The Gallbladder, She Is Gone

[prairie_girl]

I don’t remember how I felt during ‘recovery’. I put it in quotes because the day after my surgery I was taking care of my six month old daughter because my ex couldn’t be bothered to help out.

Congrats on getting it out though. It’s a nasty beast when it flares.

 

[MrsPete]

Oh, yes. My gallbladder was a 'she.' I felt like long fingernails were clawing at my insides whenever I had an attack. Now, my appendix is probably a dude. The strong, silent type.

Great answer!

 

[JimMIA]

I'm not a doctor, but I don't think you should lift anything heavier than a glass on wine for three months.

 

[wenrob]

It was not long. A couple of days I think. The gas they pump you up with caused more pain than the incisions. Having it removed was one of the best things I ever did. I occasionally get “phantom” attacks but they are nothing compared to the real thing.

 

[scrhsa]

I had mine out 21 yrs ago. Actually, this month. Wow, seems just like yesterday. If I remember correctly, it didn't take me that long to get back to normal. I think I was a bit peeved because I really wanted to milk it I had a 7, 4 and a1 yr old. It was kind of nice getting to have the excuse to not do anything I feel a bit bad for my baby though. She was used to being picked up and toted around. We did a lot of couch snuggles and movie watching for a few days.
I will say. though, that my gut never was the same again.

 

[jaiminee krikit]

Glad to hear you're doing well!
I think on the third or fourth day I felt a million times better.
Once out of surgery, I was having a lot of coughing and it took about half an hour of coughing for a nurse to yell at me to hug a pillow or something if I needed to cough, so I was paranoid that I'd done damage but I was fine.

I was told no lifting anything heavier than a gallon of milk for five weeks and I was so looking forward to taking it easy, but then DH had close contact with COVID so that went out the window. It happened two days after my surgery, so I got a short break, then the worry of possible contact within 48 hours of surgery got my mind off any pain. And the anger I felt for DH for being so careless distracted from the worry a bit, while he quarantined himself out in his barn.

The nurse that helped me walk to my car warned me of phantom pains, so of course I get those (I think it's all in my head), but rare and nowhere near a real attack. BMs are a little... different now, but I also have UC so it's hard to say what's causing what anymore lol.

I was so glad to finally get it out though. I started having issues on my 40th birthday. I thought it was heartburn and my PA agreed, but when heartburn medicine didn't help, and the pain moved to my back, I diagnosed myself with the help of Google and sure enough. I was supposed to get my gallbladder out last April but all surgeries were postponed indefinitely, and I didn't have any issues for several months so I thought I could go on with it. But then I had a doozy of an attack so we got it scheduled as soon as I could so I couldn't chicken out.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I feel even better today than I did yesterday. Actually, I feel like a bit of a slacker just sitting here thinking of all the things I could be doing. But I'm forcing myself to chill out and rest. I was able to shower today finally, and it feels so amazing just to be clean.

 

[MIGrandma]

I had mine out the old fashioned way (8” scar) back in 1977. It was Michigan law back then to take the appendix as well. I had a week long hospital stay and another 5 weeks before I felt fully back to normal.

 

[RangerPooh]

Mine was removed in February. Just in time for a freak snowstorm that shut down the city for a week. When my painkillers ran out the pain kicked in. After the first week, I started to feel more normal. After two weeks I was almost back to normal. The most challenging part was sleeping and getting in/out of bed.

 

[Kimkimba]

I had mine out 3 years ago.

I have a high tolerance for pain and do not like going to the doctor (like ever). My pain was so bad that I had to go to the ER. This was a Tuesday, I had my gallbladder out on Wednesday, went home on Thursday.

I knew I wasn’t right, but the doctor said I was fine. I went back to the ER Monday. I was in so much pain my blood pressure was sky high.

I had an ERCP with sphincterotomy to remove stones still in my duct. Then there was no more pain.

Recovery was super quick after that- less than a week.

 

[DebbieB]

I had mine out 7 years ago, laparoscopy. I went back to work in a week.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I had mine out 7 years ago, laparoscopy. I went back to work in a week.

Yep, mine was a laparoscopy, too. I'm 5 days post-op and I feel really good. My tummy looks like a bowling ball, but yeah. I'm doing great. I've always bounced back quickly from surgery, though.

