Well, I know I've been driving people (or, my uncle in California, anyway) nuts by not answering the oldest Question of the Day . . . regarding my stupid, aggravating aches and pains. So, here goes!
The HIDA scan on August 14th tested my gall bladder function. Since many of my symptoms are stereotypically gall bladder-ish and the surgery/procedure I had in April didn't do any good, that test was the next plan of attack. Result? I have - to quote my doctor - "the gall bladder of Superman". Can you believe it?!
A brief gall bladder lesson: for a gall bladder to be removed or operated on, it must compress at less than 30% or 40%, depending on the particular hospital's range/scale. A completely normal, healthy gall bladder is considered one that compresses from 50% - 65%. Chicken Mama's Superman gall bladder compressed at an impressive 92%! Matter of fact, the technicians couldn't even get the nasty chemical to work on my gall bladder, so - after being required to fast all day - they MADE me eat while lying on the table! Have you ever tried to eat peanut butter and crackers . . . AND drink water . . . while laying on your back? Yeah, well, don't - it's dangerous. So, anyhoo, that was that.
Extensive blood tests and a CT scan were last week. Now, due to those results (received yesterday), my doctor is stumped by the conflicting test results (if this is okay, then why is this out of whack?), so he is sending me to a specialist - a gastroenterologist. I should get in to see him next week.
So, that's the latest, and, meanwhile, we just plug along as best we can! :)
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