If Your Tests Come Back 'normal"

I would like to share my little story with everyone here that has pain, yet is told their hida or u/s or symptoms are 'normal'. I am really angry this happened this way, but it's not all the Dr.'s fault.

Five years ago, I had a terrible attack of pain late at night. The worst of it was the back pain, between my shoulders, I literally cannot breathe when the pain hits in that location (then and now). I panicked, but made it through the night, pacing and rocking and scared, mostly because I couldn;t take a proper breath. I went to my primary, and she ordered an ultrasound, she thought it was my gallbladder. It came back normal - no stones, wall normal, etc. She told me you don't have to have stones to have gallbladder problems, that it can be inflamed without stones at all. She was honest and said she didn't know why it happened, sometimes it just does. She didn't recommend anything other than an rx and "wait and see". I was fine for years afterwards, except I seemed to be getting more and more episodes of indegestion and I started to bloat which was unusual for me. Again, I reported these symptoms to my primary, 5 years later it is now. To my surprise, she used the results of the old u/s and instead ordered a ct scan. Ok, I am not a medical professional in anyway, but even I know you can probably grow a gallstone in five years time, that the u/s is cheap, fast and non-invasive, and I would have repeated it. But she didn't. The ct was normal, so she sent me to a gi doc. Does gi doc order another u/s? Nope. He uses old test results and ct results and orders a hida and a colonoscopy. I refused the colonoscopy, did the hida . He said that my reaction to the cck on the hida will tell the story. I got very slightly nauseated and a little crampy, nothing much,and ej rate was 50%. He tells me my gallbladder can last another 20 years if I eat totally vegetarian. Huh? He said my results were normal? I already do no eat red meat, normally don't eat a lot of fatty things (eating out is my downfall, foods at home are fairly healthy) don't drink. I asked him if this was realistic. He seemed to get angry and only replied 'ok, I will refer you to the surgeon" and didn't want to discuss it any further. I was shocked.

Visited the surgeon - he told me - we can take out your gb as long as you understand there is no guarantee that your pain will end if you don't have any obvious thing wrong such as stones or infection. But just in case, I wil order another u/s - I don't want to make a decision without it" within minutes the u/s tech said 'there's your problem" and showed me the 2 cm stone in my gallbladder.

Btw, before he ordered the u/s, surgeon told me with an ejcetion rate that high, it would be very unlikely they would fine stones on the u/s. Wrong again.

All those very expensive tests, specialists, etc. All the pain, missed work, nauseating barium, painful prodding. When a repeat of a simple ultrsound would have showed it all.

I have surgery scheduled for the 22nd and I am scared. I wish someone could share a positive surgery story. Waking up from anethsteisa scares me to death. But my original point is, dont let your Dr. Overlook the obvious - go with your own instincts - I actully simply asked the surgeon why the u/s hadnt been repeated and he said 'good question' I could have had all this over with early this year.