URGENT, URGENT, URGENT, URGENT
Re: Gall Bladder Surgery or Not?
Hello,
I don’t know if, or who, might get this email but I thought I might ask my question anyway even though this is an “Eleventh hour” issue.
It is Sunday night (11:15PM Mountain Time)) and I am scheduled for gall bladder surgery for this Tuesday. Because the surgery is in a neighboring town two hours away, I will have to leave my hometown from my workplace around 2 o'clock on Monday for an overnight stay before the surgery. I can change my mind up until the time they apply the general anesthetic!!!
I have to admit that I have had some trepidation about doing the surgery for several reasons. First, I did not know what gallstones were until my first gall bladder attack last March when I started to look into it. I had a second attack in June which was almost as severe. Both of these brought me to the hospital where the pain subsided after about three hours. I had a subsequent gallbladder attack about a week and a half ago around 5:30 in the morning and, realizing what might be happening, I decided to try to sit it out. This third attack was not as severe and the pain subsided after about an hour and a half and I fell back into restful uneventful sleep. Secondly, I have to admit to an aversion to surgery if it is not absolutely necessary. And I am not sure that this is absolutely necessary. Somehow, the message that we “don't need our gallbladder”, just doesn't sit completely right with me. I tend to believe what Einstein was fond of saying: "God doesn't play dice with the universe".
Tonight, curious about what Dr. McDougall might say about gallbladder surgery, I read a post he wrote (I don’t know when) called "Gallbladder Disease" which recommended against the choice of surgery, except as a last resort. I also listened to a 2+ minute video by Dr. McDougall talking about using a low-fat diet as a preventative measure.
I have been on a mostly plant-based diet for 4 1/2 years since reading the China Study and books by Dr. Bernard, Dr. Esseltyn, Dr. McDougall, Dr. Ornish and other writers on the importance of plant-based diet. I have also been a frequent visitor to Dr McDougall’s website and have read a lot of the success stories, even recommending the website to others. The improvement in my health (resolution of long term chronic diarrhea, weight loss, improved memory, reduced aches and pains, elimination of chest pain, etc.) was so significant that I am committed to a plant-based diet. I believe the main problem I was having, however, is that it is hard to eat a truly healthy plant-based diet. I frequently eat in restaurants and I'm constantly trying to balance what is available with what I know to be healthy. This inevitably leads to higher levels of fat in my diet then I need. I also not infrequently succumb to the occasional chocolate bar, chips, too many nuts, low grade plant food (e.g. white pasta), theatre popcorn and sometimes pop. I suspect if it were not for the latter weaknesses in my current diet that my gallbladder attacks might not have occurred. I also have to admit that I have not been exercising very much at all in the last four years, although I have not gained any weight for the first time in years and years and, in fact, reached my lowest weight about two weeks ago than I have been in 20+ years.
My question is this: should I be going for surgery? Or should I make a renewed and concerted effort to follow a more pure plant-based, and more strictly low-fat, diet, knowing that I may have a further gallbladder attack? And what about the concerns (addressed in Dr. McDougall's post on gallbladder disease) that the doctors here have expressed that a gallstone might slip into the common bile duct, leading to more complicated emergency surgery?
If it is possible for anyone to give me an informed opinion on my questions and concerns in the next 12 hours, I would truly appreciate it.
Sincerely,
Rod Brideau
