My gallbladder is dead. After several hours of rolling in pain on the floor, vomiting, vomiting, more vomiting, and finally vomitting bile (you can tell because it tastes extremely bitter and is the color of yellow highlighter) I went to the emergency room for the third time in 6 months.

The doctors in the hospital have been reluctant to believe that I have a gallbladder problem. They were convinced that it was acid reflux because chest pains and vomiting are classical symptoms of heartburn. They put me on nexium and sent me home the first two times, even though I tried telling them that it didn't seem like acid reflux, because acidic foods like pop didn't affect it.

But this time my dad and I pushed the point hard enough that the doctor decided to allow an ultrasound of my gallbladder. After 20 minutes they saw that my gallbladder was full of stones and "sludge." Hearing a doctor use a term as technical as "sludge" is really comforting. It's like your mechanic saying your doohikky was discombobulated with a thing-a-majig.

So anyway, I need to get my gallbladder removed. Soon. Probably within the month. It's a fairly simple surgery, done laproscopically, just 3 small incesions and a small hole. It will take about 2 hours and I can leave the hospital the same day. And I might be able to keep the gallbladder in jar, pretty cool huh?