What starts with G and...

... is an organ that hasn't given Chris any trouble?   (More on this in a minute.)

We had a busy day today!   It started off at Cardiac Rehab.   Chris decided to go, despite having some pain in sternal incision area.   His neck was stiff, too.   He did great at Rehab, though, and had an appointment directly after for a massage.   He said that she really worked out the knot he had in his neck, so we hope he'll be able to sleep well tonight.

While he was being massaged, Jen @ DaVita called and let us know that she faxed the paperwork to Dr. Lyons for Chris' neurological exam.   I called their office later and got him an appointment for Sept. 19th.

Next was our pre-operative consultation with Dr. Giles.  He discussed with us reasons why the catheter tube might not be draining properly and explained what he would have to do.  He's going to go in with a camera (laparoscopic, minimally-invasive surgery) to determine what the issue is and attempt to fix it by either removing an obstacle or moving the catheter site.    As we were wrapping up our conversation, Dr. Giles says, "Has anyone talked to you about your gallbladder?"   Chris replied, "No!", as we looked at each other and laughed.

Chris and I have this joke that he's going through the alphabet with medical issues.   Appendix.  Back problems, Congestive Heart Failure...  We thought we had G down when he had the Gastric Bypass and/or Gangrene!

Dr. Giles went on to explain that, on the CT scan to show the cath tube's position, he noticed that Chris has stones in his gallbladder.   Furthermore, the largest one is in the neck of his gallbladder and will cause trouble for Chris in the (possibly near) future.   He told us that when he was trained, surgeons removed the gallbladder routinely during gastric bypass surgery.  This is because most obesity surgery patients develop gallstones.  He also explained to us why a gallbladder is no longer needed in modern humans.

So, long story short, Chris has another G to add to his list!   Dr. Giles knows Dr. Sorensen (Chris' kidney transplant surgeon in SLC), so Dr. G is going to call Dr. S to make sure it's OK with him to remove Chris' gallbladder.  It's preferable to take it out now, rather than to try to deal with it in an emergency situation.

So, since Chris is already going to be under anesthesia, he will probably take the gallbladder out while is in there doing the catheter surgery.   It will still be outpatient, so he'll be home resting & recovering that same afternoon.  Dr. Giles' surgical practice was purchased by St. Luke's hospital system since Chris' original cath surgery in December 2011, so this surgery will be performed at St. Luke's Meridian.  It's scheduled for Wednesday, September 5th.