Visited the general surgeon today...

I went to see the general surgeon today, Dr. Michael Kia. He works out of Genesys and McLaren Hospitals. I knew a little about him and his procedure beforehand, as I did some research on the internet. Here is my doctor:

http://www.genesys.org/Internet/General/INK.nsf/2e0dabbf862e762d85257330001086bb/AB07DCD6D0B143E2852573A3005295B8

http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/index.ssf/2008/07/mclaren_genesys_home_to_new_sc.html

Dr. Kia is very young and cute and very, very intelligent. I asked him question after question to try to understand why I had gall stones. I don't know if you want to know this or not, so if not--just stop reading.

The gall bladder is attached to the bottom of the liver. It is a receptacle for the excess bile that the liver produces. The extra bile is needed when the body detects fat from your meal. A signal is sent to the gall bladder requesting more bile, so the gallbladder squeezes to push more bile out to help break down the fats.

The bile is produced by three unique chemicals in the liver which must remain in perfect balance. When one or more of the chemicals gets out of sync, gall stones are produced. It is not what you eat that causes gall stones. He said that a person could try to live on pure water and still end up with gall stones. In the case of a person who has gall stones or gall bladder disease, the gall bladder attempts to do its job, but may not be functioning to capacity or the stones may block any attempt to send out more bile, thus causing pain.

The symptoms for gall stones or gall bladder disease are as varied as you and me. Some people simply experience nausea and others may have every single symptom related to the problem.

In my case, I have several 7mm sized stones in my gall bladder. My gall bladder walls have thickened and are inflamed. After discussing all the options including what I am currently doing to stave off any further painful attacks, and the naturalistic approaches discussed with me by my chiropractor and the gals at the health food store, Dr. Kia says I need to have mine removed. He has seen people die of a ruptured gall bladder.

The problem is that he cannot in all good conscience perform surgery until he has clearance from my hematologist, Dr. Paul Adams. The test results will not be back from CA for 1-2 weeks. I spoke to him about my Basket convention and the upcoming knee replacement on Nov. 6. He is going to try to schedule my surgery the same week that Dr. Adams gives him clearance. He sees no problem with having my knee surgery as scheduled.

If you went to him link above, then you know that he is one of a handful of surgeons in the nation who is performing the scarless gall bladder removal. So--hurry up and wait!!! That's the name of the game. We'll try to get in some more golf before the surgery as it is good distraction therapy!!!