An elderly (age 85) aunt of mine had an attack of gallstones and ended up having her gallbladder removed via laparoscopy. Since I am the closest relation by genetics and by geographic location it looks like I will have to act as a caregiver for a while. The first few days were very painful for her and now, four days later, she is still weak and using oxygen. The nurse told me the reason for the oxygen was that her oxygen level in her blood was low. I don’t understand how the gallbladder would have any effect on the lungs - and there is no excess fluid or blood clots in her lungs. Anyway, I know y’all aren’t doctors but any advice you can give me fulfill my role as caretaker so I can to help her heal quickly would be welcome. And if any of you have any gallbladder stories I would be interested in those also.
Thank you and a happy new year to all the denizens of the Straight Dope.
I had my gallbladder out when I was 31. I recovered quickly, even though it was a large surgical wound that needed peroxide at one point during the healing process. The surgeon decided a tiny laparoscopic incision was not indicated. My abdominal wall never quite went back to normal and for years sometimes cramped at the incision site under stress. My life went back to normal quickly and I’ve never noticed the lack of my gallbladder. I’m sorry I have no insight into your aunt’s situation. Wishing her swift healing.
I don’t know, but her age has gotta be one reason her ox levels are low.
If you’re in pain you breathe rapidly and maybe not deeply, well because it hurts, I assume your levels go lower.
Is she home? Is home health visiting?
You might discuss deep breathing therapy with her doctor.
Oh, high levels of opioid pain meds can make your breathing shallow too.
I hope she has a good outcome.
That reminds me. I had to relearn to breathe after my cholecystectomy because it was so painful to move my abdominal wall. They had me blow into a gadget to raise a series of balls with air pressure. It took a few days of practice before I could summon the wind to do it.
Thank you for your comments Beckdawrek and Johanna. I am very stressed out by this, having never been put in a caregiver situation before and also I am very concerned about my aunt’s being able to recover completely.
I think I was about 35 when I had mine out. A gall bladder attack is the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced, so I was relieved that such a relatively minor procedure would fix it. The only thing issue I had was that I found out I have a sensitivity to a paralytic used in the surgery. As I understand it, when succcinylcholine (commonly known as ‘sux’) is administered, it basically tenses up every muscle in the body, and then the muscles relax. Well, in my case, post-op I felt like I’d been beaten with rubber hoses all over my body, and I was passing a scary (to me) amount of blood in my urine. The pain eventually went away, but they started pumping me full of IV fluids to keep my kidneys flushed so all those dead RBCs didn’t clog them up and shutting them down. After that passed (heh), recovery was smooth sailing.
I agree that your aunt’s age is more of a factor in her recovery than the procedure itself. I do have an acquaintance, however, that said that after her cholecystectomy, every time she ate mushrooms, she barfed.
Good luck!
I went into the ER with acute gallbladder attack after vomiting 19 times with no end to the nausea. The pain was unbelievable. At first they did a standard CT and said, “well, you have two gallstones, but it doesn’t look inflamed, so you can probably wait a few weeks. But let’s do this other test to be sure.” (Can’t remember what it was called - HYDE?)
Then they came in and said, “Well, the reason your gall bladder didn’t look inflamed is because the tissue is dead and infected. Here are the consent forms, you’re going into surgery right now.”
What a blessed relief that surgery was.
But it took several weeks to recover. I remember getting stuck lying down on the bed and becoming fully convinced I was trapped. It took some effort for my husband to help me up and then I ended up sleeping on the couch, which is low enough to the ground that I could get myself off of it. From what I recall it was really hard to engage my core muscles so any task that needed them was right out. My recovery was full, though. Hardly ever think about it anymore. The most painful part was the medical bill.
Given your Aunt’s age it may take her longer to heal.