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2017—Gangrenous gall-bladder |
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Two o’clock in the morning, in the immediate vicinity of my 76th birthday. No trombones, just acute pain in my mid-section, unlike any to be dug up out of memory. I think: “If I’ve ever had chest pains, that must be what this is!” Hello, Nine-One-One. EMT’s, including the son of our neighbor Darrell McKinnon. Questions. More pain. A stretcher, down the stairs. My first ambulance ride! Not as much fun as my juvenile self might have imagined. My second-ever visit to the emergency room on my own account. Some difficulty with the IV. Lots of tests. Not much awareness, followed, mercifully, by very little recollection. Scared Valerie, very much in charge.
They send us home, with instructions to return to the hospital in the morning. Diagnosis: Calculus of gallbladder with chronic and acute cholecystitis. Treatment: cholecystectomy, without delay. That’s removal of the gall-bladder. Admission. Anesthesia. Evolving and persisting discomfort. Dr Wade Larsen allows as how mine was his first gangrenous gallbladder, among many. Firm resolution: eschew hospitalization, henceforth. Esteemed brother Brent had his out quite recently. Quoted his doctor as hoping he didn’t cherish a personal relationship with his gall-bladder. Also expressed the comforting understanding that the offending organ shares with the human appendix the peculiarity of being unnecessary to any known bodily function. An e-mail archive from this episode resides at |
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Jobiska/Content Archive/SuchALife details/170220 Gangrenous gall-bladder.rtfd
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