I just had my gall bladder removed. Ask me anything.

[sarge43]

My first post and by God it should be a trivial one. And a hug or two would be appreciated.

:woowoo:

[EstimatedProphet]

1. How do you feel?

I had very severe reactions to mine-2 months of near deadly jaundice. Be careful.

[sarge43]

3. Actually pretty good.

I just got back from the hospital a couple of hours ago. So if I'm going to be ferried up Shit's Creek, it'll take a few days. Doc did the laparoscope procedure; certainly not as bad as the whack open and dig out old way.

Thanks for the heads up and I will pay attention to self. I had a mini bout of jaundice when the thing blew up - nasty.

[noonwitch]

29. I had that done in 1992

They kept you overnight in the hospital back then, just for one night.

The next morning, even though I really didn't sleep much, I was feeling better than I had in a very long time. The surgeon told me I had one huge stone that was almost the size of my gall bladder. He said everytime I ate, I was getting obstructed. I certainly was throwing up bile during the worst attacks.

I dropped my family doctor over the whole thing. He didn't believe me when I first told him I had the stones, and wouldn't give me any prescriptions for painkillers. Then he dicked around with the referral to the surgeon once he did get the ultrasound results back.

[sarge43]

45. Yikes. That had to hurt.

Well, my doctor does listen. In fact, he asked me what I thought was going on.

[Call Me Wesley]

2. Welcome to DU!

And a virtual :hug: for comfort. Good vibes!

[sarge43]

6. Thank you Acting Ensign Crusher (I always kiss up to officers,

then bad mouth 'em behind their backs). :evilgrin:

I've been hanging out here for about month now, but it's such mob scene that it takes time to meet and greet everyone.

[cassandra uprising]

4. Ouch!

My sister had that procedure done a year or two ago. I hope you heal quickly and welcome to DU! :hi:

:hug:

[sarge43]

8. As said, so far, good

And thanks for the welcome. This is a great place. Duh, it has great people.

[Midlodemocrat]

5. Did they do it laparoscopically?

That's how I had mine out. I was up and about within 24 hours. No problems at all.

[sarge43]

7. Yes they did.

If you must have surgery, it definitely the way to go. So far, I haven't even needed any pain killers. I hope I follow your good example.

[Love Bug]

9. Been there, done that

You'll be fine. Just watch out for really greasy food once you heal. "Dumping" is no fun!

[sarge43]

10. I'm on the South Beach diet

Dr Agatston will hunt me down and beat the stuff out of me if I go near anything greasy.

[ccjlld]

11. Even if you don't need painkillers

Take it easy! You're likely to be sore for a while. Had mine taken out about 2 years ago and the surgery was a breeze. Unfortunately I'm allergic to the Steri-strips they closed my incisions with so had to deal with hives!

Like I said, take it easy, even though you're feeling pretty good, you still just had major surgery.

Heal fast and Welcome to DU!

[sarge43]

13. Excellent advice, ccjlld.

I've had surgery before and I remember the high you can have afterwards. So yes, I'll take it easy. Good excuse for the spousal unit to do some housework, eh, eh, eh.

Thanks for the welcome.

[TheProphetess]

12. Heal!

Here's to your fast recovery! :toast:

[sarge43]

15. I feel the power!!

Thanks Prophetess.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

14. Get well!!

:popcorn:

[sarge43]

16. Thanks CG. I'm working on it. n/t

[SoCalDem]

17. A painfree hug coming your way

:hug:

[sarge43]

21. Oooo, that felt good.

Love your icon, SoCalDem.

[Taverner]

18. Huggg

hope you're OK....if ya dont mind me askin, why did they remove it?

[sarge43]

19. Feel quite well, Taverner.

It just wasn't working anymore.

A gall bladder produces fatty acids which it pumps into the liver which the liver then uses to help break down proteins and fats. When it starts to fail (an infection can narrow the feed tube, it can be flogged to death by overuse or it just gets old), the bile will start to pool within the sack and form gall stones, then the owner starts becoming aware that a gall stone trying to make its through the feed tube can hurt as much as a kidney stone. Plus, pooling bile just loves to get infected. And in case the owner doesn't have enough fun, the bile can back into the liver, flooding it and owner gets (drum roll) jaundice. It isn't serious in itself, albeit you feel like crap; however, the digestive system is a Rube Goldberg device. If one thing goes wrong and isn't corrected, the domino affect kicks in. Doc Feel Good said the ultra sound showed a narrow feed tube, so I probably had a low level infection in there which produced just enough scar tissue to bring me to this message.

Now, the liver can work quite nicely without the gall bladder so long as owner stays away high fat foods which, of course, is always good advice.

So, more than you ever wanted to know about screwed up g.b.s

[Shine]

20. Wow, glad everything is OK with you.

I am sending you best wishes for a speedy recovery... :hug:

May abundant Good Health be yours! :toast:

:hi:

[sarge43]

22. Thank you, Shine

And back at you.

[sarge43]

23. Well, looks like time to let this one sail off into the sunset.

Thank you everyone for the hugs and good wishes. They really did help.

:loveya:

[purr]

24. How was it?

I need to get my removed in the near future - Im not showing typical gb problems - but its full of stones and a 15% hida scan.

