Long overdue update

Thanks for asking my arm is doing pretty well. It has some pain from time to and 14 months later I am almost back to full strength.
I have had a few medical run ins recently, in October I was playing flag football and collided with my teammates shoulder and resulted in this.

Nothing a few stitches could not take care of.

The other medical problem I have had has been by way of an internal problem. I have been battling for months what I thought was heartburn. At times it would flare up out of the blue, sometimes cereal would make it happen, some times a glass of water, some times wings. There was seemed to be no cause of the problem. I tied Prilosec OTC it did not help. I got put on Nexeum I drank a lot of Mylanta.
No Dice.
The problem was I would go days a weeks feeling fine. The doctor thought it may be a ulcer. I had a GI appointment scheduled in October. The date was accidentally booked the same week I was to be in Hawaii. I had a hard decision to make…Hawaii and cross the Pacific on a Navy ship or go to a GI appointment.
After some soul searching I went to Hawaii and had a great time. Read about it a HERE. I felt better for about two months and never re-booked the GI appointment.
Come February I stared to feel awful again. It the pain was as bad as it had ever been.
I rescheduled the GI but that was not going to make me feel better. The pain got worse; it feels like a flaming softball in my chest. It aches burn for hours. I would vomit and be in more pain than when I broke my arm. Soon my right side stated to be in pain and my back would hurt a lot.
Long story short, thanks to good advice from my mother, father, girlfriend and my girl friends mother I took action.
Last Friday after a bad attack I went to the ER. I could not handle it any longer. The ER doctor asked about my symptoms and he replied, “Do you still have your gallbladder?” When I told him “no” he said, “well we will see how long that lasts.”
I had some blood and urine work done and had an ultra sound.

The doctor gave me the results “You have a gallbladder very packed with stones”
More About Gallstones.
My mom and my girlfriends mom where right. Gallstones. Come tomorrow morning I will never be able to make gallstones again. They are taking my gallbladder from me. I invite you to come along for Nick Rymer’s - Gallbladder Tour ’09: Road to Recovery.
And a very special thanks to Courtney who twist my arm and made me/took me to the ER.