Welcome to the GallBladderless Club!
I had mine out like 3 years ago (there’s a thread somewhere about it). I never had symptoms prior to the surgery, but was told to get rid of it 3 years prior. In the end I didn’t want to risk an attack at an inconvenient moment. I occasionally have diarrhea, but other than that I am fine. Surgery was pretty simple and I was home the next day, I never took painkillers.
The pain was pretty much gone for me in less than 48 hours. I’m not saying I was ready to run any marathons, just schlepping around the house, but I was cooking for the hungry man and letting him do the dishes. Mine was Sept of '10 or '11 and while we have cut back a little on the steaks, everything else seems fine. If I make something that is really buttery, might be a few spasms. But things are back to life as normal.
Laparoscopy, 16 years ago, due to a stone about the size of the distal portion of my thumb. Surgery in the morning, an hour or two to recover from the anesthetic, and then my wife drove me down to Squadron so I could check out on medical leave. Had to tell her once on the way home to pull over so I could open the door and barf. Spent the rest of the day doing basically nothing, as I recall, but after the next day I was fine. Since then, I’ve been eating normally - no noticeable spasms or other side effects.
No, I didn’t get a belt wrap. I really didn’t get much, not even a prescription since I’m already on pain killers. (I declined the offer of a percocet script, which surprised the doctor. Apparently it’s the first time anyone had told him no to some pain drugs). I have a follow up in a week, but that’s about it. As I mentioned before, this surgery was a walk in the park. Especially compared to my three back surgeries. Hopefully the pain (it’s really more of a extreme tightness) in my stomach area will go away soon. Once that does I’m good to go. At this point I’m really more bored than anything else.
One event of note is the reaction of my best buddy, Gunner the Great Dane. He’s been kept away from me since I’ve returned home as he thinks he’s a lap dog and a 130lbs of Great Dane on top of me wouldn’t be a good thing. My wife brought him in the bedroom this morning so I could give him a pet and he’s all freaked out. He knows something had happened, but he can’t seem to put his paw on it. It’s almost like he can smell the surgery.
Aw. Mine let me take home about six of the stones. Don’t know if it was different times (1980s) or different area. Or that the stones wouldn’t rot.
Glad to hear that things went well. May your healing be swift and your digestive changes miniscule.
Aww. Poor Gunner. But yeah, good idea to keep him away for a few days. I just have cats and even they had to stay off me. I just pretty much stayed off my back so if they walked on me it was just along my side.
And yeah, I was just on acetaminophen post-op. I took the scrip for whatever opiate I was offered to fill for home, but I ripped it up and really didn’t need it. Very happy about laproscopy!
If you was really that desperate to keep hold of your organ after it’s removal, couldn’t you start a lawsuit against the hospital in question, citing that your human rights have been violated as you should be able to do what you want with your removed organs because they are from your body?
Cardiac clearance for surgery is booked for Wednesday, followed by general clearance by my PCP next Tuesday. After those two, all that is left is the wait until the big day.
I think that you give the hospital the right to your bodily parts in the document you sign before surgery. Now you could have your lawyer there to try to rewrite it, but I bet the doctor or nurse who is there to explain a little and witness your signature wants no part of rewriting the document. So if you intend to do that, visit he hospital’s attorney before your surgery to knock out a new document.
Mine was sent in for a pathology report. My surgeon gave me the report when I saw him for the two week followup. He said it was for proof of the need for surgery for the insurance company. While I’m the type to think it fun to have it in the jar, or at least some of the stones, I far prefer the insurance coverage.
And, yay VunderBob, this much closer to Bacon!
They make enteric coated (meaning they don’t dissolve in the stomach) digestive enzyme pills that contain bile. Would that be helpful to those who get indigestion eating fatty foods after the removal of their gallbladder?
To add to the suckitude of the Broncos having their asses handed to them, my death row gall bladder raised hell starting around 2330 last night. Two weeks and counting until that bitch gets yanked.
I have a question for those who went before me. What type of diet did you have immediately post-op? Not asking about the long term, because I have a handle on that.
My only other experience with abdominal surgery was my gastric bypass, and that had a highly regimented diet. I would expect something a lot less restrictive this time around, but I’ve had no instructions. Short of that, what did you eat that you could tolerate with a sore and bloated belly?
My surgeon would not allow me even to have ice chips until maybe 12 or so hours postop (I was still in the hospital–my PPO allowed a 23-hour stay). After that, it was liquid breakfast and lunch. Then the surgeon came in and said I could have what I liked at home as long as it was nonfat. Spicy foods okay.
I was able to go out to a restaurant a few days later, still following the no-fat rule.
I highly recommend some Metamucil when you are released. That anesthesia is a real…binder-upper.
No restrictions whatsoever - in fact as soon as they took me upstairs to my room, I was proudly presented with “lunch” - salisbury steak and mashed potatoes. :eek: I can only surmise they weren’t happy I’d survived the surgery and were trying to rectify that!
Now, you probably won’t feel terribly hungry, and with a gastric bypass you’ve got other eating issues, but it’s quite likely you’ll be able to eat whatever you want within reason.
A caution though: Your innards will have gone through some rearranging, and will be a tad pissed at you - and you will have had narcotics.
Start the fiber supplements, stool softeners, raisin bran, and lots of water as soon as possible after the surgery. Just trust me.
I was on clear fluids post-op for 12 hours, then no restrictions. I wasn’t back to my room after recovery until about 9pm (long story), so didn’t get to eat until lunch the next day. Had water, apple juice and grape juice in the meantime. By lunchtime, I was so hungry I would have eaten anything, and was considering my shoes by the time food arrived. My last food before then was the dinner that had brought on the attack, more than 55 hours prior.
So I was on hospital food for two days (part of the long story) post-op, which I would consider pretty bland, but absolutely no restrictions upon discharge. I made some darned buttery and cheesy potatoes that night and mac and cheese the next day, and was testing out some bacon by the end of the week.
Big day still coming up, bobbio?
Oh, forgot to say: while I wasn’t given any restrictions on diet, you may want to ease into fatty foods until you see how they affect you. There can sometimes be some :eek: side effects involved. I call that the ‘clench-cheeked run-waddle’.
Update: surgery scheduled for Feb 17th was a non-event, the quack cancelled at 8:30 PM on the 16th saying she was sick. I was rescheduled for 11 March.
Sort of a silver lining to this. My regular MD gave me a whole lotta crap about blood sugar a week before the original date, and I’ve used the new time to bring it down in preparation. I go to bed each night hoping my GB doesn’t decide to act up. I’ve had 4 attacks to date, and that’s 6 too many in my book.
Damn. I wish your MD and surgeon would push for an earlier date.