As a Sailor, I have a great aversion to going up on the rocks... This post is about a different kind of rock... More precisely stones.


I have heard it said that there are 3 things people present to the ER with that are considered the most significant pain events...




The ladies may disagree, but apparently child birth does not make the cut (which immediately suggests that the list was compiled by a man)...




1. Heart attack.




2. Kidney stones (I have passed a bunch of these, but #3 is far worse).!




3. Gall stones (gall bladder attack).




Well, thankfully I know nothing of #1, but numbers one and two have been companions of mine for some time.




I have had several gall bladder attacks. That is uncommon, because they are exceedingly painful and most folks have the sense to think they are going to die and go into the emergency room....




... Fortunately I am not burdened by this sense like most people so I had the opportunity to experience this one time, or two times, but a total of eight times.




(None too smart this one).....








These stones can kill you. As it turns out, mine nearly did.




The first few times it happened I thought it might clear up on its own. Then I was on a boat in the Bahamas, and it was not a good time...




Ok, so what I am getting at is this. When you have something like this you need to get it taken care of. This is a routine surgery... That is it is supposed to be anyway... Even a days hike to help can cost your life...




If you let it go too long, it can kill you.




I have some pictures, they are very graphic. My gall bladder was completely filled with stones, so much so that the surgeon who has done thousands of these operations was parading the remains of it around the post-surgical unit...




When you have something like this, get it taken care of.




The surgery was much more complicated because the tissue of my gall bladder was dieing, and it was packed full of stones and "necrotic"... The stage before Gangrene sets in....