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hi, i'm ash!
Creator of the New Travel & Design Series, 'OTHER PEOPLE'S HOUSES.'
Travel writer & host, cultural explorer, and architecture & interiors freak.
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I THINK YOU'RE REALLY GREAT ✈ I THINK YOU'RE REALLY GREAT ✈ I THINK YOU'RE REALLY GREAT ✈ I THINK YOU'RE REALLY GREAT ✈ I THINK YOU'RE REALLY GREAT ✈ I THINK YOU'RE REALLY GREAT ✈ I THINK YOU'RE REALLY GREAT ✈ I THINK YOU'RE REALLY GREAT ✈ I THINK YOU'RE REALLY GREAT ✈ I THINK YOU'RE REALLY GREAT ✈
The Newsletter
Every week, we're exploring global culture through the lens of the home. From floorplans to fixtures, we examine how houses are built, designed, and decorated around the world (with a side of sass, of course!)
The Podcast
The only podcast where we pass on the pyramids and poke around in the plumbing. I’m Ash, and I'm, exploring the strange, smart, and wonderful ways houses are built, designed, and decorated around the world.
The Books
A new series of OTHER PEOPLE'S HOUSES books designed to help you try on a new life in different places around the world—by getting to "go behind closed doors" inside local homes to discover what it's really like to live there.
Oh Ash you poor girl!!! That sounds horrendous!!! I hope you don’t have any more attacks this bad… Love your piece on this and your fascinating view on place, but it’s such a painful thing to go through. Mind yourself and be well sweetheart ❤️ xo
I feel for you! This was me the entirety of 2019, and for some reason I had decided to be stubborn and was trying my damndest to will my gallbladder into compliance. Needless to say, it didn’t work, and I found myself on Christmas Eve of 2019 having gallbladder surgery. That was a fun Christmas. Things got a lot better afterwards though. I don’t wish that pain on anyone. I hope you’re able to get relief soon. Sending you good vibes <3
For various reasons I live in all sorts of pain. And for the majority of my life until 2019 i took Advil for pain. No one told me (although they swear it says it on the bottle) that taking too much advil can cause an ulcer. The ulcer healed but left scarring which turned into a blockage and on top of all that my gallbladder got into the mix. I can totally relate to the vomiting and pain. Abdominal pain, to me, is the worst. I can work through a headache, or a broken foot, or anything else, but abdominal pain takes me OUT!
Even after battling and beating stage 4 breast cancer my gallbladder made me feel like I was going to die. I hope you’re well soon. Post surgery will be much better. Wishing you well.❤️
Have them check you for Biliary Dyskinesia. I didn’t have the throwing up, and I didn’t have gall stones but I had chronic pain all the time. Had all the CT scans and thankfully I worked for a heart surgeon at the time who knew exactly what it was, sent me to a specialist for a special test. They determined the gallbladder just wasn’t working and it took it out. Procedure was pretty easy, and then no more pain! I still have to be careful eating super fatty foods but I can eat more normal again. I don’t like going to the doctor at all but it was the best decision and such relief! Hoping you find some soon.
Thank you for the recommendation, I will be looking into this as well! I had a clear CT scan after I started having gallstone attacks periodically last year.
I quite literally thought I was dying during the first one. I was home alone and frantically pacing across my bedroom as I shot off my final words to my loved ones.
The pain was indescribable, but close to what I would imagine a heart attack with gas would feel like. I wasn’t sure if I was going to throw up, pass out, or have my heart explode (none of those ended up happening, thankfully).
I’ve had a few more since then, but none as bad as the first. And none of them lasted longer than a few minutes, with the first one lasting 10-15 minutes. I had no idea the pain could last for HOURS. Yikes.
I’ll have to keep a food log and monitor how much fat I’m consuming. The doctors didn’t mention anything about my fat consumption. They made it sound like there was nothing I could do about it since there were no gallstones, but being mindful of what I eat is very much within my control. It might just be a fluke that happens as my body gets older, or I could be eating things that trigger the attacks. No way of knowing until I have some data to look at… but I didn’t even know to do that until I read your comment.
It is awful and to go to the Dr repeatedly only to find nothing on scans is frustrating. I think checking for this issue should just follow right after but they send you to a bunch of other things first which means it takes more money and more time to finally get to the root of the issue. I wish you luck and hope they fix you soon!
Had my annual with my family doctor, and he saw the notes from my last ultrasound. He pointed out the ultrasound was unlikely to find any gallstones due to my age, but that doesn’t mean my gallbladder is functioning normally. He said I should have done imaging with contrast instead so that’s on my calendar now. But thanks to American healthcare, I have to have ANOTHER ultrasound first…despite knowing it likely show nothing abnormal again. Then, and only then, will I be eligible for the actual test I need.
It’s a little ridiculously what we have to go thru in order to actually get to where we need to be. I’m sorry you have to go thru it but hopefully they get to the bottom of it after that.
Well done you for managing to keep up with everything while going through this- I really hope the surgery gets done soon and successfully!
I’ve been hearing about food deserts for a while now, and what you describe complements that so well!
Here’s a link if anyone is curious: https://moveforhunger.org/harsh-reality-food-deserts-america
Thank you for sharing! According to that website, I live in a food desert as the closest grocery store is 1.6 miles away. That doesn’t sound far, but it is when you don’t have a car. We’re a one-car family so most of the day I’m unable to get to a grocery store unless I call my mom for a ride. And we have no semblance of public transportation either. There’s been a few times I resorted to gas station hot dogs until my husband got off of work. It’s funny because I consider that an absolute last resort, and my 10-year-old son considers it a reward haha.
Ouch. Just… ouch. Glad to hear that nasty, pain inflicting organ is coming out. Food aside, your article has me thinking about other affects location has on us and our wellbeing and is bringing up some crazy reflection this morning. Healing thoughts your way, Ash! May the day come soon when the yoke can join the plate again and the cheerios become a distant memory.🧘♂️
After your surgery I will send you your welcome kit for the No Gallbladder Club. It includes:
– a membership card (front: “No Gallbladder Club – Lifetime Member,” back: “Trust No Cream Sauce.”)
– a t-shirt that reads, “I Used to Have a Gallbladder. Now I Have Boundaries.”
– a roll of emergency antacids wrapped in designer toilet paper
– a laminated button that says, “Ask Me About My Emergency Bathroom Strategy”
– four achievement badges (“Survived Thanksgiving,” “Ate Pizza and Lived,” “Ignored the Bread Basket,” and “Ordered the Grilled Chicken. Again.”)
– and a special edition apron that reads, “Bake It. Don’t Fry It. We’re Not 22.”
I hope you feel better!
You’re not just on to something…you are absolutely right.
You have touched on something that has existed in the US for a very long time, where entire communities, usually poor, rural and usually people of color, are made to exist in “food deserts”, where access to fresh food and groceries is difficult at best, and non-existent at worse.
When I visited New Orleans years ago I was shocked at how there was no grocery store anywhere near the city center. You could find a very limited supply of produce, milk, meat, etc., at some convenient stores, but for the most part there was nothing but fast food and junk food for miles.
Really puts systemic racism and the state of people’s health in rural America into perspective.
Hope you find relief for your gallbladder issue soon.