Cost compared to gallbladder

As many of you know, I had my gallbladder taken out over a year ago. It was a fairly traumatic experience all around, and has had several lasting effects, not the least of these being that we are now $30,000 in debt thanks to my handy gallbladder and our lack of medical insurance at the time.

Sidenote: It is cheaper to pay out of pocket monthly for insurance than upfront for an emergency surgery. Especially when you make too much money (HA!!) to qualify for any kind of aid, but too little to actually pay the bill. Sheer awesomeness of middle class life. So.

I have recently discovered that I have begun comparing things in life to my gallbladder. For example, we could have gone on SEVERAL family vacations for the cost of my gallbladder. Or we could own 2 VERY nice vehicles for the cost of my gallbladder. We also could be 100% debt free (with the exception of our house, of course), and have about $25,000 in fun money for the cost of my gallbladder.

The more alarming trend is when I do this just by route as I come across something. I often think, "Wow, that's a quarter the cost of my gallbladder!"  Or, "I could buy 8 of those for the cost of my gallbladder."

Which is sad, because honestly, I would happily just take my gallbladder back if we could wipe the slate clean. It is oddly funny and slightly off kilter to randomly be in the store and have the "I could buy 14 of those TV's for the cost of my gallbladder." Put's things in perspective a bit.