Susan wrote:

> Can't you get a 2nd opinion or a 3rd and 4th? The gallbladder is a very
> important organ. We are on this list to eat to get well and let food be thy
> medicine and all that. Can't you give the diet a little more time? Those
> surgeons just want to take everything out: tonsils, adenoids, appendix,
> tumours, breasts...If they had their way, we wouldn't have anything left.
> Are you sure this is necessary? Also, the cost!!!
>

Thanks Susan for the advice--but I'd already procrastinated
for over a year after ultrasound showed a huge >1 inch in
diameter stone in my gall bladder.  I'm sure that the stone
had been started years ago, because I'd had intermittent,
mild symptoms such as nausea and indigestion.  A year ago I
had a episode of severe pain that lasted for a couple of
hours, and did get an ultrasound after that.  I'd put
surgery off since then with only minor twinges of upper
abdominal pain and nausea.  I have to say that the symptoms
markedly reduced after I started a low-carb diet (moving
towards paleo).  I am glad that I finally went ahead and did
get surgery yesterday-- which BTW was not that bad.  I've
really had minimal pain, and am home today.  Barely needed
any pain medications.  Had some jello and broth in the
hospital, but now that I'm home, I'm basically back to
eating light, paleo and low carb things.  Had scrambled eggs
this a.m. with no problems.  The reason that I'm glad that I
got it taken out was that my stone was so big (I bet it had
been there over 10 years) that there was no hope of it
dissolving on it's own, and it was starting to obstruct the
bile ducts and my liver enzymes were elevating.

If I had known about how to eat healthier years ago, I might
have avoided this surgery, but I'm glad that the technology
was there for me, because I would have only gotten worse
without the stone removed.

Thanks for all the input, everyone!

Julie