 

[Tigerlulu]

Had mine out 19 years ago—my first real surgery. Back to normal in a week! Normal is relative…my stomach protested every time I ate something fatty for years unless I would sit and let it my food settle for an hour before moving (seriously the Europeans have the right idea with dining—my trip there a few years later was the first time I didn’t have issues!). But it’s been a long time since I’ve really noticed any issues so it does go away. It took about a year for me to really settle into knowing what would trigger me or not.
Otherwise, best surgery ever and I never looked back! That pain was horrendous!

 

[charlie.nj]

I had mine out 10 years ago scary but the best thing I ever did. I would get GB attacks maybe twice a year which were not too bad. But they started to get worse and longer. The last straw was a 24-hour attack after overindulging on a bunch of leftover sloppy joes. Graphic butt (no pun intended) I was on the bowl for hours and hours trying to go or trying to induce vomit for what I thought would clean my system out. No luck.

Next day it stopped but was told I better go to a doctor. I of course being a male and a 6-foot 6 inch 300-pound big baby said no I am fine. Well I was forced to go or miss out on home cooked meals for life. Even though one of those home cooked meals did me in I agreed to go. (there was also a no WDW trips for life thrown in..now that is cruel) After telling the doctor my symptoms he said you have GB problems you should probably have it removed and he sent me to get an ultrasound (test 1). Hmmm. Results came back and he said you should probably have it removed. Hmmmm. I was NOT giving up my GB without a fight it has been part of me…well forever. He sent me for an MRI (test 2). The results came back, and he said you should probably have it removed. Still refusing to part with my GB he sent me for an Endoscopic scan (ERCP) (test 3). Results came back and he said you should have it removed. Notice the probably is gone. My GB was in a fight for its life I still refused. The doctor said I am sending you for one more test to prove that you need it removed. He sent me for a Cholescintigraphy HIDA scan (test 4). Hmmmmm technician had to do it twice giving me more radioactive crap (I glowed for a week) because he said he never saw the liquid flow (or not flow?) like that before. WTH…Yikes. After the results came back the doctor (along with family members) said YOU ARE HAVING YOUR GB REMOVED!

It seemed it was curtains for my GB. I was scheduled for Laparoscopic gallbladder removal surgery a month and half from then. I was relieved it would give me a month and a half to come up with excuses not to have it done. Well lucky for me (lol) as we got home there was a message from the surgeon’s office saying someone canceled and I could have my good friend removed next week. Talk about bad luck. I was terrified I guess like most people kind of not because of the actual surgery but I thought I would never wake up from the knockout meds.

Making this long story shorter. I was on the table longer than most. The surgeon said he had never seen a more misshapen deformed GB in all of the thousands of GB removals he has performed. Said something about how I could not have had any pain living with it the way it was. I truly did not have any pain except as mentioned maybe twice a year. I of course asked if I could keep my GB and the answer was not a straight no but a they were going to study it. As sad as I was to see my GB go it was going to be a star in a jar probably tagged with “A.B. Normal Gallbladder” somewhere and maybe help mankind. (oops humankind) Good for it.

Recovery. Besides the heartbreak of losing a body part it was not bad. The only real pain was believe it or not in one of my shoulders. The great nurses warned me about it. They said the gas they use to pump up your abdomen during surgery travels to your shoulder and causes pain. I must admit it hurt and I refused to take the pain killers that I was prescribed. (didn’t want to get hooked on no drugs) I was up the next day and moving around. I didn’t lift any heavy objects for a while. I have since been following my doctors and surgeons’ words to a T. They said just think after you have your GB removed you can go back to eating every form of crap food, junk food you could imagine without worrying about triggering a GB attack. They were right!

Good luck with your recovery.

 

[petlvr1064]

I'm sorry.. on the 2nd my DH had emergency appendectomy, it was really really bad spent 4 days in the hospital for iv antibiotics, even though it was done through three little holes he still is still moving really slow ... still in some pain . So we get it and I hope you are back to normal asap.

I had an emergency appendectomy 3 weeks ago from friday.It was not that bad though I spent one night in the hospital but I am still hurting especially with movement hopeing it gets better soon.