Has anyone any experience of gallbladder surgery

pukkamum

I too had keyhole gallbladder surgery and had a 1 yr old, I was in one night and pretty much fine within a week. The relief of not having gall bladder attacks far outweighed the surgical pain.
One thing though I now cannot eat greasy food without nausea not sure if thats just me though.

Callie22

pukkamum wrote: »

One thing though I now cannot eat greasy food without nausea not sure if thats just me though.

Nope, same for me If I eat a lot of fat or stodge I get twinges and a sick feeling, but it passes quite quickly and I take it as a warning to stop whatever I was doing.

sneezyboots

I have had this operation. First patient in and home by 4pm. First few days stayed in bed and could barely move- 6 days after the op I was back at work as a teacher. 2 weeks and I was back to normal, just couldn't go back to proper exercise for a couple more weeks.

SteveJW

I had this op by keyhole
First one down at 09:00, walking around the ward by 12:00, surgeon came round to see how patients were doing, found me at the other end of the ward. Told you can go home after 17:00, something to do with making sure the effects of the anesthetic have worn off.
Couldn't get picked up until 18:00, so managed to get my tea in hospital, one of the choices, fish in batter, chips and mushy peas. Thought what the heck if I'm going to have problems might as well know about it. Absolutely fine, never had a problem with food.
Only problem was I got an infection in the main port (I think they call them), belly button. Wouldn't let me go back to work due to the risk of further contamination for six weeks. Upside out on my bicycle doing thirty or forty miles a day

Hope everything goes OK

glitter03

Similar story to everyone else...i had my gallbladder out by keyhole surgery roughly 3yrs ago.

Was out the same day as the op and needed help looking after my daughter for 2-3 days while i healed.

3 weeks would be more than enough unless any complications hinder her recovery!

margaretclare

Yes. Keyhole surgery a few years ago now. No real problems. All that's left is a small scar just below my bra.

The main problem was getting the problem diagnosed correctly. Pain in that area tended to be treated as a heart problem - because I had a heart history - so getting someone from the surgical team to look at me was a bit delayed because I was on the medical side originally, and never the twain shall meet!

Janepig

HurdyGurdy wrote: »

Thank you all - that sounds very encouraging. Apart from poor Janepig, who seems to have have a rotten time. I hope you are soon fully fit again.

So on average, assuming it does go ahead with keyhole, three weeks should be ok.

Your replies were all very helpful - thank you. And elsien, thank you for the link. That was really useful.

She has been warned about the possibility of it having to be open surgery, but we are all being "glass half full" about it at the moment

Thanks HG. I'm on the mend, it's just taking a bit longer than I'd hoped. But I should be back in work in two weeks time - and I won't be wearing my bikini this year thanks to the cracking scar I've got now, made worse by the staple marks (not that I was going to wear one anyway :D).

I think they warn of open surgery as a matter of course - I know the surgeon warned me before I signed the form. The nurse who took my staples out gave me the impression that open surgery is really rare these days though.

Callie22 wrote: »

Nope, same for me If I eat a lot of fat or stodge I get twinges and a sick feeling, but it passes quite quickly and I take it as a warning to stop whatever I was doing.

I've been okay, can't say I've noticed a problem with anything I've eaten, although my appetite isn't what it was, there's a list of stuff I used to eat or drink before I went into hospital that I just haven't got the stomach for now, including tea for some reason. On the up side, as well as losing a gall stone, I've lost over a stone in weight since the op. Every cloud

I should add though that having had two c-sections when I had my children, this was alot worse, even though the scar is about the same length. I think the general anaesthetic has a large bearing on that though, I think that's the worst thing about it really. At least with c-sections it was just the pain to get through (with medication), I didn't have to try and shake off the effects of the GA.

Jx

sulkisu

I had mine out October 2011. It was done in day surgery, so I was out the same day and I was up and about within a couple of days. No heavy lifting for a few weeks and I had to keep the stitches dry, but it wasn't debilitating at all (unlike gallbladder attacks which were excrutiatingly painful). My son was 9 months old and it was hard not being able to pick him up and swing h im around (he liked it ) as usual, but I was able to do pretty much everything else.

Counting_Pennies_2

I think it all depends on what they find when they go in.

Mine fairly simple. Keyhole at lunchtime, out as soon as I could confirm I could walk and pee. So done by evening.

My mother in law came to stay and helped me for a week with my 12 month old. If I didn't have a child I could have got over it without any help and some time off work.

It used to be a much bigger op. If she ends up having a full cut then it will take her weeks to get over, but fingers crossed it will be a quick recovery. I think it might be nice for your son to look after his little one, and spend some quality looking after his partner. I think his time off work will be enough though.

hth

PinkPrincess83

I had mine removed by keyhole two years ago. Was first in and was home by about 4 -would have been home earlier than this but they wouldnt let me go until I had had a wee (and for the first time in my life it took me ages to need a wee!!:rotfl:)

The next few days I just rested in bed, the worst thing was the bruising, my stomach felt so bruised I had to be careful when moving around. In the end I had 2 weeks off work, I felt better after about 10 days but because I couldnt sleep how I normally do I was so tired, but when it was time to go back to work I felt ok- just had to take it a little bit careful. I also didnt drive for about 10 days- I probably could have driven earlier but didnt really have any need so thought I would leave it as long as possible.

My Mum and her Brother have also had this operation, my Mum was home the same day and had a similar recovery period to me, my Uncle was in over night but this was because of other medical issues, and I think in total he was off for just over 3 weeks.