The latest debacle in my life revolves around my unnecessary, extremely uncooperative gall bladder. It started going kaflooey on Monday morning and as such will be taken out of my body sometime in the next couple of days. Initially, I was nervous about the procedure, but simultaneously excited at the thought of a night in the hospital alone. Sick, sick, sick. My hopes were dashed when I was told that although the procedure is a real procedure and leaves you feeling pain and general ickiness, it's done at an outpatient facility and when they wake you up, you go home. Bummer.

But don't let my blase attitude fool you. Bottom line, I'm pissed off--again-- at yet another member of the medical community. Once again, we've fallen victim to irresponsible, negligent medical care. And I'd like to know when this crap is going to stop.

In March of 2005, I went to the emergency room with severe upper right quadrant abdominal pain. I was given pain medicine and told that my tests were normal, that I did not have any gall stones that were evident in ultrasound, and I should go home and take it easy because it was probably some sort of musculoskeletal nonsense. (Read, "You're a hypochondriac, here's some percocet to appease you. Later!")

Well, still not feeling well, I took myself to my family doctor and he agreed to send me for a HIDA scan. I specifically asked for this test because six months earlier my father went into the ER with a gall bladder attack that was very difficult to diagnose because all tests were coming back normal...until they did a HIDA scan. His gall bladder had no stones, but wasn't functioning properly, so out it came. I thought maybe I could have been dealing with the same situation. So I went for the HIDA scan, which was fairly miserable. And I never heard a word from my family doctor. I assumed that meant that I was, indeed, being an enormous hypochondriac and my gall bladder was doing well. Granted, I didn't call about the results, which is where I clearly fell short in making sure I covered my you-know-what. But still, no news is generally good news in my experience with medical testing, so I let it go. I still had pain occasionally, but never related it to my gall bladder because I thought mine was fine given the lack of report about that HIDA scan.

Fast-forward to October of 2007, yesterday to be exact, when I go to a radiologist to have an ultrasound of my abdomen. I was seen by a colleague of my amazing step-grandfather, a very well-respected gastroenterologist, the day before because of this severe pain and he agreed with me that it seemed like classic gall bladder. He sent me for an ultrasound. When I went in for the ultrasound, the blessed technician says to me, "You had a HIDA scan that showed abnormal gall bladder function. Do you still have your gall bladder?" Apparently, the HIDA scan report came up in my radiology file because the HIDA scan was done at the same facility. Shocked, I respond, "Yes I still have it (the gall bladder) and is there a report from the HIDA scan?" Yes, there's a report and in fact it was noted that a normally functioning gall bladder must function at a rate of 35% or greater. (I'm totally paraphrasing and not being medically accurate in my descriptions.) Mine was functioning at 7.4%. My gall bladder was on its way out then, and my doctor never, ever called me with the results of this test. I went through two pregnancies, one of which ended in miscarriage, with an organ that wasn't functioning properly.

Shall I dwell on this? Or shall I move on and be thankful that we've discovered it and we're going to get it taken care of now? It's not in my Irish nature to let it go and not hold a grudge, so I'll probably dwell on it for awhile.

I now need to get all my laundry done and put away, a task that is perpetually insurmountable, and make my kids' rooms look half-way organized because I am anticipating the influx of family into my messy house, that will inevitably happen, and the thought of people judging my messiness will make me crazy (my neuroses, not that this will actually happen), and even large doses of narcotic pain killers won't make me unaware and less paranoid. The bright side in all of this is that we are in New Jersey, and not in Maryland, and all of my family and friends are rallying to do whatever I need them to do to make this manageable. I realize it's no big deal, that people do quite nicely without a gall bladder, and truth-be-told, I am excited at the thought of feeling better. I should not over-dramatize the situation. But I am still pretty bent about that doctor never notifying me about that test. It just speaks so loudly after what we went through with Elizabeth, that if you don't track down results and ask every question that must be asked, your health will hang in the balance.

So now I've received the call and will be going for the surgery tomorrow. I'm dashing to get things organized and so thankful that it will be on a Friday and I'll have the weekend to recover without asking everyone to take tons of time off from work. Woo hoo! And while I blog, an act that fills me with such utter bliss and contentment, it occurs to me that sitting in bed for a couple of days will provide me with oddles of time to start writing my book. Or just blog. We'll see...