was bad. I thought it was due to the gender of the child I was carrying. Maybe it was. After all, this baby had a full head of hair… everyone told me that was why my heartburn was so bad.
A few weeks after my child was born, I started noticing I had a sharp pain lingering underneath my ribcage on my right side. It was never severe where I was on the floor screaming or anything. It was just something that I felt, as I sat in the rocking chair nursing my baby. It became more annoying. I also had severe heartburn every day, and was taking antacids more than ever before. So I made an appointment with my physician, who asked me if I was under stress. No, not really, I said. He ordered some bloodwork, and an ultrasound to check for gallstones. The bloodwork didn’t show anything, and the ultrasound showed that I had no gallstones. The physician then said that it was probably just intestinal cramping, and that I was probably under stress. This did not sit well with me. I do not make physical symptoms up.
So I scheduled an appointment with a gastroenterologist. This physician said that it did sound like the pain was located at my gallbladder. But the test he was considering sending me for was out of the question since it required injecting me with radioactive dye, and I was breastfeeding. He did want to do an endoscopy, to check for an ulcer. This could be done while breastfeeding, but I would have to pump for the day. My child was not taking a bottle at this time, and had trouble gaining weight, which was another issue. Since I could not leave my child for an entire day without nutrition, the endoscopy was put off.
After my baby was eating solid foods and learned to drink from a sippy cup, and I could leave for a day, I scheduled my endoscopy. I was hoping it wasn’t an ulcer but hoped they could find a diagnosis. They put me to sleep and went down my esophagus with a camera. A few days later, they called and told me there were no findings. My esophagus and stomach were okay, other than some irritation from some acid reflux. I was left yet again to go home and wonder what was wrong with me. People didn’t understand why I was having these problems with no explanation.
When my child stopped breastfeeding, I called the gastroenterologist for a follow-up appointment. I described my symptoms again, and was told by the physician that gallbladder disease is common in women after pregnancies, due to hormones. This time, I was scheduled right away for a Hida-Scan. This was the test they considered before, but that I couldn’t have until I had stopped breastfeeding. I went in for that test and was hopeful for some results. They injected me with dye and I had to stand up for an x-ray every 5 minutes for two hours. I noticed that when the dye was injected into my vein, I had pain in my right upper abdomen, as if I had just eaten. They called me with the results a few days later. I still had NO gallstones. But, my gallbladder’s ejection fraction was 3%. That is the percentage it is working to eject the bile through to the bile duct. He said that normally, they recommend surgical removal for 40% and below. And since I was having so much pain, I should get it out. Finally an answer! No wonder I was having so much pain… the gallbladder simply was not functioning. The gastroenterologist gave me the number for some surgeons he recommended.
A few weeks later I had my cholecystectomy at an outpatient surgery center. It was done laparoscopic, with just a few small incisions. I was home about 8 hours after I arrived. The surgeon said my gallbladder looked very diseased and “needed to come out”. I was relieved that the thing that was causing me so much discomfort was gone. I had some pain afterwards, mostly from the air they inject into the incision sites during surgery. After that pain was gone, and my stomach could handle eating again, I was a new woman! Four days after surgery, I ate six tacos. Two days after that, I ate four slices of pizza. I know that some people get diarrhea after gallbladder surgery, but I have had no problems whatsoever with that. I felt so much better afterwards, and still do a year later. Every now and then, I deal with heartburn and an occasional pain in my abdomen, but nothing like it was before. That surgery changed my life; it allowed my digestive system to function as it hadn’t in about three years. I now eat whatever I want!
