Gallbladder issues and surgery

[Tiffykins 673]

Charity, I would not even attempt to flush those stones out. The common bile duct is very easily damaged, and you could possibly cause a stone to lodge in there. That will only complicate matters more.

I was on a very bland, liquid diet for 5 days before surgery just so the surgery would be less complicated. Luckily, it worked for me, but I was only allowed to eat chicken noodle Soup, boiled chicken breast, saltine crackers and lots of Water. I was not allowed to have anything with much flavor, fat, or color.

My GB was so inflamed that the surgeon would not perform surgery until the inflammation decreased. He said due to the scar tissue in my abdomen, and an inflamed GB, I was asking for complications.

I feel so much better today. I am able to eat without pain and discomfort. Truly, the only discomfort I have is a twinge of pain under my right rib area.

Do not delay in having the surgery. Gallbladder disease can lead to many other health related problems. Your pancreas can easily become inflamed and infected as well. Just because you are not having symptoms doesn't mean that you won't in a moments notice. You do not want it to rupture, and then cause more internal issues.

Please, Charity get your gallbladder removed ASAP.

[Lee 19]

Charity, I too would not attempt to flush them out. I was counseled against doing that. I had my GB out last November. Mine came from eating very low fat. Everyone has it for different reasons. The only important thing is that you get your GB out ASAP. Please don't wait for complications. Maybe your church can help you, or a clinic affiliated with your church.

Let us know how you're doing please.

[thinoneday 445]

I just wanted to post a recap of my eventful week.

Saturday night - out to dinner with a group of my girlfriends. Indulged in 4oz of chicken satay with peanut sauce, and 2oz of creme brulee. YUMMY right, yeah not so great by the time I got home (2 hours after eating). Explosive diarrhea and dry heaving.

Sunday- Felt puny and kind of lethargic but otherwise "okay".

Monday- with every sip, swallow my stomach ached, and cramped, with a pain radiating up to my left collarbone shoulder area called surgeon left message.

Tuesday- was hellbent on eating so I ate through the pain, but knew something was not "right"

Wednesday - no response from surgeon, called again left yet another message. Still hurting, but managed to eat about 300 calories

Thursday- pain is worse, head to the ER at 9pm, got a bag of fluids, 2 percocets (didn't even help with the pain), iv Levaquin, and a diagnosis of a UTI. Lovely civilian contract doctor at a military ER. It's a stickler subject with me.

Friday - called my bariatric surgeon's nurse direct line, left message, called me back within 15 minutes, and got me in for a gallbladder ultrasound, and abdominal CT with contrast. GB u/s revealed 1/3 of GB is full of stones, cancelled the CT because they wanted me to drink 32oz of contrast Fluid in 30 minutes, yeah that's not going to happen considering I've been lucky to get in 20oz of Fluid a day for the last week.

Surgeon's schedule is booked until February 22nd. I told the nurse there is NO way I can tolerate this pain for that long, and I want the surgeon to call me.

Saturday- 10am, cell phone rings, unfamiliar number, sugeon calling from his cell phone. He hadn't received my 2 messages, wanted to know who I spoke with, and to come in on Tuesday at 10am to get me on the OR roster to have my gallbladder removed.

Least to say, it's a been a week from hell for me. Not mention the weight loss from the previous week, but now the constant pain I get when eating and drinking anything.

I haven't felt this bad since early out in my recovery. I have a prescription for cipro for the "UTI" that the surgeon wants me to go ahead and take, and some phenegran that I'm taking before eating to keep me from puking up my guts.

I'm hoping to have surgery on Thursday or Friday. I knew it was my gallbladder all along, but I was hoping it was related to the Wellbutrin, or something trivial.

If you wouldn't mind saying a quick prayer, sending some good thoughts, some good ole' cajun voodoo or even slinging a chicken around my way would be appreciated. I'm petrified of another surgery. I told the surgeon that's the only reason I refused to see another surgeon. I'm not willing to have a Captain operate on me. My surgeon is a LT. Col, and has 20 + years experience. I'm not willing to just let any "joe schmoe" cut on me. He just laughed and said " well, I can't blame you, and I'm sorry I didn't get your message." He knows I'm a demanding patient, and he understands the reasons behind it.

So, if I go MIA for awhile, please keep me in your thoughts. These next 2 days, I'm going to be cooking and cleaning. John is home and off stand-by (THANK THE GOOD LORD ABOVE). I'll be preparing some meals for them so they don't have to eat out a bunch. I have to get the house completely cleaned because I won't want to come home to a dirty house. I just need to tidy up. John can run the dishwasher and washer/dryer, but scrubbing toilets and cooking is not his forte.

