Cowie--
My understanding is that gallstones are usually a hereditary thing, even though the stones themselves tend to be made either of cholesterol or calcium, I think. If you actually have gall stone PAIN, you will not hesitate to have the surgery! IT HURTS. After my surgery (granted 25+ years ago) I never had that sort of pain again, and there were no other unpleasant side effects. (AND I could eat Mexican food without getting horrible cramps! Viva the Burrito!)

Best antidote(s) to depression: Enough sleep, EXERCISE, taking action. And yes, sometimes doing things for other people can make you feel self-righteous as well as distracted.

Sug: Hope the birthday gathering is fun. I so understand the disappointment about gaining rather than losing. I do think that we learn a lot if/when we keep paying attention. so it's back to writing down everything I eat, and looking it all up on Calorieking.com.

Must. discover. late. summer. veggies. I. enjoy.

Oh Painterwoman and Kiwiwoman and all. Of course if it hurts, I'd do something about it, too. Anything. I guess I get my half-baked ideas from my friend who just had her gallbladder removed. She's from an educated professional family that prides itself on adoring McDonald's food. And ... I also think doctors aren't that smart sometimes so I don't want surgery unless it gets thought about real good. I had a friend who woke up with severe pain in his abdomen. He went to the ER and they removed his intestine (gangrene) and told him to exist on Ensure for the rest of his life. He lost weight quickly and died. I was just never sure the ER doctors had done the right thing. It wasn't the best hospital.

For the first time in history, I made my own chicken stock and it was sooooo good in soup. New-taste-good. Easy too. And now I'm making kefir. This good eating honestly makes me feel better. Amazing, huh?

crap I've got what DD had last week. cough and headache and blahiness. plus nausea, which now I don't know if it's something to do with being sick or what the doc wants to test me for. blah.

Today i skipped an (another) inlaw dinner, dh and dd and bf went to it, then dh headed off to the big city for a couple of days, staying with our sailing friends at their rv and he has a doctor's appt down there tomorrow. dd and bf went on, after the inlaw dinner, to a family dinner at his house (the idea of 2 meals in the space of 4 or 5 hours makes me want to ). they brought me back lovely food, including cheeesecake. I haven't eaten it yet cuz i feel carpy.

I'm with you about 2nd opinions and such. dh is beginning to think he has been very ill-served by the guy (in the ER) who set his fingers when he broke them. he just had the orthopedic guy (who wasn't there) take off the splint and declare it healing fine, but wants him back in 2 weeks. But the finger that has a spiral break in it, is as crooked as it was right after the incident. Not good at all. aCtually rubs on the finger next to it. sure wish my dad was still around to look at the xrays. best health care in the world, right? ha.

i hate capital letters today

i'm going to go veg out on the couch and hope my stomach feels better soon so i can eat my cheesecake.

kiwi

i have a finger story too. ds came home from work yesterday saying he hurt his finger. would not give details as it was embarrassing. so i thought he slammed it in something and thought little about it. i mean, why bother since he wasn't telling.

today we both went to work and he wrapped it up in gauze and asked me if he could go to the doctor tomorrow. ok, i said, then i thought that if hurt his finger at work, work will take care of this. i tell the manager who talks to ds and learns that ds stuck his finger in an ice cream cooler and it stuck to the wall. he was there quite a long time as he didn't yell loud enough to get help. he finally got mary to come and asked her to get him a cup of water. she left and came back to ask him where to find a cup.

today, i could see a circular line around the end of the finger and maybe it's swollen. the manager said it's fine. how do i know it's fine? i know nothing.

I would say Put ice on it, but that seems a little mean.... Sounds like he might have frostbite on the end of his finger. Did he warm it as soon as he got loose from the freezer? I can't believe how clueless some people can be ["she left and came back to ask him where to find a cup" ].

Oh darn I am missing the first weight loss meeting. Oh well.... You can't go on a diet when you're sick, right?

Kiwi

P.S. What are you making Kiefer Sutherland out of?

Milk and Keifer Sutherland starter. It's awful but promises to make me feel better and help ward off a ton of diseases including winter ones. It's worth it. I can gulp a little down each day.

I am going to start a new thread.