One girlfriend had hers removed about 25 years ago. She said it was sheer hell. My best friend had hers removed about a year ago. She said it was a piece of cake. The technology has come a looooong way.
Oh, I forgot to add – I went in for surgery in the morning. They took me into OR at about 9:30 am and I went home around 3:00 pm. No overnight stay. Of course, I am only about 20 minutes from the nearest hospital (being the one where I had my surgery) so I assume they figured I’d be fine.
norinew, I am soooooo sorry. Versed is dabomb. Yep, I seriously think they could give me a dose of that and then tell me WWIII had just started and I’d be like “cool!” It’s that good. The first time I got Versed (when I had nasal surgery years ago), the nurse said “you should know that when I give this to you, you will have some ahem, interesting feelings in a very intimate place.” I was like WTF? And then she put it in the IV. I almost asked for some privacy, it was that good!
But why? All I can think of is that the area might be tender and they don’t want to cause the patient more pain.
I had my gallbladder out last August. It was easy. I was really suprised by how little pain there was and how smoothly the whole thing went. I was ready to go back to work after ~2 or 3 days. I ended up out for a week but that was due to my place of employement, not the surgery.
You can read about it here. Note, there is a link to pictures of my operation if you are interested.
Slee
That sounds an awful lot like how my galbladder issues manifested. Mostly at night, usually died down after a few hours (until the last few attacks) and laying at an incline seemed to help things.
Don’t worry too much about dietary restrictions. You’ll figure out what you can and can’t eat. I’ve found that having a soda with my greasy food helps my digestion immensely, probably due to the carbonic acid.
Oh, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt to get help with your critters for the next few days/weeks. Even though I was back on my feet within a few days, I was told not to lift anything over 10 lbs for several weeks. Well, it turns out that just about everything weighs about 10 lbs, so it was really nice to have people help me schlepp groceries home and so on.
Good luck, and I’m sure everything will go swimmingly!
Funny how gall bladder threads seem to pop up here with such regularity. Anyhow, I had mine out in September 1994 when I was 20. In the two weeks leading up to the surgery I had intense “stomach” pains the morning after eating pizza for dinner. I had pizza about 3 times during this period and no other food triggered the pain.
The first time this happened, I was at home and woke up in bed with a terrible stomach ache. My parents were out and I just laid in bed for an hour in pain. Took some Tylenol that was in the medicine cabinet and it went away. I didn’t bother to tell my parents what happened.
The second time, I was sleeping over at a friends house, sleeping on his couch. I woke up at 5am, again in intense pain. His medicine cabinet being bare, I got in my car and drove to the nearest store, bought some Tylenol. Took some time longer for the pain to go away but it did.
Later in the week I had moved into my dorm room at college. On the day before classes started, my friends and I went to Pizza Hut and stuffed ourselves with pizza at the lunch buffet. Around about midnight, the now familiar pain returned.
Didn’t sleep much that night. The pain didn’t go away this time. My first class was at 11am and I managed to drag myself there. I spent most of the rest of day lying in my bed in pain wondering what I should do. I wasn’t in any mood to eat.
The next day nothing got anything better. In the afternoon, I got on the bus that took my to the University Hospital. Went into the emergency room and my problem was diagnosed within an hour or so. Called my parents, “Surprise! I’m having surgery.”
The surgery was laparoscopic (had I gone to the non-University hospital it might have been conventional slice open the abdomen style). The surgery happened on Friday night and I was out of the hospital on Sunday afternoon and back in class on Tuesday (Monday was Labor Day). I couldn’t lay on my stomach until mid-October but I was playing intramural soccer the weekend after the surgery.
Life without my gall bladder doesn’t seem much different than before. I think I’m more likely to have fast food poops shortly after eating a Big Mac than I used to be, but otherwise I don’t need to watch my diet. It didn’t cause any weight change…I stayed pretty skinny in college, less so these days because I’m not walking to my job like I used to walk to my classes.
Even with the post-surgical discomforts, I felt a helluva lot better the day after I had my gallbladder out than I did the day before. For me, the most painful part of the whole thing was overhearing the ultrasound technician describing me as “an obese, middle-aged female.”
Well, my PCP has me scheduled to see the surgeon on Monday. I told her that they’d had a week to come up with a cure - what’s the problem? Anyway, it seems inevitable that I’ll be having the surgery. Thanks for all the stories. I appreciate it. Please hold my hand…
StG
I had mine out laproscopically and it was a piece of cake. Really, don’t worry. Hey, were you at a local Italian restaurant last Saturday? I saw someone I thought was you, but wasn’t sure enough to say anything.
Hey! Yep, I was. I had the Pollo Romero with a gallbladder attack to go. It was that night that i started to hurt. Not that I’m blaming them. I wish you’d come over.
StG
Dang! I thought that was you, but my husband wasn’t with me to confirm my suspicions, so I chickened out. Next time I will have to say hi. Oh, and until you get the surgery, avoid eggs. They are notorious for causing attacks.
Brynda - You, your sister and I ought to get together and see amovie one of these weekends.
StG
I had mine out in October, laparoscopically. The drug they gave me right before they put me under was awesome. Unfortunately, I was only awake for five seconds after they gave it to me. Next thing I knew, I was awake, post-op. A tip a friend gave me was that they won’t release you from post-op until you go to the bathroom. So I chewed on a lot of ice and sipped a lot of water until I felt I could go.
The surgery was all fine (don’t watch the youtube videos of the surgery beforehand - it will freak you out) but recovery was less than pleasant. The gas pains (from the CO2 they pump into you for the surgery) were absolutely horrendous. And the vicodin and percocet did nothing for it. It just took time to go away.
Hold a pillow to your abdomen if you have to cough or, God forbid, sneeze.
After a week you’ll feel a lot better. After a month, practically normal!
Ditto on the “going under.” It’s an awesome high for a few seconds.
I had the CO2 pains when I had my tubes tied. It was very painful. Much worse than the surgery itself.
And dinner, of course.
We’ll do it to celebrate your recovery.
It just needs to be after May 5 when I get out of school for the semester. After that, it sounds terrific.
Cub Mistress - That’s a plan! Something to look forward to after I have my guts ripped out!
StG
Of the five operations that I have had since 03 my gall bladder was one of the easiest. It was done laproscopically and my recovery time was low. Very little post-op pain.
I think you’ll be fine.
Sending supporting thoughts your way! 
I’m in! No stinky boys, right?
Brynda - LOL! No stinky boys allowed.
StG
Had mine removed laparoscopically 10 years ago. Had a growing pain for a few days before, had not had any problems previously. Went to the ER one night; they did a few tests, sent me home. Before morning, I had my daughter drive me to ER and they FINALLY did an ultrasound to find the problem. Was operated on later that morning. Surgeon later told me there was “a touch of gangrene” on the gall bladder. Swell.
I was in the hospital three days, and discovered the benefits of the patient-controlled demerol pump, something no home should be without.
Interestingly enough, the surgeon asked if I had lost a lot of weight recently. I had dropped about 80 pounds on Weight Watchers, and he told me a large weight loss often triggered such attacks. That was something WW did not mention in their literature of the time, though it does touch lightly on the subject now.
The good news: no shaving was performed (I’m a guy). In the ten years since, I have not had the slightest trouble with eating anything as a result of the missing gall bladder, and the laparoscopic scars are darn near invisible.
No doubt the operation is even smoother these days. Sounds like the Versed is the way to go…