Gallbladder!

[ExFlyBoy5]

Well, I had a fairly interesting weekend. It all started on Thursday evening after having some delicious Swedish Meatballs. What started as a mild stomach ache evolved into the most excruciating I have ever experienced! By 2 PM the next day, I found myself in the ER with a severely inflamed gallbladder. My vitals were 191/105 and my temperature was 101.9. The ultrasound and Doc determined it wasn't an emergency surgery, but it would come out the next day. So another night of suffering and surgery "that should be between 10 and 2" happened about 2:30 in the afternoon. I could NOT have been any happier to go under the knife!

Anyway, the surgery went well and after another 24 hours of IV antibiotics, I got to go home. I feel considerably better, but the gas build up in in my abdominal cavity is making breathing a pain.

It's nice to be retired in that I can deal with this without the overarching need to "go back to w*rk." I can take as much time as I need to get back to 100% and not kill myself doing it.

Oh and of interest, they found two stones...one that was 3 CM in diameter and another (that oddly they couldn't see on the US?) was 4 INCHES in diameter! Holy Moly!

 

[Chris7]

Both my wife and I had our Gallbladders out. Do take the recovery time seriously. I ended up lifting too much, too early and wound up with a tear in the muscles where they entered for removal. My recovery time took a bit longer. Glad you are feeling better. Mine basically had severely reduced functionality. It took them quite sometime and quite a few tests to discover that was what was going on. My pain came and went.

 

[Dreamer]

Does not sound like fun. Hope you recover quickly!

 

[ls99]

Ye'r grounded!... Take time a nd get well.

 

[FUEGO]

Oh and of interest, they found two stones...one that was 3 CM in diameter and another (that oddly they couldn't see on the US?) was 4 INCHES in diameter! Holy Moly!

Glad everything came out okay. The enginerd in me has to wonder why they specified one in CM and the other in inches. Like if they said 10 CM you would have freaked out / not known that was massive?

 

[Rickt]

FlyBoy5, I can relate to your situation. I had gallbladder removed in July 2014 after being rushed to ER with a lot of pain in the chest. It felt like a heart attck and they kept treating me as a heart attack patient but when after multiple EKG showed normal heart condition they did an ultrasound and found out it was a highly inflamed gall bladder. Took me 2 weeks to recover - it was very painful to get in and out of bed so I slept in the recliner those 2 weeks.

Please ensure you do not eat foods that create excessive gas and get plenty of rest and recover fully before resuming normal activities.

Best wishes,
rick

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Glad everything came out okay. The enginerd in me has to wonder why they specified one in CM and the other in inches. Like if they said 10 CM you would have freaked out / not known that was massive?

Not real sure why the disparity in the measurements. Perhaps perspective?

I am doing plenty of relaxing. I am moving around enough to try and work out the excess gas and minimize DVT, but that's about it. I've put myself on a broth diet for 5 days...then I will transition to some bland, solid foods. It does look like the new diet might be challenging as I do love me some yummy food!

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[MRG]

I didn't follow my docs suggestions on diet, big mistake. I ate fatty greasy foods and suffered. Be less stubborn than I was.

 

[DrRoy]

Had mine out in 08. Was off pain meds in about a week and back at work in 3 weeks. Sincethen I haven't really noticed it being gone.

 

[eytonxav]

I had pancreatitis last fall, which was most likely caused by gall stone(s) that made my pancreatic enzymes back up in my pancreas. I spent 10 days in the hospital and after about 7 days they finally took my gallbladder out. They told me I could have died. The surgery itself was a piece of cake, but suffering through that pancreatitis was agony. As a result of that, I ended up with a pancreatic pseudo-cyst that will take quite some time to resolve, so I have to go back for periodic CT scans to check progress.

Getting sick is no fun, so glad you got treated and out of the hospital quickly.

 

[W2R]

You should have asked for the 4" gallstone to take home! What a conversation piece.

Glad you got that taken care of and that you are taking it easy for while, so that you can heal and recover.

