When Hubby had his gallbladder out, back in the 80s, the pathology lab sent a nasty note to his surgeon asking why he was wasting their time by sending down cadaver organs to be tested. They were quite surprised to hear it had just been taken from a man in his mid-20s. The suckers do like to go bad.

I don't think I can eat beef anymore. It's got a weird taste to it. Oh, well, a life of chicken and ham is not a sad one.

It does seem better to schedule the surgery while you feel okay rather than having to do so in an emergency situation. If there is a non-surgical solution then by all means go for it, but if it is an eventuality then I suppose sooner is better.

The surgeon was super nice, which doesn't surprise me, since Awesome Doctor recommended him. He said that my symptoms are probably caused by my gallbladder, but since they're so atypical, he asked if I was willing to use myself as a guinea pig for a couple of weeks to change my diet and see how I react. I said I was totally in favor of being my own guinea pig.

I'm supposed to eat low fat for a week, which will be annoying but doable, and then the following week eat fatty foods and see if and how my stomach pain and nausea change. He expects they'll get much worse, which means the gall bladder needs to go.

Eating low fat won't be terrible, except no dairy or eggs. Boo. Fish is fine, though no shrimp or lobster (like I chow down on lobster all the time). No fried foods, but I generally don't eat those. He said olive oil is fine, and so are most nuts. So basically, a week without dairy or red meat and shrimp. There are worse things. (I say that now, but by day 2, I'll probably be wailing and rending my garments.)

Not the cheese! I would miss the cheese.

That sounds like a really sensible approach. Hooray for Super Nice Surgeon.

I went back to Urgent Care and got two shots, and man, the Toradol one hurts like a mofo. It burned almost immediately, and now I'm getting little zaps of pain occasionally. I don't remember this from previous Toradol injections, but it's been a while.

Also, they have to take my blood pressure manually because my heartbeat is quiet. Every time, they are weirdly emphatic about this. Like, "WOW, your heartbeat is SO quiet." I finally asked this time if I should be concerned, but apparently not.

Toradol totally hurts. I hope it helps!

Not the cheese! I would miss the cheese.

It's only a week. I have to keep telling myself this. (Actually, earlier this year I was wondering if I was lactose intolerant, so I stopped eating dairy for almost a week, and it was annoying -- apparently I eat A LOT of cheese -- but not horrible.) (I am not lactose intolerant.)

He could be right, too, Steph -- even now, with mine gone, fatty foods can sometimes be a problem. I wonder why no shrimp, though?

I'm glad he seemed as awesome as Awesome Doctor suggested.

I wonder why no shrimp, though?

It's high in cholesterol.

Oh. Damn. I love shrimp.

Well, the cholesterol in food is generally not a big contributor to cholesterol levels, despite what we used to think about eggs. The human body makes cholesterol, and people with hypercholesterolemia are just really, REALLY good at making cholesterol (see also: the entire Lang family). So you can safely keep eating shrimp.

The surgeon just wants me to eat low-fat for a week to see how my gall bladder reacts. It's less about "OH GOD CHOLESTEROL NO" and more about "HACK UR BODY WOO!"