Case History

[Guest guest]

I've been fairly unsuccessful in my search for the worst-case-scenario GB

story, and I have to admit I am still sceptical about the rate of occurrance of

ruptured GBs. I hear tangential references but have not talked to anyone who

can show me a confirmed case. It is not in any of the medical textbooks that

I've searched. This issue is important to me because I've been warned by

conservative types who tell me I'm playing with fire by not having surgery.

(They won't faze me but I'd like to have some statistics to throw back at

them).

This week I was at a small local store and saw the owner whom I know but

had not seen all winter. We got to discussing how our winters were

(Minnesotans do that) and when he heard about my GB and pancreatitis

experiences last fall, here's the story he told me about his winter.

CASE HISTORY: JS was getting a physical prior to having cataract surgery

when the doctors noticed a slightly elevated wbc and liver enzymes. Palpation

resulted in a diagnosis of cholecytiasis and he was prepped for a laporscopic

cholesystectomy. Surgery (on the day before Christmas Eve) was without

problems but the surgeon told him that his GB was gangrenous and very

close to rupture, " good thing he had the surgery " .

Prior to this, there were NO major liver or GB symptoms at all, just the

occasional Tums event, it was an incidental finding. JS is about 55, very

obese with a washtub-sized gut, he is very sedentary, he pretty much lives on

junk food and drinks coffee all day.Running his business is pretty stressful as

well. I think he was also a former smoker too. He's not had any complications

from the surgery and went in several weeks later for the cataract surgery. He

says he has gained even more weight since the surgery, but that he can eat

whatever he wants (correlation? Nah..).

What I found interesting is that when I asked him if he had had stones, he

didn't know. They didn't say. Neither did he see the tissue from the surgery.

I've asked him if he could possibly get me a copy of the pathology report on

the GB that was removed. I will be real curious to see what conditon it was in.

Was the surgeon exaggerating the damage to justify the removal? I find it

incredible that JS has this supposedly necrotic pathological GB mess inside,

no telling how long in formation and yet no symptoms! They sure made a fast

diagnosis as well. Of course, he was given no options other than surgery.

I will let you know what I find if I can get that pathology report. Meanwhile,

if

you know where I can find reports of actual cases, let me know. BTW, don't

worry, I won't tell my friend he did the " wrong thing " , or anything else, no

matter what I find. I told him I was studying the GB for my own health

interests, which is true.

Will in Minneapolis