My Story

April 2017:
                     

It was approx 2 years ago when I discovered I had a gallstone issue (Oct 2015). I was eating extremely spicy Indian food at the time and it must have made the stone move and it blocked the GB bile exit that caused a 12 hour attack. I saw my PCP the next day and he ordered an abdominal ultrasound to see what was going on. (I wish he would've also ordered a pelvic ultrasound since I am female but he did not...you will read more below why I say this).  The abdominal ultrasound results revealed I had a half inch GB stone, sludge and GB wall of 4mm thick (inflammation). A year later the stone grew to 1 inch large from another abdominal ultrasound. Anyway, I experienced many more attacks over the 2 years. I learned through much painful "trial and error" of what type of foods to stay away from.

For my particular case with 1 LARGE stone, I could not eat the following: anything with peppermint, dark chocolate, any type of oil (olive or any other), anything greasy like rotisserie chicken with skin, caffeinated coffee, any gassy vegetable (including beans, broccoli, cauliflower etc). I could eat some of this maybe a tablespoon of these (except the dark chocolate or peppermint). I also could eat only limited dense bread of any kind (1-2 tablespoons only). I could not drink any type of beer. 

So long as I eat low quantity at a time and if the weather is cold I could eat even LESS quantity. If I failed on any of this, it would mean a guaranteed attack (4-16 hours long). So far, in the last 6 months I have lost 10+ pounds. I eventually discovered 3-4 pills of ibuprofen would help my attacks sometimes. Well thanks be to God, I finally discovered via Google, a place on this planet that preserves the gallbladder by removing the stone(s) only and it is in China!  Learning of this good news, I have scheduled GB preservation surgery (http://nogallstones.com/  or https://elikimclinic.ru ) and I will update this blog once I return from my trip. I chose to preserve my gallbladder organ and China is the only country on the planet performing this surgery as of year 2017, everywhere else they remove the stone(s) AND the GB organ.  I depart in a little over 2 weeks from now (May 11, 2017) and will be sure to post my experience. Pray that all goes well for me. I hope to be 100% healthy again soon.

June 2017:

I am back from my gallstone removal surgery in Guangzhou China (http://nogallstones.com/  or https://elikimclinic.ru)   and all went great thanks be to God! I will get into the details later, but for now it is critical I post the following - ATTENTION WOMEN:
Come to find out I had TWO overlapping problems, the gallstone limited me to eat certain TYPES of food and drink; then I also had numerous fibroids (aka tumors) throughout my uterus! This also limited me to eat certain types of food and drink and gave me a "sense of fullness". I have two very large 4 and 5 inch diameter sized fibroids on top of the uterus and several medium and smaller throughout. Apparently this is why I would get bloated and could not eat large quantities of food, and not drink beer or bread (yeast), not the gallstone! They were making my uterus press against certain  intestines and bowels creating the sense of fullness. Be proactive and take charge of your own health ladies (especially over 30 or 40 years old), and request your GYN doctor for a pelvic ultrasound to be included each year with the women's PAP / Breast exam. This is the only way to find out if you have any fibroids in the pelvic area (uterus) before they grow large so the doctor can easily remove them in the most non-invasive way. It is a long story as to how I discovered or self diagnosed this problem by the Grace of God through a friend because both my PCP and GYN doctors had not, unfortunately.

I will write more about the experience in China and post more pictures soon...Overall, it went very well and I would not hesitate to do it again. I just pray the gallstone does not redevelop.


Some pictures from the hospital in China:

                      Above picture: The hospital info where I had my surgery.

     Above Picture: a picture they had posted in the hospital wall of what the new hospital will look like that they are in process of building. It's suppose to open some time in late 2017.

Above picture: the day of surgery NO FOOD and nothing to drink. Second day bland rice porridge (white rice & hot water) and water only. Third day same for breakfast but then dinner a regular meal. 

Above 2 pictures: is the yummy food they served us in hospital - ordered from a local restaurant. For breakfast we had fried egg with fried noodles and sweet bread with yogurt drink or milk drink.

Above 2 pictures: is the post surgery medication the doctors prescribed that I brought back with me.

Above picture: only 2 incisions. Belly button for camera and the other is a half to one- inch incision which is the location of the GB where the gallstone was removed and the gallbladder cut and sewn back up. 

One week after my gallstone removal surgery I was eating a piece of "deep" fried Hong Kong chicken!  ;-)  I know shame on me...I couldn't help myself. I only ate 2 or 3 bites though because I had another medical issue and had to have a second surgery once I returned home (fibroid issue mentioned above!).