[sarge43]

32. As said purr, piece of cake.

Don't put it off if you don't have to. If it does blow up on you, it's miserable as hell and you have to cure any infection before the surgeon will have anything to do with you.

[land of the free]

25. hope you're feeling better... I had mine removed a year ago

I feel dramatically better. It was a quick surgery and a pretty quick recovery.

I didn't have gallstones, but my HIDA scan showed that my gallbladder was only working about 10%. The doctor warned me that removing it may not actually fix the abdominal pain I was having. It did. I felt dramatically better the very next day.

One thing to note: eat fatty foods in small quantities. as someone else mentioned. For example, I can have three eggwhites with no problem, or one whole egg, but two whole eggs make me feel a bit queasy. Without the gallbladder, your body can only handle so much fat at a time. Take it slow, try different foods to see what your system can handle well.

Now that your abdomen is healed up a little more, I'll give ya a hug. :)

[sarge43]

34. Thanks for the lovely hug

Yeah, I do understand about fatty foods. Who needs them anyway.

Eggs don't seem to be a problem. In fact, that was my post op snack - a cheese omelette.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

26. Do you miss it?

I hope you're feeling better!!! :grouphug:

[sarge43]

35. Nope.

"Thank God and Greyhound you're gone."

I feel fine, Vash. Thanks.

[hedgehog]

Can I have it?

I asked first.

[sarge43]

31. Well, if I had the thing, I'd put it on ebay.

Hey, everything else is there, up for sale. :silly:

[rockymountaindem]

27. Did they give it to you in a jar? n/t

[sarge43]

37. No, nothing was said about it

A local blackmarket in used gall bladders? Mmmmmmmm?

[mwdem]

28. Welcome to DU! I'm recovering from surgery I had last week.

:hi:

[sarge43]

38. Thank you.

So, what did you have done, mwdem?

[mwdem]

48. Look at my avatar and you can figure it out.

I start chemo next week.

[sarge43]

51. Best of luck, mwdem.

:hug:

[mwdem]

54. Thank you!

I'll get through this. As with everything else, you just do it.

[land of the free]

61. good luck to you

we'll be thinking of you!

[MissMillie]

30. Same day surgery?

I know mine was when I had it done in '02.

Hope you mend quickly!

[sarge43]

40. Yup. In and out in about four hours.

Thanks. I seem to be mending well, eyes to God.

[KitchenWitch]

33. I am putting off having mine out

I figure I have had enough surgeries in my life...

Tonsillectomy
Neck Biopsy
Staging Laparotomy
Lumbar Laminectomy
Rhinoplasty
Total Hip arthroplasty
Total hip arthroplasty revision

[sarge43]

39. Wow. Impressive.

Well, don't put it off for too long. As said up thread, it's miserable when it turns nasty.

[KitchenWitch]

42. Oh, I know

I have occasional attacks.

[hedgehog]

56. Just make sure you aren't self diagnosing gall bladder attacks

My mother's self diagnosed gall bladder attacks turned out to be coronary arteries that were about 95% blocked. Fortuately, she got the roter rooter man in there before the heart attack.

[sarge43]

60. Agree, hedgehog.

Doc ran an EKG on me just to make sure it wasn't the ticker.

[land of the free]

62. yes, and gallstones can move

if you have gallstones, sometimes they can be of a size that will go in and block your pancreas. (I don't mean to scare you here, but you have to watch this stuff!)
I know three people who have had this happen, and they ended up with emergency surgery and a very long recovery (one person almost died). I don't think this is an extremely common problem, but it just happens that I know three different people who had this happen in a year and a half.

Be very careful, and follow up with your doctor regularly. Get the opinions of at least two specialists, too.

Take care!

[Redstone]

36. So why are you up so early? You should be resting.

Redstone

[sarge43]

43. It's northern New England, Redstone

We go to bed early (8pm); we get up early (4am).

[Redstone]

44. Hey, I grew up there. I know what you mean.

Lunenburg, Vermont.

Redstone

[sarge43]

47. Lovely place, Vermont.

We're in central NH.

[entanglement]

41. Do you plan to eat your gallbladder?

:evilgrin:

[sarge43]

46. If they had given it to me,

I might have had it made up into a tasteful brooch.

[gollygee]

49. Congrats!

I had mine out 2 years ago and they've been good years!

Take care of yourself and I hope you have a speedy recovery from the surgery!

[sarge43]

52. Thank you, gollygee.

So far, so good.

[CatholicEdHead]

50. Did they let you keep it?

[sarge43]

53. Nope.

As said up thread, the subject was never brought up and, having seen a couple, I wasn't the least bit interested in having one parked in the fridge. :wtf:

[hedgehog]

55. Keep it in the fridge

Now there's an idea I hadn't thought of. I'm not sure if I would or wouldn't.

[ScreamingMeemie]

57. Did you wake up in the middle of the night...with a searing, stabbing

pain in your midsection? That's what happened with mine. And I begged MrG to get me out of the house before the kids woke up because I was sure I was dying.

Feel Much Better Soon!!! :hug: :hug: :hug: three hugs!

[sarge43]

59. No, not that bad.

My attack felt like mega heart burn with cramps that lasted for a couple of days. Unpleasant, but nothing like yours.

[graywarrior]

58. Did they let you keep it for bronzing?