Minor Surgery

[renstyles]

Next Friday I will be having my gall bladder removed. And while the doctors can tell me all they want about how this is an easy procedure and they do it all the time, it doesn't mean I feel any easier about it. Right now I am just focusing on the positive. I will soon be out of pain. Or at least this particular pain.

So are there any Wenches out there that have had this surgery? How long did it take you to recover? Was there anything you wish you had been told? And if you had a longer recovery time, what did you to keep yourself amused. And please no horror stories, I am already nervous.

My mom had this done a year ago. It took her a few days to be able to lay down to sleep, and about a week to feel perfectly normal. She says she hasn’t had any eating problems since its removal. However I knew she ate low fat and smaller portions before the surgery.

Thanks.

[Rhia]

I wouldn't stress unnecessarily - after all, don't want another attack!

I had mine out last summer (July 06) on a Friday morning and was back to work, albeit a bit slower, the next Tuesday. Hell, I went on vacation to Florida two weeks later and other than a couple of tiny scars I had to cover up with bandaids from the sun, you couldn't tell. FYI - apparently these scars absorb pigmentation differently than normal skin, so keep them well covered for at least a month if you go out in the sun so they don't discolor later.

You'll probably have a bit of trouble lying down and getting back up again, and possibly sitting - they punch little holes in the stomach muscles to get to the gall bladder so you want to take it easy. I went a little overboard babying my stomach, to the point that by the time I was brave enough to stand all the way upright, my back hurt! *g*

I'm thrilled with having mine gone - not an attack since the day they took it (obviously!) and it's not like the stones just go away on their own.

Yes, there are risks and they warn you about them so you are informed, but this is a reasonably routine procedure and shouldn't warrant any undue concern. Oh, and when you get out of surgery, be honest - "Does it hurt?" say yes if it does! "Are you nauseaus?" say yes if it does! And stay on top of the pain with the meds! now is NOT the time to be brave. Pain will make you tense up, especially in your core, thus making the stomach muscles have to work when they need to rest. As for vomiting, well, you can imagine...

PM or email me if you want to talk about it - I'm rambled enough for now.



Next Friday I will be having my gall bladder removed. And while the doctors can tell me all they want about how this is an easy procedure and they do it all the time, it doesn't mean I feel any easier about it. Right now I am just focusing on the positive. I will soon be out of pain. Or at least this particular pain.

So are there any Wenches out there that have had this surgery? How long did it take you to recover? Was there anything you wish you had been told? And if you had a longer recovery time, what did you to keep yourself amused. And please no horror stories, I am already nervous.

My mom had this done a year ago. It took her a few days to be able to lay down to sleep, and about a week to feel perfectly normal. She says she hasn’t had any eating problems since its removal. However I knew she ate low fat and smaller portions before the surgery.

Thanks.

[renstyles]

Wow, Rhia, you're fast. Thanks for all of that. I am trying not to stress. I've never had surgery before so this is all a bit overwhelming to me.

My fun is I don't have stones, I have sludge. Which I find a hilarious term, Gall Sludge. And I don't have traditional attacks. Mine hurts through out the day at different times. Mostly when I am stressed, so I am really just winding myself up into pain.

And as far as honesty, they warned I might have to stay the night. And while I don’t want to, I will be very honest with the doctor. I do not want complications later.

[Rhia]

the only thing that they really "warned" me on ahead of time is that IF there are complications (nick something, rupture, etc) they would have to do a full incision instead of the orthoscopic (?) procedure - that was my biggest fear!

Before this my stints under the knife amounted to having my wisdom teeth out and having my kiddo - and that was a normal birth, no cutting involved.

Heck, I've still got both my tonsils and my appendix! *g* And I avoided a second surgery in the future by arranging to have a tubal ligation at the same time as the gall bladder so I wouldn't have to go through the whole thing again.

[FairieTink]

Had mine out 15 years ago, I went back to work in a couple of days, and just had to wear looser clothes so not to rub my cuts.

Worse part about it all, is the dumping, yes that is really what it is called. Eat fatty foods, or drink starbucks and bathroom here I come. This happens all the time for me, but my DR gave me digestive enzymes to take before I eat and that totally helps. And much to my dismay, I gained weight, but not sure if that is me just being lazy or the gall balder :)

[Mistress Morigianna]

my sister had hers out and her biggest issue is she has problems with drinking beer now- LOL she has a tiny scars and was up & at-um real quick

[Nimue]

I am another wench who has had the lovely experience of a laproscopic cholesystectomy (that's medical for gallbladder surgery!). This was in April of 2001, right after a bout of pneumonia. Suffice it to say that coughing after surgery really hurts! I was told that the operation would be minor, but after the operation, I was in as much pain as I had been before the surgery. I was climbing the walls, rolling into a ball, and generally miserable. It turns out that my bile duct was also blocked, so I wound up undergoing a second procedure to clear out my bile duct. I had a rough recovery, but found that applying pressure to the incision area with an ice pack provided some relief.

Today, I have absolutely no lingering side effects. I eat and drink whatever I want (within the boundaries of my limited Jenny Craig diet, these days). My experience is not typical, thankfully, and you will more likely than not have a speedy recovery. Make sure to take it easy for a while, though.

Good luck to you!! :grouphug: