Doctor: So, how did you find us?
EM: Oh, I just asked if there was any doctor in any Polyclinic with an opening today. Honestly, the only reason I’m here is because it is Friday and I didn’t want it to get worse and wind up in the emergency room over the weekend. If it were any other day of the week, I would have waited and watched.
Doc: Ok. It might be your gallbladder, it might be something else. Do you have pain when urinating?
EM: No.
Doc: Do you have pain in your back?
EM: Yes, but nothing new.
Doc: Have you had nausea or vomited?
EM: No.
Doc: Have you had a fever or chills?
EM: I was terribly chilled yesterday, but that’s not uncommon for me.
Doc: Do you want some medicine for the cramping?
EM: No, I would have to be very scared to take a new drug.
Doc: I suppose you want an ultrasound?
EM: Yes and no. Could you order an ultrasound and, if the pain gets worse, I can get it tomorrow? But, if it diminishes, I won’t.
Doc: Yes, that is fine.

Then, as she was getting ready to leave the room, my abdomen twinged and I grimaced and sucked air between my teeth. She looked at me with concern.
Doc: Are you sure you don’t want medicine or to get the ultrasound today?
EM: Yes, this is nothing. This is a 2 out of 10. Maybe a 3. Yesterday it was a 6 or 7. I’m hoping it’ll just go away.
Doc: You’re crazy. [She actually said that!]
EM: Well, my body certainly is.

So, that’s what I did. Doctor visits are so useless. I already knew it was a pretty futile trip and she wouldn’t be able to tell anything without an ultrasound. It was just a means to an end ~ to get an ultrasound ordered. Wouldn’t it be handy if you could call a physician and answer all those questions over the phone so you didn’t have a wasted trip and wasted energy? I can get the ultrasound right by my house, but the only opening was in a clinic 15 minutes away. Still close, but I had to bathe and dress and walk and waste precious energy when I hadn’t slept.

Believe or not, my abdomen is still twinging today, three and a half days later. It feels like someone implanted an electrified golf ball into my side and every so often it comes to life, spinning and shooting sparks. I can feel it there ~ a foreign, swollen feeling ~ even when it’s not twinging. Absolutely bizarre. I am resolutely going forward with the notion that this is not going to be something I have to manage. Have you seen the website for helping gallstones with diet?! Imagine me slamming the laptop closed, running from the room, screming: I can’t eliminate any more food! Ahhhh! Honestly, the loss of sleep was the worst thing and I wouldn’t even call it pain today ~ just sensation. I’m dusting my hands of it and moving on. Fingers crossed it’s not the wrong decision.

Gratitude for the day goes to all my online friends who DIAGNOSED ME! I have no doubt that you were correct (my father, also, emailed that he thought it could be gallbladder or liver) and I learned something new about my body (that I wish I never knew, but now I can store that in the Medical Knowledge center of my brain, which has grown quite vast). Thank you, blamily, what would I do without you? 🙂

Title Credit
[Aside: I am a firm believer that “shan’t” should be spelled “sha’n’t” to be correct.]