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11/30/2004 Archived Entry: "The Getting Older Blues"

I tell you, every year I get older I get some sort of new medical problem to deal with. I just turned 25 only to discover that I've got issues with my gall bladder. I'm not about to be in denial about it, I read up on the symptoms last night and that's exactly what I've got. Now it's just a matter of whether or not I'll need surgery for it. Even if I do, I'm not afraid of surgery, I just want to know how to stop the pain and to keep it from coming back.

So last night at 3am I found myself in excruciating pain. I had been in pain for four or five hours with little or no relief. I felt like a balloon that would never deflate and my muscles would cramp with no sign of relaxing. I thought it might've been bad food, because I felt nausiated, but when I tried to throw up nothing happened. I broke out in a sweat twice, got chills, and no position I lay down in would relieve the pain. It was a pain that didn't move but it didn't stab like an appendix would.

At that point John and I go to the emergency room, because at the time it never occured to me that it could be my gall bladder. I hadn't even considered gall stones or anything like that. If anything, I'd've thought I'd get kidney stones first with all the dark soda I drink during the week. They drew blood and found nothing, so I wasn't fighting an infection. That was a relief, needing surgery on top of having an infection really sucks. I had even packed my contact lens case in my jeans pocket in case I needed to stay overnight, I was prepared for anything at that point. I just wanted the pain to go away.

When I told the nice doctor at the ER about the symptoms, he immediately said "It sounds like the gall bladder." Gall bladder?, I thought. It was a huge relief just finding out that what I had was something common, treatable, and I caught it early. Now I've got to go next Monday for an ultrasound at the radiology center. Beam me up, Scotty! I've seen x-rays of my teeth before, I wonder what an ultrasound of my guts looks like.

Granted, this may be an entry of TMI (Too Much Information), but it feels good being able to talk about it. Trims off my anxieties over the whole thing. Apparently, it's more common in females, too. Greeeeeat... *grumble* I seem to fit the bill on all slots for this, I'd actually be really suprised now if it turned out -not- to be my gall bladder. I'm not depressed about it or anything, I just think that this whole pattern I'm seeing here is almost... I dunno, like a real life satire.

In Other News...
I think my art haitus is finally staving off. Last night I bought a new sketchbook and worked on new bitmap designs for my new website layout. I have an idea on the theme, but getting sketches translated onto bitmaps is difficult. I'm hoping I can get some animations on the site, too.