I had an appointment with the surgeon, Dr. Degges, this afternoon and he did not recommend surgery at this time! He said that he felt like the symptoms I have been having were not typical of someone with gallbladder issues. Yes, I have gallstones, but many people have them and don't even know it! He really felt like my symptoms might have been from IBS and maybe a stomch bug. There are countless stomach virus' going around right now. I am feeling so much better this week, so I was happy to hear his opinion. He was super nice, and when he found out that I had cancer as a child and was treated at Children's he wanted to know all about it and then discovered that he was actually doing his residency there in '84 & '85 and he went back in '87. So, he was more than likely around during some of my time at Children's. He was curious about my doctors and of course I couldn't remember any besides the ones I had follow-ups with over the years (c'mon, I was only 5!). He did pretty much confirm the belief my mom has had that I do not have an appendix. She was sure that it was removed during one of my surgeries. Dr. Degges said it was standard procedure to remove the appendix from a child if operating in that area, as a precaution back then. So, that's good to know! He also wanted to see my scar, which was weird. . . but understandable. I guess there aren't many of us that had that surgery (23 years ago!) and have lived walking around. Plus, now days I bet the scar for that particular surgery is itty bitty and mine goes from one side to the other!
I was really pleased with the appointment. He said if I continued to have problems, treat it as IBS, and if I started having any of the typical symptoms of a gallbladder attack then we would revisit the issue then. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!