Anyone want a badly-used gall bladder?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Alas, I have succumbed to the evil that are gallstones. I’ve been having problems off and on for the past couple of years with my tummy and GI tract not liking a lot of what I ate, and over the past six months it’s gotten worse. I thought perhaps becoming an ovo-lacto veggie would help, and it has. Not much, though.

I finally got tired of being sick every other hour, so I went to my family dr who ordered an ultrasound on Monday. About 3 hours after the scan, one of her staff called me and said, “Well, we got your scan results back. Your gall bladder, according to the report, is full of stones. REALLY full of stones.”:eek:

Sooo…surgery comes next. Not sure when exactly as the surgeon’s office hasn’t called, but probably not real soon as I’m in no way critical. Still, I’m not happy because I have an abnormal fear of hospitals. I can go get tests run, hell, I went to school to be a medical secretary and seriously considered going into nursing! But put me in there and I go batshit. I had to spend a week in the hospital a few years back after a car wreck, and I kid you not, they had to keep me sedated the whole time. Without it, I was a candidate for the white jacket that buckles in back.
I’ve heard all kinds of things, from you only have to hang about after surgery to make sure you’re all right, to a several day stay. I will more than likely have the laprascopic surgery as the surgeon who I’m supposed to see prefers that, and I hope he doesn’t decide at the last second to cut me open, because that surgery means you’re in the hospital longer.

Sigh. Wish me luck, folks. Updates as they come.

2

Good luck to you!

In all probability, it’ll be the laprascopic version. It’s not a biggie at all - I had one myself and I was in the hospital only overnight. I was on some good drugs, too, so most of the stay passed quickly in a haze. I was out of work for a few days, and pretty much back up to snuff in a week and a half. This was in the early 90’s, too, so I’m sure they’ve improved things even more since then.

Really, don’t worry.

3

Good luck!

I had the laparoscopic as well. I believe it is very, very, VERY rare to need the full incision any more. :slight_smile:

4

Oh.:eek: Good luck. I’ll be pulling for you.

5

Good luck on the upcoming surgery, defective BioHardware definitely sucks… :wink:

I can understand your apprehension, when I had my bout of Appendicitis, culminating in an Appendectomy, I was rather nervous myself, all told, it was a non-issue

They had me fast for a full 24 hours and I was on a saline drip to keep me hydrated, once they took me down to the OR, I felt like it took no time at all, one moment I was talking to the surgeons, the next, I was waking up in recovery, it was about a 5 hour procedure*, but to me, time basically stopped

I had four small incisions three 1/2" inchers and a 1.5 incher where they actually removed the appendix from me, the scarring is almost unnoticeable, even on the 1.5 incher

the worst part of the whole procedure wasn’t the surgery, or the fasting, the IV drips were annoying, but the worst part, those sodding Heparin anticlotting shots, each one ended up as a golf-ball to baseball-sized bruise that took a week to clear, they were painful too, frakkin’ hate Heparin

Laprascopic procedures are quite effective though, and recoup times were minimal, I was discharged the same day , and the only pain was left over from those cursed Heparin shots

6

Good luck. Mine was pretty mild, especially compared to my other surgeries. They did my laprascopically.

Sending healing thoughts your way!

7

Had mine out last year, after I ended up in the ER following a gall bladder attack. All told, I was only in for two or three days*, and most of that was waiting for the inflamation from the attack to go down so they could operate. Since you’re not going in via the ER, you’ll probably have an even shorter stay.

(*Depending on how you count: I went into the ER around 3 AM complaining of stomach pains. IIRC, they operated the following evening, and I was released the afternoon of the next day. There might have been one extra day in there before the surgery, but I’m pretty sure it was all over that quick.)

8

I had mine out as same-day surgery. It was no big deal, less painful than a gall bladder attack.

Good luck!

StG

9

I went in for the laporoscopy and left with the big incision about 9 years ago. They couldn’t get it out through the little cut! My gallbladder was full also, but I was having attacks lasting up to five hours (and no less than 2) any time I ate fat by the time I had the surgery. My first attack was when I was pregnant and then I had them regularly when the baby was 3 weeks to 3 mos. hence the delay in me getting treatment.

10

You are getting your gallbladder out?

Four words: no fart is safe :stuck_out_tongue:

But seriously, I had mine out almost 17 years ago. The laporoscopic method was just starting to be used. It was a pice of cake. Good luck, you’ll be fine.

11

Oh, yeah, the lasting effect is like that of the OTC diet drug Alli. I’d probably be the size of a house if I still had a gall bladder.

12

[falls over laughing]

So I’ve heard. I’ve already started to pare down stuff that’s got a lot of fat in it, mostly to prep for this and also because I’ve become a veggie. Plus my hubby needs to cut down on the fatty stuff as well, so it’s all golden.

13

I had mine out in May, when it wasn’t inflamed. Laprascopic, too. I had to stay overnight because I’m diabetic and my doctor is a worrywart. It hurt pretty good that first day, but I was back to work on Monday after surgery on Tuesday.

And I can fart at will! :smiley: I don’t have the diarrhea problems that some people do.

14

Wishing you luck!

15

My husband’s in the same boat. He’s supposed to hear from the doc tomorrow to schedule the surgery. It didn’t really come as much of a surprise, because most of his relatives on his mom’s side had to have their’s out too. And everyone had 'em out before age 30 (hubby’s 28). The only one that ever had an extended stay, the gall bladder ruptured before they cut it out. Everyone else was in the hospital overnight at the most.

16

You know, it kind of is…I think it’s the bile.

17

I landed in the ER earlier this year with a gallstone attack and promptly cut down on the fats and other culprits and exercised more. So far, I guess it’s settled down. But I don’t rule out surgery someday.

Good luck to you!!

18

My Uncle just had his gall bladder removed and he said the surgery was significantly less painful than he expected it to be. He was at home, coherent and ranting about politics within hours of waking up.

So here’s hoping your experience is similarly painless.

I understand your fear though. I always get nervous when I have to have surgery. The worst part is the anticipation. My general reaction afterward is always, ‘‘That’s it?’’