Posted on 03/27/2019 10:53:53 PM PDT by Romans Nine
Well started the day out like usual. Got up, got dressed, went to the dinner table, wife brought me over fresh cooked eggs, bacon, toast and large glass of milk. I ate while reading GD.com and Free Republic. Went out to my service truck and something felt a little “off”. I went back inside and the pain hit me like a freight train. Sever abdominal/chest pain. Worst pain I’ve ever felt. I’ve had my eye cut open, kidney stones, fell on a tee post that went deep enough to hit a lung, had a rifle cartridge breech the case in my face, smashed my hand in a road reclaimer tiller, broken my sternum and three ribs but none of that compares to this pain. Wife put me in the car and headed to the hospital. I broke out in a cold sweat and the pain was causing me to almost loss consciousness. We made it to the second town about 20 miles and my wife spotted a Sheriffs deputy and flagged him down. He gave us an escort up the highway until we met with an ambulance. The EMT’s assessed me enough to know it wasn’t my heart because if it had been they would have called in the life flight.
On the way in the ambulance they gave me a shot of Fentanyl. When we arrived at the ER they took me in and within 20 minutes I saw a doctor. At some point they gave me another dose of Fentanyl, took blood for lab work and that Fentanyl sent me into la la land. Doctor oredered an ultrasound and I received that within 30 minutes. It was not conclusive enough so they ordered a Cat Scan and I had that done within another 45 minutes.
Sometime after the Cat Scan the Fentanyl wore off and my pain started to come on hard. My wife told them that the Fentanyl made me delirious so they gave me Morphine. Ah now that was much better. No brain fog and no pain.
I asked the radiologist what she could see since I knew she knows what she’s looking at. She told me that I would not be going home tonight.
Back in the room the doctor came in and told me I have an infected gallbladder full of stones and she would be doing surgery either tonight or in the morning first thing. All of that happened within 6 hours of arriving at the ER. So I got moved to a room, they have me on an IV and are putting antibiotics through me. In 7 hours from this post I’m going in for surgery to remove my gallbladder.
I have read the horror stories on here about the ER wait and hospital care a lot of you have dealt with and let me tell you every single nurse, assistant and doctor here have been fabulous to interact with. After I finish this post I’m composing a letter to send to the administrator about just how good they have treated me and my wife. The surgeon is a woman from India and she was so personable and explained everything and every contingency there was.
I guess most people start having pain more gradually with gallbladder stones but mine has many stones and is infected. The only thing that felt unusual to me over the last few weeks has been an unusually sore back.
So anybody else surrendered your gallbladder to science? What was your experience? They claim I might have some digestive track problems adjusting to the loss of my gallbladder.
By the way, I’m 46 years old, generally healthy, not overweight and do not take any prescription drugs.
LOL! And he's still got many more years to add to his already impressive list.
Like that joke about the lost dog.
“Answers to the name of ‘Lucky’”.
Praying all goes well for you! A quick history of my experience. Starting in the mid 70’s I started having severe stomach pains on almost a nightly basis to the point that around each night around midnight my stomach would swell like a melon and I would so I would have to sneak out of bed not to disturb the wife and go downstairs to relieve myself with an hour or so puke session (sorry-graphic) - as it got worse over the months I made several trips to ER when the pain escalated to my chest and side (severe pain). Back in those days the upper and lower GI were the common tests. They always came back negative as unknown to them and me, my gall bladder was so loaded that the dye could not enter. Finally a young (about my age) internist jammed his fingers deep into my side until they reach my gall bladder. I about passed out from the pain! Scheduled me for exploratory surgery the next week. Being stupid and stubborn, I put it off till the following week. Big Mistake aswhile in the woods looking at property, my Gall Bladder ruptured. 4 hours of emergency surgery with the removal of thousands of stones from golf ball size to granular and the remover of over 2 ft. of my small intestine I headed for recovery. As I was quite large as a heavyweight bodybuilder they had to strap my arms to outriggers as all of me didn’t fit on the operating table. Because the surgery lasted hours longer than they anticipated, and having my arms tied down, the ulner nerves in both arms were destroyed as I could not wake up of course to move them as we normally do when we sleep. Years of work to regain function in my arms and a nice bi g scar from upper abdomen area all the way around almost to my tailbone. Very ugly time in my life, but I survived - no thanks to the anesthesiologist group. Hoss Cartwright was not so lucky. Good Luck my FRreeper friend. Procedure has advanced exponentially since then. Got a settlement (not much) and made the record books as the only person suffering bilateral damage from the procedure. Didn’t mean to write a Novel, but felt good to tell my story! Again Prayers Up!
