It has so many meanings to me right now. 

First, I realized that my tumblr account will now, and forever be, kicked off with the topic of Gall Bladders. Not so cool. But, it does give me the rest of the time to move up from that point and write about things more important to the world and still keep it my feelings.

Day two of being home brought a few interesting feelings. First of all, the healing has begun. It seems like every hour brings more mobility and more comfort with moving around instead of being tied to the bed. My family has come through with flying colors in my time of need and I am eternally grateful for all of their help.

Secondly, I missed a Game Day tournament, as well as a GP that was within an hour of our house. I wanted to play in GP Baltimore, but the main event was out for me anyway, due to point number three. I was, however, going to cruse down on Sunday (day 2) and get some cards signed and play in a side event or two. Sorry, I guess I should explain for what this babble is focused on. I play Magic the Gathering and have for over 15 years off and on. Long story that I will not go into in this post and if you know me, you already know as to the extent. I will not get to do any of the above, but I did get to follow along with some of my new found friends in the Magic world via Twitter. (Tom, Justin, Don, Ian, Roger, and those I have not found yet.) It was sad to have to watch, but certainly less sad being able to stay somewhat connected.

Thirdly, I missed playing in the Church band on Saturday morning. I haven’t played in a while and I was going to get to play with some very good friends that I have not played with in a while. Not only that, but it was the music I miss playing as well and I put a lot of time into practice.

All of these thing pale in the shadow of the pain I felt for over 12 hours, but they still were a low point in my weekend. I am working on better foods and a better way of life out of it. Something I should have done years ago. I just hope it is not too late.

So, one would not think that such a small organ on the right side of the body could cause so much chaos. I, for one, found that to be totally true over the last 48 hours. I actually had my apendix removed a few years ago in an emergency situation, so I know what having parts of my body remove feels like. Little did I know that years later I would go through almost the exact same situation with my gall bladder.

Ok, for those of you that do not know what the function of your gall bladder is, I will bore you:

The gallbladder is a hollow system that sits just beneath the liver.^[2] In adults, the gallbladder measures approximately 8 centimetres (3.1 in) in length and 4 centimetres (1.6 in) in diameter when fully distended.^[3] It is divided into three sections: fundus, body and neck. The neck tapers and connects to the biliary tree via the cystic duct, which then joins the common hepatic duct to become the common bile duct. At the neck of the gall bladder is a mucosal fold called Hartmann’s pouch, where gallstones commonly get stuck. 

And get stuck, they did. 6 of them. The pain was like bad gas. Really bad gas that would not go away…for four hours. I finally had my wife take me to the hospital at 2 am. I was admitted and given some pain killers and a full regiment of tests that included a sonogram. Toward the end of the sonogram, the tech asked what I though was a probing question; “do you have gall stones.” I answered no and chuckled. She said, “no, I am telling you that you have gall stones. A lot of them.”

My heart sank. With lack of knowledge, I began to think of what caused them and what it was going to mean to my life from this point on. I had no clue on either question at this point. Misty and I prayed together and they took me back to the waiting room. It was explained to me that the little sack pulls away the bad fatty stuff out of things you eat. Great, so now I have to stop eating the stuff I like….or, I get to stop eating the stuff that is killing me. 

I think my life is going to change after this. It was a good jog of my faith, but an even better eye-opener to what life brings us in the way of food. I am not going all Knives over Forks or anything. That stuff drives me nuts in a bad way. But I am going to change what I eat. I will not be eating for convenience anymore, I will be eating for my body. I am also not warning you of the dangers of fatty foods, but it wouldn’t hurt to take a peek at what you are eating some times.

As a side note, the Dr. came into my room the next day. His first words out of his mouth were “you must be a rock.” He went on to explain the there were multi-stones of a large size and the bladder had become gangrene. He said that he did not know of anyone personally that could have taken the pain I must have been suffering. Hmm. Have to remember that one for later.