Medical Update

What is a Gallbladder?

The gallbladder (or cholecyst, sometimes gall bladder) is a small non-vital organ which aids in the digestive process and stores bile.

I like the part where they describe it as a non-vital organ. I think that if God did not think it was non-vital organ, he would have not have created it. I enjoy the fact that medical science has come so far as to be able to convince us that we do not need our gallbladder.

Last week I started to have pain in my stomach area. Severe cramping to the point that I could not sleep. Well the pain went away and I was thankful. Then four days later it came back and Noel had to take me to the emergency room. I was hooked up to an IV with painkillers and an ultrasound was done. The ER doctor told me that I had gallstones (Gallstones form when liquid stored in the gallbladder hardens into pieces of stone-like material) and that I needed to talk to a surgeon on Monday about surgery.

Well I went home and told Noel and he was freaked out and worried about me. So on Monday I called and made an appointment to see the surgeon. The general surgeon asked me 6 questions, pushed on my stomach and told me that I needed surgery. I went home and told my husband and we planned on having surgery.

Today, Wednesday, the hospital called to set up my surgery for FRIDAY. Went over a couple of instructions and then let me go. Not even 30 minutes later I was called and told that my portion of the surgery was $7500 and that I needed to make arrangements to pay that before coming into the hospital on FRIDAY. So of course I called my insurance agent totally freaked about the money and that it was not right according to the insurance policy.

After I calmed down and realized that I do not have control over this but that God was big enough to take care of me. Like Matt Cassidy stated we need to make God big enough in our lives and not the little statue that we have in our heads. I got a call from the "financing" department of the hospital and that I had to come up with 50% of my portion of the surgery before the surgery would take place. He told me that he could help me out with monthly payments for the next 2 years. I decided to get a second opinion.

Come to find out. Surgeons love to take gallbladders out because it is only a 2 hour surgery, outpatient and it costs a lot of money between 10k-20k. As the definition stated it is a "non-vital" organ. For me that is a very high paid surgeon. The surgeon that I saw on Monday after thinking about it did not even have the ultrasound that was taken in the ER but was ready to cut me open. I did not feel at ease about this procedure. Also after the surgery a lot of people still have problems. So Noel and I decided to go another route. My pain is not constant and every day, and there is a medication out there that actually flushes and dissolves the gallstones so that you do not have to have surgery. So instead of paying $7500 Noel and I have invested $69 in my gallbladder.

I will let you know the outcome. I like to make a joke that this procedure would have cost me more than what I had to pay to have triplets and I stayed in the hospital for a week. This zookeeper needs all her organs to survive any stampede that might come.