So like, has anyone seen my gall bladder?

[Michelle]

I honestly didn't know whether to post this in General Medical, or here.

It's a true story, but it's so preposterous, I figured I would put it here.

Honest-to-Betsy this could only happen to me.............

I will try to make a long story short.

So, I'm at the chiropractors office today.... I haven't been to a chiropractor since my absolutely SPECTACULAR blowout of L5-S1 back in December of 2005... so since I have moved and this is a new doc., we decide to do some X-rays to see where things are at.

So, doc comes back in with the xrays, pops them on the light box, and as we are looking at them, he says to me "I see you've had your gallbladder removed"... At first I think he's joking. So I say to him "Uh, that would be a no on that one doc". Then he looks at me, and apparently thinks *I'M* joking. So we stare at each other for 4 beats and then I ask him why he would say that? So he points to an area in the film and says "right there... that is classically what it looks like when you have your gallbladder out.... sutures/staples that are left behind from the surgery" and I look and there are these 5 dashes of light... straight little bars, like staples, in an kind of irregular but semi-circular pattern. So I tell him, "No. It's got to be a film anomoly"... so then he puts up two more films, of different angles.... and there they are... those little internal hyphens. I'm still thinking he's whacky... but he tells me he had his gallbladder out... then he says "wait here... I've got two other patients that have had their's out... I swear this is what it looks like on film"... and he comes back with these other folks films and puts them up... and sure enough... looks like mine.

So then I tell him, maybe this isn't my films? And he says "I just developed them right after we took them!".... but still, something could have gone wrong I said.... so then he laughs and points to the film and says "I think that pretty much tells us it's your films" (he was pointing to my body-piercing/jewelry.... NO doubt about it, it was my bod).

So. Apparently my gallbladder has been removed, without my knowledge, consent, or any external scars to show that it's been done. Interstingly enough, I DO have the symptoms of someone without a gallbladder, or at least a really compromised one.

How weird is that? Leave it to me to have a major internal organ stolen, without my knowledge or consent. This is what happens when you are (a) Recently Blonde; and (b) Drink too much wine at night.

MAJOR sh*t goes missing, and you dont even know about it. I mean, this is way beyond misplacing your car keys, right?

m1

[The Reaper]

Could have been worse. He could have said, "Wow, look at your gallbladder!" when you had previously been operated on to remove it.

Actually, a member of my family had the procedure a few years ago.

It is normally a laproscopic techinque now which leaves only small scars, none of that pirate work with all of the big scars from years ago.

Maybe you do drink too much.

TR

[bandycpa]

Michelle,

Man, that's urban myth-type material right there. Maybe you should make sure of two things:

1) You're not missing a kidney, too. (see http://www.snopes.com/horrors/robbery/kidney.asp)
2) None of your body parts are on ebay (and, if they are, you are at least getting a cut of the profits).

That is "weird, wild, wacky stuff".



Bandy

[RTK]

You may want to take a personal asset inventory and see if you're missing any other organs....

Been rolled in a third world country lately?

[Gypsy]

Originally Posted by Michelle

This is what happens when you are (a) Recently Blonde;

Now why did you go and do that?



Oh, yeah, and about the missing gallbladder...that's just too weird.

[Mick Strider]

Oh.....

Yeah.........about that...

um, ive been wanting to talk to you about something M......

Remember that time i needed money to buy Stellite and you told me that if i needed the money you would loan it to me.....

and then we went to that crazy bar.....

Wellllllllll.....

Um....i felt bad about the LOAN......so i may have made a small withdrawal....hypothetically speaking of course.....

Never mind....maybe you should PM me......

[Bill Harsey]

First I thought Aliens...

then we get the logical explanation.

[HOLLiS]

Originally Posted by Bill Harsey

First I thought Aliens...

then we get the logical explanation.

I like the Alien explanation better. I have been to Roswell NM.

[Team Sergeant]

Originally Posted by Michelle

So, I'm at the chiropractors office today....
m1

m1,

I don't know if I would listen to a chiropractors opinion over that of a radiologist. I'd be taken those pics/x-rays to a radiologist for a second opinion. You may also want to call jerry springer for a possible interview......


TS

[frostfire]

can one be born without gallbladder? There's a baby born without brain and only brainstem.
Without bile secretion, one would notice diffferent color then?

[HOLLiS]

Originally Posted by frostfire

There's a baby born without brain and only brainstem.

I did not know that about John Kerry, thank you.

[Doczilla]

You know, one other thing to consider here is this: the other patients who had their GB removed, did the staple pattern look EXACTLY the same? If so, this points to a problem with his film cartridges rather than with your body. With every cholecystectomy, there is a little bit of variation in the anatomy, the number of staples, etc., so each should look unique.

I seriously doubt that anyone would take your GB without your knowledge. It's not commercially viable and we don't give anyone GB transplants. You live just fine without one. The other thing is that it is not impossible, but really, REALLY difficult, to remove the GB without incising the skin. You would have some laparascopic scars on your belly.

Symptoms of gallbladder removal include intolerance of fatty food (nausea, cramps, diarrhea), but this usually lasts for only about 2 weeks before the body adapts. That's the only symptom indicative of lack of a gallbladder.

Originally Posted by frostfire

can one be born without gallbladder? There's a baby born without brain and only brainstem.
Without bile secretion, one would notice diffferent color then?

Haven't heard of it, but anything is possible. The gallbladder simply stores and concentrates bile, while the liver makes and secretes it. If you never had a gallbladder, you wouldn't really notice anything. If your liver fails to produce bile, you notice that your stools turn a pale gray color. And you get yellow. Then you bruise really easily. Then you get confused. Then you die.

Bear gallbladders are harvested in Asian countries so we can drink the bile. Supposed to be for virility or something. The QPs here probably know far more about this cultural tidbit than I. So are you large, hairy, do you crave salmon, and sleep all winter?

'zilla

[x SF med]

I think the answer is - Mick is an alien, needed money, hired his alien buddies to do the operation, and while they were at it (after a long night of wine drinking) they colored M1's hair and used their future technology to steal her gall baldder, leaving only staples in it's place as a joke and as internal piercing jewelry, so that M1 can no longer eat at McDonalds.

Either that, or what Doczilla said.

[Sdiver]

Originally Posted by Doczilla

So are you large, hairy, do you crave salmon, and sleep all winter?

WOW !!!!

Does this mean we can harvest Mr. Harsey's Gall Bladder too ?!?!?

Cool.

Now.....who's gonna volunteer to color his hair Blonde and get him to start drinking wine ????

[vsvo]

Originally Posted by Doczilla

Bear gallbladders are harvested in Asian countries so we can drink the bile. Supposed to be for virility or something.

My uncle was telling me about his visit to a bear farm on the outskirts of Saigon. They just lay that bad boy down, stick a big needle in it, and extract the bile as it wails away. They then send it back out to the fields to refresh before re-harvesting later. In addition to drinking bile for virility, local lore is if you get a bruise, rub some of it in, and it will disappear faster.

I'm with the Team Sergeant. I get tired of listening to chiropractors talk about their prowess in reading x-rays.