Thanks for all of your support and encouragement. I'll try to either text or update someone via email so they can let y'all know what's going on. I won't have my laptop, and the web version/skin of VST on my Iphone sucks.

For those of you on my Facebook, I'll be able to update there easily once I'm out of recovery and in a room.

Wow Tiff, I didn't even realize that you were in trouble here. . . I was still in the hospital myself on this day. . .Are you ok now, bet you feel a whole lot better huh? This news just blew my mind. . . so sorry to hear it happened! But at least you got that monster out . . . goodness your going through somethings aren't you . . . your surgery numbers are catching up to mine!:001_tongue:

[Tiffykins 673]

Wow Tiff, I didn't even realize that you were in trouble here. . . I was still in the hospital myself on this day. . .Are you ok now, bet you feel a whole lot better huh? This news just blew my mind. . . so sorry to hear it happened! But at least you got that monster out . . . goodness your going through somethings aren't you . . . your surgery numbers are catching up to mine!

I know 4 abdominal lap surgeries in 16 months is a bit excessive, huh? LOL

I'm doing much better today. I have 2 monthly luncheons with other military wives, and today we went out for Thai food. I kept it pretty basic, and it was the first time since surgery that I've really eaten. It hit me hard. I've been dealing with Constipation due to the pain meds, but the Thai food cleared all that up for me today.

I'm supposed to bowl tomorrow, but since I still can't drive, I'm thinking I better sit out for the day. I really hate that I can't do anything work-out wise for 6 weeks. It really upsets me. Since my surgeon did some exploring around in my abdomen and took down scar tissue and adhesions, he's got me restricted for 6 weeks. No ab/core workouts, no lifting, it's depressing.

So, I'm going pretty stir crazy around the house. I'm super happy to have my GB gone. Dr. R said everything internally looks really good, he scoped me too, no ulcers, no issues with the staple lines, he said everything looked really great.

[carolyn24seven 11]

OK Tiffy, so you can not exercize. NBD seriously. Take up scrapbooking, re-organize all your journals. Knit sew, cross stich, work a 10,000 piece puzzle. use your mind. Right now you have been given a gift of time to work your mind. You are such a great gal, you can find lots of important things to do with this time. No more whinning.

You will not loose that much in the way of "progress" towards your fitness goals. You were not training for a marathon anyway! AND< even if you were, so? Life happens, make the best of this time. It will make the best of you.

This is just one more step in your Journey.

March on my little friend!

[pnw218 14]

I feel your pain Tiffy! I had my first gall bladder attack on a cruise ship on the way to Belize and Honduras. Fortunately, after spending 6 hours in the ER on the ship, the pain subsided and I was able to wait until getting back to the states for surgery. The only issue I had with the actual surgery was that the dr spilled the bile from the gall bladder into my abdomen and they had to vacuum it out. My insides hurt big time but the lap surgery was still better than being opened up. I was back at work in a week.

AFTERWARDS .... another story.

My system never adjusted to the increase of bile and it was food in, food out. I was so fortunate to have a flexible work schedule because it would take me a couple of hours every morning before I could leave the house. I finally went in to see a specialist and they put me on cholestyramine, a powder that I mixed in juice or Water each morning. That helped for about five years. I started having issues again last summer. The new dr I went to said I could either increase the powder or try another med, Welchol, which is a tablet. The new med worked great and it is so much more user friendly. I had to avoid food and meds before and after the powder; I take the pill at night. My mornings are soooo much better!

Anytime I hear that someone has had their gall bladder removed, I try to share that med info. I was miserable for almost a year before seeing the specialist. Loved my gp but he didn't realize the issue with the bile or how to fix it. Kept saying my system would adjust.

Hope you are feeling much better now! And you have one less body part to worry about : )

[Tiffykins 673]

Thanks PNW, luckily I haven't had any issues thus far. Everything seems to working normally for right now.

I'll keep tabs on this post for future reference.

[Lee 19]

Just to add another perspective....

I had my GB out in November 2009. My surgeon told me that unless I stuck to low fat it was possible that I would create a lifetime of food in/food out. During the first month, I found that to be completely true, eating anything but low fat content sent me scampering. I started my 1200 calorie diet for WLS a month after the GB removal, so I haven't had any issues. I feel like everything healed just fine. I knew I wanted to adhere to low fat because the thought of creating a lifelong problem for myself just wasn't where I wanted to go.

I wish I'd know I'd be having VSG so soon. I thought it wouldn't be until next summer or later because of the Kaiser requirements. If I'd known, I probably would have tried to combine the surgeries.

Tiffy, I'm so glad you're not having any problems!!