This is galling

[malada]

Gallstones to be specific.

Two bouts of severe GI distress sent to to the walk in clinic with GI distress and black stools. Since I drank some Pepto earlier in the week to soothe things that may be why the stools were black.

They ordered blood work and an Ultra sound. The blood test came back good - no blood loss, no signs of cancer, but the ultra sound found a polyp inside my gall bladder and some gall stones. Since I was still walking and talking they deemed it benign for the moment - no rush to surgery - and put me on a BRAT diet. (Bananas, rice, applesauce, toast.)

My middle hurts like I had a boxer do me in from the inside. I'll be working remotely: the bathroom is closer and if I want to take a nap in the afternoon no one is going to mind.

I see the gastro gal next week.

=m

Comments

[acelightning73]

Eating fatty foods does't cause gall bladder trouble directly. Too much fat will give you gallstones, and those will cause tremendous pain when the gallbladder tries to pump them into the small intestine in order to add fat-emulsifying enzymes to digest all the fat. The problems I had weren't with fried food or stuff like that - it was buttery flaky puff pastry, filled with a rich creamy filling. Or brioche dough made into cinnamon buns. Or my greatest downfall was BACON.

Eventually too many gallstones accumulated, and my gall bladder got infected (about a year ago)and needed to be removed. I've been tippytoeing around my limitations, and I can manage buttered toast without distress. And the steamer has been great. The two steamed dishes I found among my cookbooks that I wanted to try, I did try. One of them takes boiled chicken slices and submerges them in fermented glutinous rice wine. THe steaming process gives the chicken a subtle sweet and boozy flavor, And the one I like even better is the chicken steamed with Hunan sliced salted chilis. Not one molecule of fat in either dish! And the spicy one gives me a nice warm endorphin buzz.

Getting old is not for sissies.

[sandypawozbun]

Getting old is not for sissies is my new mantra. Thanks! :)

And you're right, its not just fried food. *Any* fat is problematic.