I got some pretty unexpected news yesterday. I have not been feeling the best the last couple of months, but it was nothing I could put my finger on. Yesterday, however, I felt poorly enough that I made an appointment to see the doctor (I'm sure that went over well with my new boss--I've only been there a week) and what the doctor found was nothing short of surprising.

My gallbladder is to blame. I haven't really had any overt symptoms--I went in there just saying I felt unwell. She figured out what the problem was pretty quickly. I had to give up blood for labwork, urine, stool...fun stuff. Plus I'm now scheduled for an ultrasound to confirm her diagnosis.

And if you're not aware, seems the only way to treat gallbladder pain is by removing the gallbladder. Now, I know you can function without it...I just wish it didn't have to come to that.

My doctor has been telling me for about a year that I should switch to a vegan diet, and honestly, that just seemed like too much of a jump. Finally, earlier this week--before I saw the doctor, actually--I reached the enough line and decided to transition into a mostly vegan diet. I still plan to have fish on occasion, and I'm not going to freak out if I inadvertently have butter. It's not for ideological reasons I'm doing this; it's for my health. And I don't know if this will help in the short term for my gallbladder, but the hope is that it will help with my other health issues--high blood pressure, pre-diabetic, cholesterol getting unruly, joint pain, etc.

We shall see. I'm still processing this, that I'm making a HUGE life change. However, my boyfriend is also on board with this (he's already dairy-free due to allergy; I'm going to pretend I have one, too), so that will help. It's a new phase of the journey.