What The Hell Is A Gallbladder?

Apparently my sister (not this one, but this one) is having her gallbladder removed this week. This prompted me to ask myself; what the hell is a gallbladder? Do I have a gallbladder? If her's is being removed, does she (or any of us) really need it in the first place? I found the answers to all these questions at the gallbladder wikipedia page here. First some knowledge, then a really gross picture for you!

1-The gallbladder is pear shaped (like this).
2-It is connected to the liver and the duodenum (not real, made up body part) by the biliary tract.
3-It stores about 50 ml (2.5 gallons) of bile to be used in digestion.
4-The following is a direct quote:

The cystic duct connects the gallbladder to the common hepatic duct to form the
common bile duct.
The common bile duct then joins the pancreatic duct, and
enters through the hepatopancreatic ampulla at the major duodenal papilla.

5-I'm pretty sure that the hepatopancreatic ampulla and the major duodenal papilla are both also made up (fake) body parts.
6-The bile produced by the gallbladder is used to digest fat.
7-If you do not have a gallbladder, it would lead me to believe you would not have bile.
8-If you do not have bile, it would lead me to believe you could not digest fat.
9-If you can not digest fat, it would lead me to believe you could not eat this.
10-That makes me sad.


And now...COVER YOUR EYES....Here is a picture!



That's really gross. If I've got one of those, I'm going to see about getting it taken out. Nasty!

UPDATE: Important flash alert! The big-little (not the little-little) sis has survived with flying colors! She claims that the source of the problem (gallstones) was:

In reference to your blog, it was in fact a burger and fries...from the Everett street bistro in the Pearl (strawberry mountain beef burger with bacon avacado lemon aioli lettuce tomato on a fresh baked bun and homemade fries deep fried with whole garlic cloves) absolutely delicious!

Also, it sounds like she recovered nicely, and I am also apparently wrong regarding the required diet for someone with no gallbladder. To wit:

Other than that once I recover I am supposed to be able to get back to a normal life and diet. We will see, I don't think I'll be eating a burger and fries anytime soon!

With that being said, I hereby selflessly volunteer to assume all of my big-little sister's hamburger and fry eating duties until such time she is comfortable resuming them herself. God Bless America! And God Bless Science!