Has anyone any experience of gallbladder surgery

CrazyRed

I wasn't that lucky with mine in 2011.

Went in originally for keyhole surgery but ended up that afternoon on a ward, with drips and tubes out of every orifice and the most excruciating pain I could imagine.

It transpired that my bowel had adhered to my belly button during a previous hernia operation, and my gall bladder was fed by two blood vessels instead of one - they only discovered this when they went to cut it away and it started bleeding profusely. In their haste to withdraw the camera, they perforated my bowel......

It turned into an 'emergency' operation at that point, as you can imagine.

Overall, my recovery from that operation was an incredible 14 weeks before I was back to 'normal', and, even today, I get severe pains from that are if I overdo things, or eat something that I (now) know I shouldn't. The surgeon, at the time, told me that I should never drink alcohol again, nor should I take fizzy drinks of any description.

I'm not trying to scare you here. It's important to remember that any surgery carries risk, and that no two bodies are alike. I was rather unfortunate, but for every operation that goes wrong, there are literally hundreds that go swimmingly and recovery times are significantly shorter.

scaredy_cat

i had my gall bladder removed by keyhole surgery in 2006. i was in for a week as i had a drain tube inserted in my right side and as it filling a bag every day they wouldn't let me go home.

i found the worst thing is, they pump air into your abdomen, and it presses on a nerve in the diaphragm which when i laid down caused excruciating pain on the top of my shoulder!! i had to sleep sitting up in a chair for 3 days!!! well, more like napping!! they give you peppermint water to drink but i hate peppermint!

and another thing, which wasn't explained to me, my first day home i made a jacket potato with butter for my dinner, something nice and simple, an i couldn't tolerated the fat and threw it back up! for a long time if i ate fatty meals (fried or creamy) my 'movements' (to be delicate) were rather loose.

DUKE

HurdyGurdy - I had my gallbladder removed in 2011. From what I can remember I was in & out in the same day. I felt rough for a few weeks after, I'm sure 3 weeks will be enough. Although she should still take it easy for a few months because we all recover at our own pace. All the best to your sons partner xxx

scooby088

My OH recently had her Gallbladder removed as an emergency as it had ruptured and leaking into the abdomen, it had also adhered to the liver which made the surgery last 3 and half hours. I would also say as a general rule of 6-8 weeks for recovery.

sharnad

It depend first time I was in hospital for two weeks and it took a month to recover. Last time I was in hospital for a week and I was off work about a month . Some begin and out the same day and three weeks will be plenty of recovery time

Zoetoes

I am still undecided whether to go for the op or leave it.

My concern is I already have an old scar from when I was a baby, I had an op for pyloric stenosis. I worry that 'things' are fused together inside and that they might nick something!

I also worry that I may be no better off having it as some people report long term diarrhoea! And sickness etc.

But then there's the worry of leaving it...

I have been trying to make this decision for at least 2-3 years! And discovered the gall stones 12 years ago.

So for now I'll wait and see if I have more frequent attacks and weigh up the pros and cons.

piglet74

My mum got hers out in Oct, was meant to be keyhole, it turned into open, she was in ICU for 3 days, in hospital 6 days, got home then the wound got infected, was back in for a night, then home but the district nurses were calling every day for 8weeks to dress wound!

I got mine out in nov, was in 3 days, woke up the morn after in horrific pain, was prepared for emergency surg.as they thought I had either internal bleeding or a bile leakage, but things calmed down, I had neither,

Was sore for a few days, very uncomfy for the week that the staples were in, was still feeling sick for weeks, still in pain, heartburn etc, turned out that even tho I had gallstones, it was a haetius (sp?) Hernia, infection and heliogobacter that was causing all the bother, I had stomach erosion from all the acid, it turned out if they had done the "camera" tests first, I may not have even needed my gallbladder out, (was 6months between gallbladder removal, and getting treated for helicgobacter and hernia)

nzmegs

I had mine done when i was 33 (recovering will depend on your age, weight and fitness levels). For me I had one night in hospital, out the next day. I had a toddler who I was able to carry within a few days.

I took it easy, but not excessively so. I walked everywhere and recovered really quickly.

As already mentioned, the dispersal of the gas in your body is the worst bit with pains in your back and shoulders.

I didn't even take the painkillers. But i was sick from the anaesthetic on the first night.

I was lucky enough to have mine done privately which may have helped my recovery.