so i went to the doctor for the blasted ’stones… man those things are u-g-l-y! google gallstones and the wikipedia pictures tell quite a story. yuck! amazing what the body produces isn’t it?!?

bad news: it is definitely gallstones. yup. sucks big time.

good news: i’m in for an ultrasound on friday morning to determine size, type and number of stones in my gallbladder. nice. fasting for 12 hours ahead is making me hungry just thinking about it! but at least i’m getting into to the exam FAST [by bc medical standards - it’s usually a 2-3 week wait for ultrasounds. my g.p. had me scheduled in under 4 days… must be a record!] and once the exam is complete we’ll know what we’re dealing with.

results should be back by late mid-late next week and then we look at the treatment options…

1. if the stones are small enough and not too many of them, i can be treated as an outpatient with laser/ultrasound therapy where the blast the crap out of the stones. the literally pulverise them so that can pass them ‘naturally’. the doc is optimistic this will be the approach we take. fingers-crossed on this option!
2. if there are more stones than initially expected/hoped and if they are larger than expected, i’ll have to have lapiroscopic surgery to remove the damn things. again… an outpatient type surgery, but surgery nonetheless with about 7 days recovery time at home. i’d end up with a couple of small incisions and some discomfort but at least it’s not the old-school 8″ incision, hack and slash of years past like my mom had to endure. ick!

so that is the update… a number of my online/offline friends have emailed their concerns and i thought this would be the quickest, easiest way to keep everyone updated.

in other, happier news… i have 6 new mixed media collages in the works and will be posting them soon!

thanks for tuning in…
hugs to all of you who cared enough to email your well-wishes. i appreciate your concern more than you know. xoxoxo