Gwen's blog

Current Events

May 3, Houston: The big one -- the Inprint reading -- occurs at the Alley Theatre on Monday, May 3. Do not miss it or you'll be sorry. I'm not kidding -- I'm going to say the craziest, most intellectual yet hilarious stuff I can think of, and I'll be sharing the stage with the ultra sexy Oscar Casares, too.

June 24, Houston: I'm one of the peeps scheduled to read at Poison Pen, at Houston's famous Poison Girl bar. Besides me, everyone there will be ultra, *super* sexy. Come see me and drink!

June 26, Washington, DC: I'll be reading at the American Library Association conference. Come on down.

My other blog: Go read my the Houston Chronicle parenting blog (or my ChronMomBlog, as I like to call it) and make sure my kids won't resent me more than other kids resent their own parents.

Buy my new novel, Lone Star Legend. Already did? Well, buy a few more for your friends, then. :)

Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Gall Bladder Removal Is Imminent

Monday I had an ultrasound done of my gall bladder. Just like the ultrasound I had done last year, this one indicated that my gall bladder needs to be removed, as soon as possible, by force if necessary. (The difference is that this year, I can afford to have it done.)

The gall bladder processes the fat that you eat. Mine has a big-ass stone in it, so, whenever I ate something too fatty, it caused blockage around the gall stone at night, and that blockage hurt like hell. So, a year and a half ago, I stopped eating really fatty foods. However, recently, the stone has gotten big enough to hurt like hell in the daytime, when I eat foods that I used to be able to handle.

I'm meeting with the surgeon on the 20th to schedule what day I will bid that organ goodbye.

How sad is it that I'm sort of looking forward to the 3 to 7 recovery days that will follow? Because, really, when else in my life would I have the opportunity to lie in bed playing World of Warcraft, without being wracked with guilt?

I'm gonna level up like a mofo.

Also, I will eat a chopped beef sandwich, two chili dogs, some cheese fries, a wheel of brie, and a cow-head taco... all pain free. W00t!

(Concentrating on these thoughts will keep me from being scared, I hope. I've never had real surgery before. I hope the surgeon is nice. I hope they don't leave scissors inside me, or cut off my legs by mistake.)

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1:43 PM #

Comments:

 It won't be too bad, don't worry. I think they actually take it out through a hole near your belly button. I had it done a couple years back, by force, and when I woke up, I have four baby scars on my stomach.

Do take the time to relax afterward.


# posted by Blogger La Brown Girl : 2:26 PM  

 Through the navel? HA! Why, when I was your age and we had gall bladder surgery, they'd cut you from stem to stern and fish around until they found the right organ! Then they'd yank it out with whatever tools they had, usually some rusty old pliers. Sometimes the doctors were so busy, we even had to remove it ourselves, right from the hospital bed. That is, if you were lucky enough to GET a hospital bed. Sometimes they had to do the surgery on the old trolley cars and boy were they bouncy! I mean, *ouch*. Nowadays you have all this namby-pamby "navel" surgery and laser surgery and all these pain pills. Why, we were lucky to get conked on the head with an iron to put us out during the surgery! And what's this warcraft game stuff? HA! We didn't have games and computers, most of us couldn't count past 20 unless we had extra fingers or toes! We didn't even... ooomph, argh, help! Gwen, you're choking me!! errrrggggghhhh


# posted by Blogger Tanya : 3:35 PM  

 Good luck, Gwen!


# posted by Blogger Paul : 3:41 PM  

 Gwen! Good luck and take it easy.

A friend of mine had her gall bladder removed a few years ago, and still she has days where if she eats just the wrong thing, she will be sick for hours.

It's nowhere as bad as it was before the procedure, though. (That's good!)

She can't eat whatever she wants, on the other hand. (That's bad.)

She dropped about twenty pounds, as a consequence. (That's good!)

She still gets sick. (That's bad.)

I hope you do okay. I'll add you into my little list of prayers I don't admit to anyone that I have.


# posted by Blogger Mike : 7:43 PM  

 I am so so happy to hear you are haveing the surgery! As I said before, I had mine 3 years ago April 1st and it was the best for me. I have been pretty much able to eat whatever without repercussions. I know some people do have a low tolerance for things with a lot of butter, but on the whole, you can eat everything...

email me (i think you have my email address) and i'll tell you more, if you'd like :)

Oh, and I have 2 scars, because the third was in my belly button. My surgeon actually did it with only 3 incisions! I guess I am lucky because it's usually 4.

