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Writer's pictureKaren

The #GallbladderFree Club


Forgive me please. It’s been three weeks since I posted my last video. It was a goal for the new year that I post videos weekly. I think I was posting one every 10 days when my gallbladder had different plans.


I don’t often suffer a lot of abdominal pain. So when it did begin to hurt I actually thought that it was just my underwire digging into my ribs while I was curled up on the couch. When a change in position didn’t work, I thought, 'this is what heartburn feels like'. So I got up and moved around. When I touched my side I could feel the muscles in spasm. So my next thought was that I had been too aggressive in my ab workout that morning. LOL


...Five hours later the pain had escalated to worse than labour contractions and unrelenting. Exhausted, it was time for a visit to the emergency room.


Funny, my biggest worry was that I would have to convince the nurses and doctors that my pain level was a 10 out of 10. All through the three triage stations and registration, I was shocked at how easily the nurses understood exactly what I was going through. I was hooked up to an IV and the good drugs were in my system within 1 hr of arrival.


The ugly hospital quilt.
The ugly hospital quilt.

April it appears is gallbladder month. Even while I was sitting waiting for my ultrasound, I could see at least another three women arrive bent over in similar pain.  But I was special.

Before that moment I had had no idea that I had a 2 cm stone in my body. Now it was blocking my bile duct and I required immediate surgery.  Yay!


I was admitted and would have surgery before the end of the day. Or would I? I was the least acute of the emergency cases. So there was bursting appendices and rupture colons that kept taking my spot...but finally, on Sunday morning it was my turn. Last thing I remember before I went under was discussing the possible endings of Game of Thrones with my surgeon.


Fighting boredom waiting for surgery
Fighting boredom waiting for surgery

I want to thank the staff of North York General and all their care. Dr Zhang and her team, my floor nurses on 5 North, Wendy, Ryan, Sandra, Fatima, Bashina, and Joanna...apologies to the emergency room staff for not getting any of your names but I am very grateful to you all.


My new gallbladder curtesy of my daughter
My new gallbladder curtesy of my daughter

Now onto making my next video. Fingers crossed before the weekend.

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rosemarieohio
Apr 19, 2022

had an aggressive liver ultrasound which loosened 2 unknown stones . In ER kept asking for anyone with a gun to shoot me = pain was incredible.

What does " eat the frog first " mean ? on your mug that I bought from your site. Is it a Canadian slogan ?

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w3mjathi
Mar 29, 2020

I am so sorry to hear that you and your gall bladder decided to part company, but I guess you are better off without him/her now, huh? I just wanted to let you know that I watched ALL of your videos, several times for the most part, and YOU are a part of MY sewing community here in Utah. Your tips, tricks, and strategies have helped me many times! My latest block-of-the-month quilt has all of the scraps on the back of it! YEAH!!! Thank you for the wonderful videos and your wonderful encouragement to those of us who don't know everything there is to know about quilting, about ironing, about color, about organizing, or about sewing and cutting! …

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judithhcarr
Sep 18, 2019

Funny, I thought March was Gallbladder Month! I'm a month ahead of your joining the #Gallbladder Free Club. It hasn't been fun and I would love to cancel my membership, but when I mentioned that wish, my surgeon's exact words were, "Mrs. Carr, that ship has sailed." He did not apparently grasp my attempt at humor.


I still can't stand to wear items that are tight at the waist and I kissed the underwires goodbye which isn't a good thing for a 36DD! I found a wonderful comfortable sports bra and I am never going back!


I can't find anyone to complain to, but I am no longer a size 10 because I just can't stand the tight waistbands any…


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kristih1898
Sep 15, 2019

Hello Karen, I just watched your YouTube video on “How to sew straight”! I love your basic instructions and even though I have been a long time quilter, I learned new techniques. Your simple and basic approach is really wonderful, no wonder you have 80k subscribers. CONGRATULATIONS well done! 😎🙋🏻🙋🏻 Looking forward to your next awesome video!

Christina

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Chris Hindle
Sep 13, 2019

I hope you are feeling much better now! I had my gallbladder op in may and am feeling great after a long time of illness.

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