Bookmarking this thread...my wife has to undergo the same thing.
Had mine removed with three very small incisions. Apparently took 45 minutes. Awoke blissful from Propofol. I had zero post operative pain but spent three days at home recupurating and taking vicodin.
Easy.
I did the gall bladder flush at home. Passed all gallstones. Subsequent test showed I had none. This was 16 years ago and I still have my God-given, functioning gall bladder with no problems.
I would never have gall bladder surgery myself. It sets you up for a life of poor fat digestion - despite what doctors tell you. According to them, the gall bladder is unnecessary. God, apparently had parts left over and doled them out to fill the extra space in the human abdomen.
BTW, it cost me a total of about $8 to treat at home. I’ve also had a sister do it successfully and two other friends. Same result for us all.
... but that’s us. You will have to make your own decision.
I had gaul bladder surgery a few years ago. There was no other complications so my experience might be different.
The surgeon did it as an outpatient procedure. He cut three slots about 3/4 inch long and removed the gaul bladder through one of them. There were no complications and I went home within a couple of hours.
I just took it easy for a couple of days and healed rapidly. The 3 cuts were closed by staples and they were removed in maybe a week. All in all a piece of cake.
They do put you under tho. When I awoke the surgeon was sitting beside me and he explained that everything went fine.
... forgot two things...
1. Good luck, whatever you decide.
2. If I can help steer you to info, please pm me.
There are risks from any surgery which your physician will explain, such risky events rarely occur.
I didn’t have the surgery, but both my husband and son did. It is an outpatient procedure, now. Do it. Pancreatitis will return, you can count on it. It is very serious and painful, as you know.
These days they can remove the gallbladder “laparoscopically”, meaning they just make very tiny incisions. Be sure that is how they plan to do it.
This also leads to less stress on the system and a faster recovery of maybe a couple of weeks, instead of some 6 weeks recovery after a “traditional” surgery, the way they used to do it in the old days.
Laparoscopic surgery has been around for quite a while, as in quite a few years, so it’s a fully accepted procedure and many if not most surgeons are proficient in performing it.
Here is some info from WebMD.
http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/laparoscopic-gallbladder-surgery-for-gallstones
I recommend you discuss it with your doctor and make sure to have the surgery laparoscopically, it is performed under general anesthesia and would also recommend you discuss with your doctor to stay in the hospital at least a day or two — at WebMD they say it could be performed so they send you home the same day, I think you should stay in the hospital to make sure everything is fine, before they send you home.
Good luck — there is nothing to be concerned about.
It’s really not bad, as far as surgeries go. Your abdomen will be covered in bruises and you’ll look like you swallowed a basketball until the gas goes away. No big incisions, no real pain- just discomfort from being inflated. You’ll probably get liquids and soup for a couple days and work your way back to normal food. You might find that grease doesn’t quite agree with you the way that it once did.
My Mom landed up in the ER with pancreatitus several years ago. They took her gall bladder out with the new less invasive procedure and she went home the same day. Three little puncture holes and they just sucked out the gall bladder and in a few days she was fine.
I had mine removed subsequent to pancreatitis. Beyond a couple secondary infections caused by having so much tissue damaged and killed by the powerful digestive juices spilled into my gut by the ruptured pancreas, no problems, no life lifestyle changes needed.
Simple operation, 3, maybe 4, 1 inch scars (can’t find mine to count...)
I had mine removed in 2005. Basically I was so sick and throwing up that my wife took me to ER. They admitted me and scheduled the surgery for the next day. They put me out and did laproscopic surgery to remove the gall bladder. After that they leave a drainage tube in you to drain out what’s left inside. I was in the hospital a couple of days as I recall. Then I was released to go home still with the drainage tube stuck in my side. I had to go back about a week later to have the drainage tube yanked out. Yeah, you heard it right, yanked out. That felt like a kick in the gut. When it was over it healed up and now I just have some small scars. No problems since then with that.
Like the majority here are saying, it is an easy out patient procedure. I was sore for about 24 hours, but lots of pillows and drugs helped a lot.
The only thing that has changed in the last five years is that fat likes hanging around on my body more ~ ‘course that could have something to do with age & lack of exercise.
My sister just had this done as emergency surgery. She got through it fine, but is still recovering.
My experience:
It was a quick laparoscopic procedure. 3 small holes (like 1/4” punctures) on my upper stomach and a 1” incision on the bottom of my belly-button (where they exited the gall bladder). I have almost no scarring now. If you know right where to look, you can sort of make out the incisions.
1st day was a breeze. No ill effects or discomfort at all.
2nd day was ok. They can’t remove all of the gas/air they put in you and I felt a bit bloated.
3rd day, woke up feeling like I had done a bunch of sit-ups the day before. Not disabling pain, but uncomfortable and I was glad I was home and not travelling.
4th day was like the 1st day and it was done. No more issues after that. I never felt the need to take any pain meds or even a tylenol.
I haven’t had any problems. I was warned I may need to adjust my diet, but I haven’t changed a thing. As far as that goes, they may have given me a glass of water in the hospital instead of the cholesystectomy. I can’t tell any difference before or after.
However, I have a friend who has to take a “Nexium” pill (I think that’s what it’s called) every day after his was removed. He also has to watch what he eats as some types of food mess with him. But, it also doesn’t stop him from eating those foods when he really wants to — he just knows to expect to be gassy afterwards.
Best of luck to you!
My wife had it done several years ago and she recovered in about a week with minimal pain. However, she can’t eat any greasy foods now, or else she has to make a beeline straight to the bathroom.
Piece of cake. Had surgery at 7am went home at 6pm. Haven’t had any symptoms or anything unusual afterwards. Don’t seem to miss it. Good luck.
Been there, done that.
Went in for the doc to scope my gallbladder for stones and sediment before considering an operation. They told me that there was a 10% chance of getting pancreatitis. I won the prize... My gallbladder was so full of stones/sediment that the fluid they used when doing the scope apparently aggravated the pancreas due to stone and sediment blockage. I had to stay in the hospital until the pancreatitis subsided and then had the surgery. They started with the laparoscopic route but when they tried to pull the gallbladder out, it burst and they ended up giving me a 7 inch zipper after cleaning out my insides. Recovery sucked but I have not had another issue since. I realized in the decade or so since the surgery that my gallbladder was likely causing all sorts of problems in previous years which I no longer experience.
My wife had hers removed a long time ago. The big problem is you’ll need to level out your fatty food intake, the gallbladder is where your body stores excess bile for digesting fat. If you regularly eat a lot of fatty foods your body can handle it by upping production, but if you tend to eat lean your body lowers production then if you suddenly have a fatty meal your body doesn’t have that excess. This makes for unpleasant digestion and post digestion, nothing dangerous just unhappy.
Laparoscopic surgery is a breeze. Three small incisions, covered with Band-Aids. You go home the next day with almost no pain and zero restrictions, except for what you can lift for a few weeks. I think it was nothing over 5lbs. You can drive almost immediately too. Oh, while your liver adjusts to taking over the pancreas’s job, food proceeds very rapidly through your system. I lost ten pounds.