Anyone ever had their gallbladder out?
 

My sister called this morning and said my mom was taken into the emergency room last night with really bad pain. They kept her in and today are doing a nuclear scan to see if her gallbladder is working. Obviously, I am concerned. Has anyone had theirs out or known somebody that has and if so what was the recovery period like?

Hey Sarah - Its normally done with a Laparoscope. Two tiny holes, and they do them by the 1000.

Home on day 2 and fully functional by day 3 or 4, minimal pain.

If they have to open up then its still pretty minor, 7 - 10 days and all back to normal.

Nothing to worry about. :)

*Usual surgical risk disclaimer, blah blah blah.

My cousin had hers out. It grew back. She had it out again.
No shit.

my ex-wife had hers out when she was 16... the biggest thing is that your diet has to change after it's out, since it won't be there to do it's job anymore.

my mom did it, she was back home the same day

that's crazy. never heard of that before! :Oh crap

My Father had it done. She should be fine in medical hands.

Good luck.

wow.. freaky! :helpme

I had mine out and was able to go back to work just a couple days later. I think it's one of the more common procedures and it usually goes fine.

Hope your mom feels better Sarah!

These days they dont even advise that. If she is eats a normal, fairly heathy diet then she wont have to change anything.

Thanks all..at this stage we are actually hoping it is her gallbladder and not something else. It is horrible to wish that but atleast it can be treated. I am waiting for my sister or dad to call and say how the scan went.

My sister made her go to the emergency room because she was in so much pain and apparently when they got there they told her she had a really high rate of bacteria in her unrine and said they needed to do tests. Being the workaholic and professional my mother is she asked 'can you do it on Saturday'. My sister bullied her into staying the night but atleast now I know where I get the workaholic thing from.

it will be fine

I had mine out in September of 2005.

It's not bad. If your mother had a full blown gall bladder attack, the surgery and recovery will be like a dream by comparison.

This way my experience from start to finish. (your results may vary)

Walk into the operating room under my own power, lay down on operating table, something connected to my finger, a nurse messing around over on that side, about one minute of small talk with the nurses and the next thing I know the nurse in the recovery area is telling me I can't lie on my side :)

Laproscopic surgery - 4 SMALL cuts, 3 visible, 1 in the belly button.

There is pain - but it's nothing compared to the actual full blown gallbladder attacks. Plus they are pretty good about dishing out the pain killers in the recovery area - the first 3 times they asked about my pain the answers 7 out of 10, 7 out of 10 and 5 out of 10 got me pain killers each time. :)

They kept me until I ate, drank and got up to go to the bathroom by myself. Then I was able to go home. Same day... my wife said she was in the waiting room a couple hours and it was probably a couple more until I went to the bathroom.. So maybe 5 or so hours from sign in to wheelchair ride to the car - of course I was knocked out and then high for it all, didn't seem like very long to me... :1orglaugh

Prescription is given for pain at home, I took 1/2 doses of the pain meds, mainly because I had them.. I only wanted them the first two days, I don't recall "needing" them. Your mom will have to take it a little slow for a few days and they'll probably recommend she doesn't drive or lift stuff for like a week just to be safe.

If all is well, she'll go for a follow-up appointment - they'll ask her questions and a quick visual inspection and then they'll send her on her way. It will be (or should be) recommended to her that she follow a low fat diet for 6 months after and ease back into fats after that to allow her body time to readjust to processing fats again. To be completely honest, I didn't follow the diet, pretty much at all.

IF for any reasons they have complications during the surgery, they'll have to do the old school operation which means a bigger incision and longer, tougher recovery. They'll tell her roughly the odds of that when she goes in. There are chances with everything and the chances are slim here.

There is also potential (though small) that she'll have digestive problems afterward, the runs and all that.. initially is part of normal and longer term if her body doesn't care for it... I've read various problems from various people over time... But the bottom line is it is a VERY, VERY common procedure that puts a lot of physician's kids through college.

A year and a month have gone by for me and I'm fairly "normal" whatever that means. So I guess I was a typical case.

Hope it helps. Just have her go slow (if her pain that evening isn't telling her that already) and she should do fine. Get her a little stuffed animal or something to present her for when she wakes up - she'll be a little dopey and it could make her laugh.. I liked the one my wife got me.. being high on pain killers and stuffed animals are a good combination. :winkwink:

Ah - In that case it could be pyelonephritis on the right side - antibiotics will be the cure in that case.

:error 2 holes is just plain wrong. They need one hole for the camera. They also need multiple holes for the instruments. You can expect 3 - 5 holes, about 1 - 2 cm each. My husband had 5 (incisions, that is). Contrary to some people's blase attitudes (not necessarily just in this thread--but in real life too), you will NOT be doing jumping jacks the next day.

:error 7 - 10 days and you're all "back to normal" for an OPEN ABDOMINAL SURGERY? A 5 - 8 inch abdominal incision. Most people stay in the hospital for 5 - 7 days after this. It is NOT minor. Either you have a VERY different idea of "back to normal" than most people or you are on crack.

I normally don't respond in depth on GFY, but I couldn't stand to see this misinformation go undisputed.

good luck hope everything goes well there... Should be fine since it was found and taken care of.

Its often done with 2 holes - 3 holes tops, it has been that way since about 1996.

An open cholecystectomy will leave you in bed for 2-3 days and pretty much back to normal (as long as you are not a gymnast) after day 10. Even 10 years ago it would have been longer, but things move on.

mom had hers done and was back home that night... the worst part was the next couple days being 'uncomfortable' because they fill you up with gas (co2 if i remember correctly) to create a little room in there to work. i think she was feeling ok by day 3 and back to work by day 5

Wow, thanks for all that information..really helpful

You are very welcome. Best to your Mom, let us know how she does.

I hope your mom is doing well.

From my understanding, gallbladder removal surgery is minimally invasive and takes less than an hour to perform.

Laparoscopic Chlolesystectomy (Minimally Invasive Gallbladder Removal Surgery) is the number one performed proceedure in the United States. The surgery usually takes less than 30 minutes. I used to sell the instruments used in the surgery. If you have any questions, feel free to hit me up.

nope never had mine out

yeech sure havent....

Diddy still the man???

not yet taken off

i hope she gets better

I hope our mom will be ok soon, man..

I had mine removed a couple years ago.. it's a very quick procedure. What damiab said pretty much sims it up..

That sounds serious. I hope you mom would get through with that.

Thanks again everyone. I just heard from my sister that is indeed my mom's gallbladder. It has apparently stopped working and it will be removed tomorrow or Monday morning.

Sarah. I had mine taken out last December.

It consisted of four small laproscopic cuts under general anaesthesia.
I was out of the hospital in two days and I was back to lifting weights within three weeks and that's only because my trainer wouldn't let me. :)

I agree. Thanks, dennisthemenace. Excellent post.

My experience is only anecdotal in that it happened to two relatives. The "biggest deal" was having to change their diets.

In both cases they were back to eating as they always had within months (may have been a year -- it was a while back so the timeline is fuzzy).

The one thing I remember vividly was my sister. She was lamenting not being able to eat fatty foods ever again. That was short-lived and she eats whatever she wants to this very day.

Best of luck to your Mom, Sarah.

because some folks asked to be updated - mom is now sans gallbladder, doped up and recovering

Thanks for the update - glad she's okay :) :thumbsup