Wow…They wouldn’t let me drink a darned thing post-op for about 16 hours, I think, except flavored mouth swabs dipped in tap water. Bleah!
Hey all - surgery is scheduled for 10/21. I’m kind of psyched now, thinking that I’ll be able to take my kid out for ice cream, or indulge at Thanksgiving, without getting really ill. I know there are no guarantees, but it’ll probably be better. And I won’t have to worry about a stone causing something really bad!
Best of luck- I had mine out in March this year and it was the best thing I ever did. I couldn’t eat anything for three months before the surgery but I was in Afghanistan and the med unit kept telling me it was a bug. When they finally found someplace to do an ultrasound, they evacuated me the next day to DC for surgery. I felt a million times better right after the surgery (of course the morphine button helped with that, I’m sure) and was ready to eat something right away. They wouldn’t let me eat or drink anything for 24 hours prior to the surgery because it was so inflamed so I was starving. Now the only thing I have trouble eating is alfredo sauce - of course my favorite thing in world…
I’m glad you’re proceeding with this! Just the promise of not having to worry about a stone causing a “major” attack is worth it!
Have you ever had surgery that involves general anesthesia before?
I had mine out last summer. I had had one HUGE attack the previous summer (or was it two?) even though it wasn’t diagnosed then. I had off and on pain since then, and was finally diagnosed. I had one stone that was about 20 mm - around 3/4 inch in diameter! I had to spend the night, but only because I’m diabetic, too - so I was higher risk than some.
Recovery was swift. They did barely chip my tooth with the intubation, though! I had to have it filed down at the dentist.
It’s a year later, and I just noticed that my main incision (other than the bellybutton one) is barely pink. It used to be almost purple.
I don’t have any (much?) diarrhea, unless I eat something like a ribeye with lots of fat. (That’s totally worth it occasionally! ;))
Good luck!
Good on ya! I had mine out in '95 and have 3 small scars. I had eaten the croissant of doom… egg, cheese, bacon and avocado. What a combo! It was delicious, but oh man, it about killed me. I was up all night in agony. I’d had nights similar to that, over the previous year and not known what it was. Like Wheelz, my attacks would have me throwing up 
Having it out will change your life, I swear! I felt like a million bucks that same evening after removal.
I did have to really watch my fat intake, after that, and still do, because it can give me an upset stomach. But, nothing like when I still had my gall bladder.
You’ll be glad you had this one, and done now!
Isn’t this the normal before general anesthesia to have the patient refrain from eating or drinking 24 hours?
Nope, usually 12 hours or less.
Right. IME, they go to “NPO” (nothing by mouth, but in Latin 
) midnight before the surgery; doesn’t seem to matter if the surgery is scheduled for 6AM or 3PM, the rule is nothing by mouth from midnight the previous night.
NPO = nil per os
Latin lesson for the day.
That response just meshes so perfectly with the first line in your sig line. . .
Just felt the need to point that out!
And thanks for the Latin lesson. I never took it in high school, and never went to college. What little Latin I do know is medical!
Before I had my gallbladder removed I was ordered to have nothing solid two days before the surgery. The day before I could only have clear liquids and then I had to drink a bottle of that horrible lemon-lime stuff that makes you go to the bathroom. The prep was far worse than the laproscopic surgery.
If fact, I hate to say it, but I think that whole “clean out” procedure messed up the gut flora or something. I never had an issue with either constipation or diarrhea before the surgery. It’s a year later and I still have (to use a TV euphemism) “occasional irregularity”, which isn’t so occasional. If it wasn’t so humiliating and if I didn’t dread having to do that prep again, I’d ask my doctor about a colonoscopy. Two of my uncles have had colon cancer, and at 48, it’s something I should think about.
StG
Have you tried adding a plain old probiotic to your daily regimen? Either in the form of yogurt with live cultures (and you don’t need the pricey ones like Activia, either; just supermarket brand will do, as long as you make sure it has active yogurt cultures!) or in the form of a capsule or chewable tablet?
