What? But I don't have time to have my gallbladder removed!

So yeah. I've had these intermittent, intense "stomach" pains for awhile. At first I thought it was a stomach bug. Then I thought it would just go away on its own. But it kept happening. Those of you at TurboCon B might remember I disappeared for a while on Saturday. Well, last Sunday, I spent 8 hours in the fetal position praying to whomever would listen to make the pain go away.

So Monday morning I finally went to the doctor who said "you might have gallstones, lets schedule an ultrasound and do some bloodwork." No big deal. So they took blood and scheduled an ultrasound for Friday. The bloodwork came back Tuesday and I got a call from my doctor saying " You need to have the ultrasound NOW and I've scheduled a consultation with the surgeon for you" Slightly bigger deal than expected.

The possibility of surgery threw a serious wrench in my plans. Not only was I supposed to be in Charleston for work next week, but Arnold was going to Cincinnati to see his family. The plane ticket was already purchased. I've heard that they frown on you driving yourself home after being under general anesthesia while they remove a body part. Silly them. And they said it usu sally takes a week to recover. They laughed at me when I said "a whole week?! But its an outpatient, laparoscopic procedure." I seriously didn't have a week I could spare. Work is crazy busy.

Well, thanks to a wonderful coworker who stepped up to take my place, even though she has little experience with the project and no one who could go with her, work was taken care of. My mother said she could come up to take care of me. She was planning on coming up the moment she heard I needed surgery anyway. Though she is threatening to take pictures.

I had the ultrasound Wednesday, talked to the surgeon on Thursday and scheduled the surgery for Monday. The surgeon was not too terribly worried about scheduling my surgery as quickly as possible, as gallstones don't generally kill, they just hurt like hell. But his schedule was booked and it was either Monday or JUNE 10th. Yeah, I couldn't spend another month playing the "will my gallbladder be an ass tonight" game.

But seriously, my gallbladder is an ass already, because it could not have picked a less convenient time to make the gallstones known. It could have waited til after DragonCon when work slows down and I can breathe again. But no, it had to be an attention whore.

Anyway, while y'all are doing whatever it is you do on Monday at 10:30, I'll be having my gallbladder removed via my belly button. The good news is that it is a very common procedure, I have been deemed a very low risk patient, and I should still make Spoleto and ConCarolinas.