 

[Koogie]

+1 to taking your diet seriously. My wife had hers out a few years ago and when she eats anything to heavy (red meat/greasy) she suffers for it (and the girl loves her some steak)

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

You should have asked for the 4" gallstone to take home! What a conversation piece.

Glad you got that taken care of and that you are taking it easy for while, so that you can heal and recover.

Yeah, I got the smaller one but they sent the big one off to pathology and I'm assuming, the rock crusher!

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[tinlizzy]

I had my gallbladder (full of stones) out in 2007. An unexpected benefit was that I haven't had a migraine since for some reason! No problems with my diet post surgery. I did however develop an incisional hernia 8 yrs later and had to have that repaired last summer - very painful surgery! I chose a different surgeon for the hernia repair.


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[Sue J]

I had mine out in 1983 at age 28. This was before laparoscopy so I had a big incision and 5 days in the hospital and then 6 weeks at home. I brought home a jar of 91 stones, some tiny, some about the size of the end of my pinky finger. They were crystal shaped and a yucky greenish brown color. Kind of gross.

My son had his out in 2014 at age 29. His was done with laparoscopy, a few hours in an outpatient surgical center and a few days at home. What a difference!

 

[Bamaman]

I've also gone through the surgery, but my gall bladder was gangrenous. I was fortunate to have it done by laparoscope, but I was very close to death. They kept me in the hospital 5 days on an IV and morphine pump.

You'll feel so much better shortly that you'll wonder why you didn't know you were feeling so bad before.

 

[NoMoreJob]

Been there, done that! Fortunately my symptoms were relatively short lived, tests confirmed that my gall bladder was no longer operative and it was removed shortly thereafter. The downside is that my digestion hasn't been the same since but there wasn't any alternative so it is what it is and I've learned to adapt my diet. The upside is that my overall health remains excellent for a person my age and none of my activities are impacted in any way. Life continues to be good without a gall bladder! Hopefully yours will too.

 

[Katsmeow]

+1 to taking your diet seriously. My wife had hers out a few years ago and when she eats anything to heavy (red meat/greasy) she suffers for it (and the girl loves her some steak)

I think it really varies. I had mine out several years ago. The whole experience was really easy to go through and really after the first day I felt fine. Anyway, I can eat anything and haven't been required to change anything (that said, I don't eat beef so don't know how that would affect it). I was careful for awhile after surgery but just never had any problems.

 

[audreyh1]

Isn't the a supplement that can be taken to help with the compromised fat digestion after the gallbladder is removed?

 

[dixonge]

Many years ago I had a similar experience. Doctor asked how long we'd been together, then asked wife why she hadn't noticed me turning green! LOL

Everyone who visited was taken to the xray/MRI backlit panel outside the room to see the gallstones. Golf ball-sized, as I understand.

They tried cleaning things out via scope through the throat. That didn't work so the next day they did the normal -ectomy. Fixed a small hernia around the belly button while he was at it. Worst part was the gas in the abdominal cavity - ouch!

 

[OrcasIslandBound]

I had mine out at age of 21 in 1979. Also major surgery. Gall stones occurred at such a young age because I had hereditary spherocytosis (spherical blood cells) and had my spleen out at the age of 13. Fortunately, knock on wood, no major surgeries since then.

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[ExFlyBoy5]

Many years ago I had a similar experience. Doctor asked how long we'd been together, then asked wife why she hadn't noticed me turning green! LOL

Everyone who visited was taken to the xray/MRI backlit panel outside the room to see the gallstones. Golf ball-sized, as I understand.

They tried cleaning things out via scope through the throat. That didn't work so the next day they did the normal -ectomy. Fixed a small hernia around the belly button while he was at it. Worst part was the gas in the abdominal cavity - ouch!

Funny you mentioned the hernia. I had my follow up appointment today and the surgeon (same office, not one who operated, he's on vacation) mentioned that I have a small umbilical hernia that will need addressing sooner or later. It would have been nice if they could have fixed that while they were 'under the hood'. Now I get to set aside yet more recovery time this summer for that procedure. Thank goodness for retirement!

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