My doctor cracked me up today!

Sounds like a painful procedure, doesn't it? I went for my pre-surgical physical with my PCP today since I'm getting my gallbladder removed on Monday. He has been my doctor since he went into private practice over 25 years ago. We get along very well & he was very supportive of my decision to have WLS and each time he sees me tells me how well I am doing. I really like my doctor. Today he was checking me over & we talked about my weightloss & how much more I wanted to lose. He kind of looked a bit skeptical when I said about 15-20 lbs & shook his head & then I said, "Well, you know I've had about as much cut off as I can." I was laying on the table & he said, "Oh, I forgot you had plastic surgery. I have to see this." He looked at my tummy & said, "I don't want to embarass you but that's one fine tummy." Then he said, "Don't worry, I'm not going to ask to see the results of the second surgery." ( my backside was lifted in August) I about fell off the table. Well, at least I know that a "professional" thinks it's as fine as I do. Dixie (I'm still giggling)

What a nice compliment! What were your symptoms for your gallbladder? I've been having sharp pains just under my rib cage, but it's not always related to when I eat. Someone said it might be gas, others say gallbladder? How long was yours bothering you before you scheduled surgery? Has everyone had their gallbladder out? I begged my surgeon to do it dure the regular surgery because I had troubles with it 10 years ago, but he said it looked fine and insurance wouldn't pay for it. It seems like it would have cost a lot less to do it then, than now, since so many WLS patients have to have their gallbladder out. Joni

Hi Joni, I agree that was a nice thing for him to say. I don't have gallstones. It has just almost stopped working but many of my symptoms are that of having gallstones. I had a very painful evening about 6 weeks ago & the next day reported it to my surgeon's PA. I suspected gallstones but the ultrasound didn't show them so the gastroenterologist started investigating other problems. When a endoscope didn't show an ulcer, I went back to the PA & talked with her. She ordered a HIDA scan which shows how well the gallbladder works & that indicated it wasn't working well. I suspect that they wuld have removed it sooner instead of having me wait until next Monday but I had scheduled a bladder repair and he agreed to let me have them both at the same time & this was when both surgeons had time to do it. This saved me from having to postpone the bladder repair until next year & saved me from having to be put out twice. This should be interesting. My gynecologist, the one doing the bladder repair, is his ex-wife. They normally do surgery at separate hospitals but have done this many times. Do you by any chance watch Grey's Anatomy on TV? I have ben telling people this reminds me of that show with Ex's doing surgey together & frankly, my surgeon has those beautiful "bedroom eyes" that Dr McDreamy has on that show. Hope I don't tell him that when I am out! I can just imagine that I'd never hear the end of it if I called him Dr McDreamy! I have low grade pain almost constantly under my ribs on the right side & also feel it under the shoulderblade on that side. Those are typical gallbladder symptoms so you may want to check that out. If there are stones, an ultrasound will show them. I understand that, due to rapid weight loss, approximately 40% of WLS patients will get gallstones eventually. My surgoen only removes it if it shows stones or looks unhealthy during the surgey. He does look at it even if the ultrasound doesn't indicate stones but he leaves it alone if it is healthy. I guess it's better for you to have it than not. He also prescribes Actigall to be taken for the first 6 months to prevent stones. I'll let you all know how things turn out next week. Dixie