My first thought was a ruptured or dissecting aneurysm. Those will usually kill you in seconds and have the thunderclap type of pain.
I’ve never had gall bladder issues, but I have had pancreatitis. It has weird symptoms similar to gall bladder, and is very painful.
I fit the profile for gallbladder, but the bloodwork showed ultrahigh serum amalase which is a pancreas thing.
Other than the pain med in (delaudid) that first day, I didn’t need anymore after that. Apparently, I was supposed to be out of my mind with pain, but I wasn’t. I wasnt allowed any food of any kind for days, and all I could do was sleep.
The nurse questioned me rather intently about my pain level, and in the end she told me that I had experienced a miracle. She was serious. She told me to begin thanking God, so I did. All I know is that I was pretty sick, so being painfree was a joy!
I guess most people start having pain more gradually with gallbladder stones but mine has many stones and is infected. The only thing that felt unusual to me over the last few weeks has been an unusually sore back.
...
The infection is why you had the sudden and intense pain. From the other comments I’d say the surgery is probably one of the easier ones to go through. Good luck and look forward to your post op report.
Good luck on your operation and my advise is to STAY HOME, don’t go outside, wear tennis shoes for a good grip, and eat healthy.
Praying for you.
I read a book by an ER physician once:
1) fat
2) flatulent
3) forties
4) female
equals
gallstones diagnosis
HA! You beat the odds, being male.
Prayers up!
Prayers for you and your medical team!
I had an infection and stones in my appendix this way. Emergency surgery just before thanksgiving. Been there, done that,got the T-shirt. Prayers up for this. Get well, sir.
CC
Had mine out at around same age....had been experiencing varying discomforts and issues for a year or so before and felt immediately better once it was gone....occasional need for antacids is the biggest aftereffect...
Removing the gallbladder is one of the most common surgeries in America.
People that I have known have experienced great relief after the procedure.
Had the surgery December 18, 1998.
What did you get for Christmas?
A Laparascopic Cholecystectomy.
Can't use the abs for a while, so getting out of bed to make a head call is a bit of an adventure.
Now, I'm just getting over this damn Norovirus, and my first thought was, well, I know it's not the gall bladder.
Laparoscopic. Dammit, I knew I’d mess something up.
Speedy recovery.
Still have mine but the wife gave birth to a Boone and Crockett size gall bladder about 3 years ago, it almost didn’t fit in the specimen cup. You’ll need to adjust your diet a little but all should be we, take care.
Same here, but it was likely that nightly quart of ice cream. Surgeons called the bladder's contents "gravel". Now "intolerant" to Demerol. (Headache).
Took a decade to restore abdominal muscles, which were cut-through in a ten-inch cut in 1984. Told I could eat anything afterwards, I eventually developed kidney stones, and am restricting myself to low-oxalate vegetables.
As for pain beyond gall-stones and kidney stone-pain, I've had intercostal myocytis, a painful knee-replacement recovery, migraine with aura, shingles, a broken hand, and three fractured lumbar vertebrae.
Gave up mine many years ago. It was a piece of cake. Absent peritonitis you will come through with flying colors.
In reading up on the surgery, I recall that the gall bladder duct is indistinguishable from the descending aorta. Be careful what is cut!
≡≡8-O
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.