Believe me, if I skip my probiotic for a few days, everyone in the house knows it. :o
This phenomenon and a miscalculation on my part is probably how I came up with 24 hours. I came into the ER due to my gallbladder at 11 pm, but hadn’t eaten or drunk anything for a couple of hours before that. My surgery was at 5 pm the next day.
IANAD or an insurance expert.
I’d get it taken care of right away. You’ve been diagnosed, which means that any change of insurance would put it in the category of “pre-existing condition.” If you should lose your job, or even the company just decides to change carriers, you may find yourself with a severe problem and no - or reduced - coverage.
Really, get it out. From someone who has experienced a multitude of severely painful issues, a full-on gallstone atatck is not soemthing you want to experience.
StGermain, do it – ask for a colonoscopy. Yeah, the prep is a pain but you’ve been through it once and you know what to expect. They removed some polyps in my first colonoscopy and that relieved some of my digestive issues. Immodium took care of occasional problems after that.
Something that really helped was when my doctor told me I didn’t have to wait for diarrhea to strike before taking Immodium. I took one every other day for about a month, and things calmed right down. (Get the generic – Select brand is 10 times cheaper.)
It’s been years with no problems, and the only thing that gives me trouble is coffee. Dammit.
AuntiePam - More than the prep, (which is bad, bad, bad) is the mortification of have to be there, naked and unconcious, while some stranger runs a camera up my rear. I don’t handle having to even partially disrobe in front of strangers well. My mammogram is always much more pyschologically painful than physically. Especially since I end up having them twice a year (suspicious findings, mother, sister and aunt have had breast cancer). I don’t think medical people appreciate the feeling of vulnerability that comes from being unclad while the people around you are dressed.
norinew - I took the probiotic capsules for a week. It seems to me that this is something that’s supposed to grow naturally in your digestive tract. If they all died because of medicines or something, shouldn’t you just have to top off and they’d grow and reproduce and find their balance again? Anyway, I have some left. Maybe I should try them regularly (if you’ll forgive the pun).
StG
If they all died because of a medicine, it might take a little more than probiotics to “re-balance” your system; do you have a doc you’re friendly enough with that you can just call and ask for a 'script for Diflucan? (That’s the one-pill treatment that’s used for yeast infections; I’ve taken it any number of times after a course of strong antibiotics killed all my ‘good flora’). After a dose of Diflucan, provided there’s nothing more serious going on, taking acidophilus regularly should help.
But as had already been pointed out in this thread, just having your gall bladder removed can cause problems. For most people, they (the digestive problems) seem to settle themselves down on their own after a time. No matter how you slice it, though, adding a probiotic to your daily regimen certainly won’t hurt anything.
**norinew **- I had general anesthesia for my appendectomy in January. I had an annoying cough for a day or so due to the intubation, but otherwise was unscathed.
**TruCelt **- good point about the insurance. And I’ve met my deductible and this will probably put me over my out of pocket yearly maximum, so it’s opportune (though having to shell out $2,300 more isn’t exactly fun). If only we’d known when we were planning our Healthcare Savings Account contributions!
I heard from my urologist today and have a plan almost in place to deal with the eventuality of my bladder not working after surgery (happened with both births and the appendectomy). So that makes me feel better. And I will be practicing yeast prevention with extreme prejudice for the entire time I’m on antibiotics, so hopefully I won’t have a six-month nipple yeast infection like I did with the last surgery.
Good tip about preventive Immodium - if I have continuing problems I’ll ask my doc about that!
Before they figured out what was wrong, I was being high dosed with antibiotics (the scatter gun approach I guess) and developed oral thrush. The worst thing in the world. Even breathing tastes bad and it seemed like it took ages to go away even though in reality I think it was only about 5 days. The horrible thing is that now I’m apparently prone to it and have had it twice since the surgery. Gaaaaaaaaaaa!