A gall bladder; my humble saviour

Yesterday was an ouch day. In fact it was a 'what the bloody hell was that for?!! ' day. I had a gallbladder attack which was so bad, we had to call the GP

The gall bladder is a small pear-shaped organ on the underside of the liver that is used to store bile. Bile is made in the liver and is stored in the gall bladder until it is needed to help the digestion of fat. So in theory the more fatty food you eat, the more chances of an attack. If you want to read more about it, here's a link to the NHS site

Yesterday I wasn't sure if I was hungry or feeling a bit nauseous, I'm out of sorts and taking painkillers, appetite is up and down. So I ate a banana. That's low fat, right? Well my body thought otherwise and the gallbladder went into overdrive

It started with an ache in the middle of my chest, just under the ribs. That's my first sign of an impending attack so took some solpadeine and omeprazole which usually works in about 20 minutes. So I lay back on the sofa praying. Not only cos I couldn't imagine coping with the pain on top of recovering from a nephrectomy, (when I'd hoped they would also remove the gall all but blumming didn't) but also MrC was cooking roast chicken, which smelt awesome (he doesn't cook often and I was really looking forward to it!)

But it wasn't to be. The pain increased to the point I was crying, I couldn't tolerate any noise and I was just concentrating on breathing through it. I was worried about throwing up! I'd burped earlier in the day and that had hurt like hell on my surgery sites, so throwing up? O M G! Was going to be intense.

It felt like someone was stood in the middle of my chest. Just the one foot. On the ball of that foot. In a stiletto heel. A red one! (do you get the picture?) It's was very intense with breakthrough electric like pain. On a pain score it was a 9 and almost unbearable. I was tense and the pain on the surgery site was increasing too.

The GP arrived just in time and suspected an infection in the gallbladder because I hadn't set it off with food. He talked about admitting me to hospital and I'll be honest I didn't care, I just wanted the pain to stop. But he decided to try and get the pain under control first so two pricks in my bum later and a course of antibiotics he left ( tramadol and a muscle relaxant in case you've got a dirty mind!)

We were to call back in an hour if things hadn't improved, it was a long hour. (MrC went off at one point to pack an overnight bag ) But eventually the intense pain lessened, and the break through pain went from searing lightening strikes to a fist thumping through my chest (I did think at one point is this what it feels like to be in the film Alien) And then all of a sudden I realised it had stopped. I couldn't stop smiling, it was like a release from feeling so crap, to no pain.

I when I say no pain, the surgery site pain was relieved too. I spent the evening resting in bed and have done the same but on the sofa today. I feel a lot better and on the plus side, I'm feeling better all over. I was worried about the discomfort from surgery and that it didn't seem to be getting better. Either I was turning a corner anyway, or the injections I had, especially the muscle relaxant, helped ease things and let me have a goodnight's sleep.

I can finally see a definite improvement, the light at the end of a surgery tunnel and long may it continue.

If you remember ted the tumour was found by accident when my gallbladder was under going an ultrasound. So it may be very painful, troublesome and unpredictable but it helped find the tumour then and helped relieve things now.

Just don't make a habit of it please

If you have any tips on how I can stop an attack I'd be grateful for a comment and if you think you may be a affected with a gallbladder problem then pop yourself off to the doctor. It's more common than you think!