Many of you wanted an update after I got back from the consult with the surgeon today. And I want you all to know that I very much appreciate your concern, prayers, energies and lit candles directed at my recent illness and recovery. It means more than you know.

After todays appt. with the surgeon I just found it a bit overwhealming to try and deal with sending out the multitude of emails necessary to update everyone. So I hope you don’t mind my putting it all into a single blog post.

The appt. today revealed a bit more information than I would have liked to have known.  What started a year ago as mild stomach pain. And has progressed into unbearable, excrusiating pain, was diagnosed last week as severe, multiple gall stones. However, according to the surgeon today, apparently, the test results showed that my liver enzymes were also elevated enough to cause the surgeon some concern. He informed me that on rare occasions a gall stone can slip out of the gall bladder into the bile duct (gross, i know) and block the flow of bile to the liver causing it to back up. In which case they need to go in and flush or open the duct and remove the stone. In the event that flushing doesn’t work and they need to open the duct, then they will need to open me up completely instead of the lap surgery.

So, bright and early tomorrow morning (8 am PST) I will go in for lap surgery to remove the gall bladder. At the same time they will inject dye into the liver and bile ducts to do an x-ray and try to see if the ducts are blocked or if a stone has passed into the liver. If a stone is present in the duct, they will attempt to flush it out. If that works….groovy! I’ll stay overnight and go home the next day. If flushing doesn’t work, they will open me up and discect the bile duct attempting to remove the stone that way. In which case I’ll be in the hospital 3-5 days. If that is unsuccessful, then I will have to see a specialist to investigate further options.

If there is no stone present, well……then we check the liver function levels again in 6 weeks and go from there.  

Again, thank you all so very much for all the suppport, prayers and concern. Please keep me in your thoughts tomorrow. The surgery could take any where from 2-4 hours.

Blessed Be!
Donna