August 23, 2007 24 Comments

A big one

This the biggest gallstone I got this year. Almost 4 cm of it.



And HARD too… I couldn’t crush it in the gallbladder and had to be removed as a whole stone.

Read more about gallstones from WebMD.

You may Subscribe to Comments RSS or Trackback this entry.

24 comments so far

  1. jonzz August 23, 2007 9:19 am

    Wah, GROSSUS MAXIMUS… puke!

    Hmm.. fascinating. The pain must be killing him. What did he eat to build up such a ‘pearl’?

  2. yenjai.net August 23, 2007 10:21 am

    Poor fella.
    Guess had suffered for years.

  3. Adino August 23, 2007 10:37 am

    Your patient must be hurting all this while. Thanks for the link to WebMD… gonna read more about it.

  4. Bernard August 23, 2007 11:26 am

    Jonzz, well… it was quite “bothersome”. Actually, sometimes these things can be painless. If it was painless, I wouldn’t bother taking it out. Size doesn’t matter.

    yenjai.net, yes the symptoms were there for years. But she thought it was “gastritis”, as usual.

    Adino, pain after meals.

  5. Chelsea August 23, 2007 4:55 pm

    Pain after meals?….oo oo….=(

  6. cibol August 23, 2007 5:50 pm

    Hey, thanks for dropping by my blog. :) 4 CM is a big catch. :P

  7. angel August 23, 2007 6:17 pm

    Eeeekkk! The first thing that crossed my mind when I saw that was… a foetus -_-”’

  8. Judy Leese August 23, 2007 7:13 pm

    Ah, brings back memories. Looks quite like mine except that it is sort of double the size. That is big and the colour is blackish. I remember you said that means iron deficiency. :)

  9. George August 23, 2007 7:50 pm

    Hmmm that is big but true size does not matter :)

  10. allthingspurple August 24, 2007 2:13 am

    YOu know what, Bernard? I truly think you got to be one hell of a brave man to be a doctor. I mean, to look at blood and stuff like that everyday !!!

  11. allthingspurple August 24, 2007 2:15 am

    oops. sorry. i meant to tell you that i tagged you

    http://allthingspurple.blogspot.com/2007/08/8-random-facts-about-me.html

  12. Jean-Luc Picard August 24, 2007 2:48 am

    Yuk. It looks nasty.

  13. anastasia August 24, 2007 6:41 am

    Wow, cool! Ha ha. May i ask what’s the fleshy bit?

  14. YogaJess August 24, 2007 2:11 pm

    If you don’t need them (the stone, please donate to my landscape garden.

  15. nyonyapenang August 24, 2007 8:55 pm

    OMG, that must have hurt like hell. How did the ‘host/owner’ tahan the pain leh?

  16. ilene ong August 25, 2007 11:30 pm

    …ooooo…ouch….it hurts! Is your patient gonna keep it or is it the practice to have it kept at the hospital for further research?

  17. Bernard August 26, 2007 3:08 pm

    Chelsea, usually the pain occurs after meals when the gallbladder is contracting.

    Cibol, yup.. a big one.. but really size doesn’t matter. As George also commented :-).

    Angel, well.. dun worry. It’s not.

    Judy, ahh.. yes. Black indicates that it might be due to a haemoglobin abnormality which might cause anaemia too.

    George, yup!

    Except that the size of the incision had to be enlarged to allow the stone to exit. This one was too hard to crush.

    Allthingspurple, ou have to be one brave lady… looking at the judge everyday ;-)

    Ahh.. a tag.. okie.. i’ll get on it. Soon. Really. OK, I’ll try to be faster than a turtle. Somehow. :-)

    Capt Picard, yup. It doesn’t usually grow that big nowadays since many people get ultrasound exams if they have abdominal complaints.

    Anastasia, that is the gallbladder. The pathology report has come back… it’s chronic cholecystitis.

    Jess, I gave it to the patient as a souvenir… or trophy?

    Nyonya, well… it wasn’t that acute. And many patients actually accept it as “wind”.

    Ilene, the patient keeps it. To remind themselves to go on a weight-reducing diet.

  18. Wahlau.NET August 27, 2007 10:32 am

    this is a good way to lose weight..hehe

    how heave this stuff is?

  19. ehon August 27, 2007 5:21 pm

    *gulp* that is HUGE!

  20. Bernard August 27, 2007 8:58 pm

    Wahlau, yup scare tactics.

    ehon, and HARD too :-)

  21. Sweetpea August 28, 2007 10:58 pm

    wow! your patient must have had that for a loongg time. i had multiple tiny ones, and the pain was excruciating. i can imagine this one! :(

  22. Bernard August 29, 2007 5:42 pm

    Sweetpea, too long… too long. Sorry to hear that you had such bad pain.

  23. sasha September 8, 2007 12:24 am

    Aiks how come my mum’s dun look like this?

    But anyway….

    Gross to the max!!!

  24. Bernard September 9, 2007 12:05 pm

    Usually they’re not that big and ugly. They’re commonly about 5mm in diameter, smooth and multi-faceted, like angsana seeds. Quite pretty.

Recent Posts

Blogroll