PERSonalTime
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2014
- Messages
- 456
Has anyone ever had their gallbladder removed? If so, can you the process, including recovery? Thanks.
Most gallbladders are now removed by laprascope with 3 little incisions. But in some cases, the surgeons may have to do the old style surgery which puts you down a few weeks.
You might be down a week total.
CardsFan, u mentioned a couple of attacks. What did you mean by that? Als, thanks for the response. Now I'm greatly reassured.
My learnings from this....epigastric pain is not always what you think. I knew I had gallstones from an ultrasound 4 years ago, so assumed the pain was gallbladder. The GI bleed was quite a surprise. I am planning to have the gallbladder removed so there is less confusion in the future if I have pain again.
Never had any problems with food afterwards. My wife also had hers removed and she didn't have food problems either. But some people do.
cd :O)
Ultrasound confirmed the gallstones. Doc said that many people have gallstones with no symptoms at all. But once you have an attack, the probability of more severe future attacks increases greatly. Since I was frequently travelling to China and other countries at the time, I elected to have the gallbladder removed ASAP. The thought of a severe attack requiring traditional surgery, while in the neatherlands of China, did not appeal to me.
This was what happened to me. My pancreas and a good chunk of my liver and who knows what else, had been eaten up by pancreatic enzymes spilling into my blood. So, I almost died. I spent several days in the hospital before I was stabilized enough to withstand surgery.I had no initial pain from the gallstone(s) at all, until the full pain of pancreatitis hit me. If a stone obscures the duct and causes a backup of pancreatic enzymes, your pancreas will start to destroy itself and it can be life threatening if not treated immediately. I definitely would not want to be in China given my episode.