March 29, 2026
On Friday (March 27), I had a HIDA scan for gallbladder and liver function. This scan was done because of the pain in my right side. I mentioned this pain in my post about thinking I might be having a heart attack.
The HIDA scan involves not eating for 12 hours. At the radiological unit, they inject a radioactive isotope into the bloodstream. They watch the isotope accumulate in the liver and gallbladder. You have to stand fairly still for a minute in front of the scanning machine. You do this every fifteen minutes for 45 minutes to an hour. Between scans, you lie on your right side. The technician pointed out my liver on the screen of the scanning machine. On the screen, I could see the white dots getting denser, forming a picture of white dots showing outlining my liver and filling it in. Once the isotopes have collected into the liver, you drink a small carton of Ensure and eat some peanut butter crackers. When you have finished the Ensure and eaten the peanut butter crackers, they do another scan. The liver starts sending bile to the gallbladder. The test watches the isotopes to move to gallbladder and then to the small intestine. The technician pointed out my gallbladder on the screen. It was a white ball with white dots getting closer to it from the liver. After the gallbladder is full, the test watches the dumping of bile into the small intestine. For one minute, you to stand fairly still in front of the scanning machine. Between scans you lie on your right side for 15 minutes. You do this for 45 minutes to an hour. For the final scan, you lie on the bed and stick your arms through a large belt. The belt is to keep your arms still. The bed and scanner are positioned to preform a lying down scan. The bed is on a rail and moves silently forward, while the scanning machine, moves until it is above you. You lie there for five minutes. When the scan is completed the bed and scanning machine move back to the previous positions. The test is complete and you can go home.
The tech told me my doctor would get in touch with me about the results next week, probably on Wednesday.
The medical system here keeps test results and medical records in a system I can log into and view. It also means when I provide medical information and register online, it is saved. The information shows in the fields the next time I register online for a doctor’s appointment. It makes registration online very easy.
Later in the day, I received an email from the system letting me know I had a new system message. I logged in and the message was for my test results. I looked at my test results from the HIDA scan.
The test showed my liver is sending bile to the small intestine and gallbladder normally. Yay!
The problem is the gallbladder. The test results show I have a gallbladder ejection fraction of 13%. This is consistent with biliary dyskinesia. Normal gallbladder ejection fraction ranges from 35% to 90%. The 35% and over range indicates the gallbladder is contracting with sufficient force to empty a healthy amount of bile. The high ranges are uncommon and may indicate hyperkinetic gallbladder, which can produce the same symptoms as biliary dyskinesia.
My GI doctor will make the final determination from the test results. We’ll discuss next steps at that time. In the last appointment, he said if the gallbladder isn’t working properly, it would need to be removed.
On Saturday (March 28), I planted rows of different varieties of carrot seeds with radish seeds between the carrot seeds. The radishes will come up first and then the carrots. I’ll be able to harvest the radishes before they interfere with the carrots.
These are the varieties of carrots I planted.
- Petite Sweet carrot with Rivoli radish
- Scarlet Nantes carrot with Rivoli radish
- Danvers carrot with Rivoli radish
- Tendersweet carrot with Rivoli radish
- Sin Heuk Jeon 5 Chon carrot with Su Shi Ro F1, Kimchi radish
I planted several rows of various types of mustards.
- Spinach Komatsuna a type of mustard spinach
- Rosette aka Tatsoi, Ta Ge Cai a type of Pak Choi
- Misome Mustard
- Osaka Purple Mustard
- Savory Tatsoi aka Bok Choy, Ta Cai Tatsoi a type of Pak Choi
- Tatsoi aka Ta Cai, Sawi Tatsoi, Chaegeun Gat a type of mustard
I planted some spinach.
- Correnta Hybrid spinach
- Baby Leaf spinach
While I was planting, Bruce attacked the root ball of Pine Tree 3. He knocked off dirt from the left side of the root ball.
After Bruce got tired of wielding the pickax, he came over to see if he could help me with anything. I told he could get the tarp ready for the Bama Dirt Pro-Mix deliveries on Monday. Once he was done with that, Bruce added dirt around the potato mounds. He then added a layer of wheat straw and watered the potatoes.
I checked the tomato seedlings. They are growing well. Soon, it will be time to transplant them into the garden beds.
I watered the just planted seeds. I also watered the plants in 5-gallon buckets and the herbs in the trough.
My right side started to painfully hurt again. The pain level had dropped considerably from when I was hospitalized. I was disappointed the pain level was up, so I gave up working and lay down after taking some pain medicine.
Today, was just a lazy day. My right side continued to hurt. We read most of the day.
We did take a walk around Blackberry Homestead to see how the fruit trees and bushes are doing. The blueberries are loaded with flowers and one bush even has green berries. The peach tree that bloomed had tiny peaches on it. Sadly, we had to pick them off. We want the tree to gain more strength before it grows fruit. It felt like a waste, but it is best for the tree.
Blackberry Homestead 