:)


# posted by Blogger Karisa : 10:26 PM  

 OUCH! Belly button or not, that sounds painful. I had a c-section and tubal ligation with this last baby and when I was healing I was actually sore from the tubal thingy too and you would think the other surgery would hurt so much I wouldn't have even noticed. ANYWAY, I'm sure you'll be great and it will be so worth it, like my tubal was! HA!


# posted by Blogger ShoeGirl : 1:51 AM  

 I'm thinking you need to take this opportunity to write another children's book right now called something like, "When good mommies have bad surgery" and make a book signing event out of the whole damn thing.

I've never had surgery and I'm scared to death for you, but I do know that you need to remember to bring socks, an extra warm blanket and chapstick.

And you should probably try to eat a cheeseburger before you leave the hospital just so you're there in case anything goes wrong.


# posted by Blogger Tiffany : 1:09 PM  

 All in all, it's not a bad surgery. Recovery from the incisions is pretty quick. What I didn't expect was how tired I was for WEEKS afterward. You need to take it easy and be good to yourself. (ie - play all the WoW you want!)


# posted by Blogger CJ : 1:20 PM  

 It's done laproscopically, so the incisions shouldn't be more than 1/2 inch each. And this also makes the recovery time so quick. Nothing like a C-Section at all.


# posted by Blogger Karisa : 3:08 PM  

 My mom had it, with wonderful results. I wish you happy recovery time. Some of the best time off of work I've ever had was the eleven day recuperation required after two foot surgeries. Good times, man, good times.


# posted by Blogger pinky pinkerson : 3:12 PM  

 Hi Gwen,

I can't add much here but have a good surgery, and get well soon.

Janice~


# posted by Blogger Janice : 4:01 AM  

 Hi Gwen,

I've had around 12 surgeries so I'm pretty versed. They will take very good care of you. Immediately pre-op they start an IV. If you are anxious, you can tell them you want some happy drugs and the anesthesiologist will probably accommodate you. There is nothing like being wonderfully relaxed, calm and content.

Also immediately pre-op you will sign the consent form. Read it carefully. During my last surgery in Dec. (a hysterectomy), the asshole surgeon took out my perfectly normal ovaries against my wishes and against my signed consent. They won't be anywhere near your ovaries, but it is a good idea to read and understand what they are doing to you.

Post-op don't hesitate to ask for pain meds. They work better if you take them before the pain starts. And, if you feel nauseous, they have good drugs for that too. I'm a firm believer in better living through chemistry.

Finally, take very good care of yourself and don't try to do anything afterwards. Think of yourself as a princess and expect to be treated as one.

I'll be thinking of you.

Vicki


# posted by Blogger Vicki : 5:53 PM  

 Gwen, WOW the gall bladder. I have two friends and a Grandmother who LOVED their gall bladder surgery because their food life became blissful again!!! I know the friend that just had hers last year is so relieved and grateful and the recovery was a snap compared to the suffering before hand with all the foods she was limited from. Hers was emergancy though so I dont know about all the before hand apprehention that you must be going through.
Well wishes, we will be waiting with baited breath to hear from the 'Princesses Healing Chambers' while you are recovering.
HUGS.


# posted by Blogger pixielyn : 9:03 PM  

 Aw, Miss Gwen. You'll be fine. And don't feel at all guilty for enjoying your recovery time. That's why it's there and why you're not supposed to do anything worthwhile with your time.

Texas doctors are amazing with the drugs. One of them actually insisted I take a prescription for Vicodin when I said I didn't want it.

Vicki's right about better living through chemistry, so do try to take advantage of the happy drugs around surgery time. If you tell them you're really scared, they probably will accommodate you with some Valium-morphine combo that has to be the closest thing to heaven this side of death. And it's all legal! And good for you!


# posted by Blogger Cate : 4:34 PM  

 Thanks, everybody. I appreciate your good wishes and shared experience.

They gave me hydrocodone + acetaminophin. (Or however that's spelled.) We're saving them for a party.

Just kidding.


# posted by Blogger Gwen : 12:33 PM  

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