[GlamourGirl827]

I've had gallbladder issues on and off, and it was confirmed this winter I have gall stones. I was recommended to a surgeon, but since my symptoms were rare, I wasn't in a rush.

Over the weekend I woke up in horrible pain! It was definitely my gall bladder and I was up for hours. Since then I have been tender and its inflamed, my upper right quadrant in actually protruding a bit. I've been monitoring myself for a fever, none so far. But I know this needs to come out, soon.

We are going away on Saturday and there's no way I will be able to get in for surgery before then, and even if I did, I don't think I'd been recovered by then. So I'm taking huge chance by going away for the week, praying I don't end up in some out of state ER (although we are only going 2 hours from home, so I'd just drive home).

I am calling the surgeon today when they open. I come back on the 12th, a Saturday and I plan to schedule the surgery ASAP, maybe Monday if I can. I am scheduled to work Monday (14th) at my new job. I'm also scheduled for Wed that week.
Do I call them today and tell them the truth, that if I make it home from vacation with no issue I'm going right in for surgery? I expect they are going to say, if it that bad I should skip my vacation and do it this week or next. But there's no way I'm skipping this vacation. Not gonna happen! Too much money and we are all looking forward to it.

Or should I just wait and call out? How would you handle it? I'd prefer to give them a notice of course, but the truth is, they are going to likely think "You're off all next week for vacation, do it now and skip your vacation, or do it next week and skip your vacation"...because lets face it, they don't really care if I miss my vacation, and if I did it now, I would be all recovered to go back to work by the 14th and they wouldn't even notice I was gone.

Medical speaking, I should go in soon. But I should be ok to wait a week and a half.

Edited to say that I made an appointment with the surgeon for the Tuesday after I work and was told that they schedule the surgery for weeks out from there. I have a feeling I wont make it that long, and end up in the ER with emergency surgery. oh well..

[futureformerfisher]

My husband was in almost the same exact situation as you - knew he had a gallbladder problem, let it go because it wasn't that bad, it suddenly flared up two days before a planned cruise. He decided to go through with the vacation; he didn't last 24 hours, and spent the first night in the infirmary with a sudden fever and we had to dock early the next day to get him to a hospital. We were close enough to home that we were able to drive back the next day, but I had to drive straight to our local hospital and he underwent the surgery the next morning. He was sick, miserable and I was scared out of my mind.

Probably not what you want to hear :/ but it's probably a better idea to skip the vacation - especially if you're going out of the country or on a cruise - and see your doctor ASAP! Unless you purchased refundable tickets, air fair typical isn't refundable, but you might be able to have them issue you credit for new tickets after you're better. Anything else may be refundable or transferable if you give them evidence of an unexpected emergency illness/surgery. In our case, the cruise line gave us free vouchers for another, better cruise, good for up to one year, without us even asking - we were able to take another cruise two months later once he had healed from the surgery. We really weren't entitled to anything from the airline (Delta), but they allowed us to transfer our return flight to the second cruise for no fee, so we only had to pay for the flight there the second time around.

Even if you do survive the vacation, you'd probably have a lot more fun if you weren't feeling so sick!

Feel better :/

ETA: okay, I missed where you said you were only going a couple hours away. Personally, I would risk it, because I know how I am and I wouldn't want to ruin it. But I would never suggest anyone else risk it, because I know I shouldn't, either! Is there any way to change the dates or get a refund for the things youvr already purchased - hotel room, admission tickets, etc?

Second, forget about work. Your vacation time shouldn't be used to cover your surgery, especially emergency surgery. I would never force an employee to use vacation time to cover a surgery unless they explicitly asked for it, and I would never make them skip a vacation canceled by emergency surgery. I would hope your employer agrees! Do you have other PTO/sick leave? Can you afford unpaid leave for the time you'll be out? If so, push for that - you deserve a vacation and it's certainly not your fault if it's canceled due to your gallbladder. I'm not sure exactly how it works, other than I have to sign some paperwork, but employees can take unpaid emergency leave for up to 12 weeks for things like unexpected illness/surgery. You cannot be fired or replaced during that time. Your employer will live. Stuff happens!

[berryblondeboys]

Eat low fat... that will help for the short term.

[cathi888]

Waiting to find out what you decided to do...