Gall Bladder Surgery 9/20/11

[FlyGirl 18]

Well... I have to have my Gallbladder removed on Tuesday.. It's full of stones and is only functioning @ 30%. I have a constant pain on the right side under my rib cage. Sometimes when I eat I get sharp, stabbing pain.. So I'll finally give in.

Did it hurt as much as the sleeve?

Is it pretty much the same as the sleeve? Just going home earlier?

Are there certain foods you can't eat anymore? If so, why?

I've a vegetarian so I get A LOT of my Protein from cheese... will that be a problem?

Any any other tidbits you would like to share...

Thank You!!!

-Kelli

[adavis 2]

i had my gallbladder out last year when I had my band removed. I am almost 2 weeks post op for vsg. I thought gallbladder surgery was a breeze. I havent had any problems with any foods since having my gallbladder removed. I think you will do great! Good luck!

[longer-life 139]

I haven't had VSG surgery yet, but I have had open hysterectomy, breast reduction & gall bladder. Gall bladder is the least painful by far. It is still surgery of course, but it wasn't a tough one for me. I am able to eat everything. Best wishes!

[MsC 0]

I haven't yet had VSG but I had my gallbladder out about 15 years ago. I have no problems eating cheese or anything else. No food restrictions. I take no digestive medications, no heartburn. But get that gall-darned gall bladder out of there. I waited too long to have mine removed and ended up with a stone lodged in the tiny tube/duct that takes bile to the intestine. This is the worst case scenario for gall stones. Don't wait for that to happen. It made my recovery much longer than it needed to be. Gall bladder removal is totally routine surgery. Easy breezy. I've never missed that little trouble maker!

[christin 54]

I haven't yet had VSG but I had my gallbladder out about 15 years ago. I have no problems eating cheese or anything else. No food restrictions. I take no digestive medications, no heartburn. But get that gall-darned gall bladder out of there. I waited too long to have mine removed and ended up with a stone lodged in the tiny tube/duct that takes bile to the intestine. This is the worst case scenario for gall stones. Don't wait for that to happen. It made my recovery much longer than it needed to be. Gall bladder removal is totally routine surgery. Easy breezy. I've never missed that little trouble maker!

I had a stone in the bile duct too. I passed out from the pain! Surgery was simple with a quick recovery though.

[Neoteric Verve 65]

I too waited too long. Just had mine out in Aug 2010. I was dumb enough to wait until I was vomiting bile. NOT GOOD. But you have nothing to fear at all. The "lap chole" is the most routine procedure that general surgeons do. I went home the same day.

[chowchows 100]

Long time lurker, first time poster (on this board. I'm a plicator so I always post on Sleeveplicationtalk.com).

Spent the first few days of this month in the hospital with what turned out to be pancreatitis. MRI/CT revealed small stones and sludge in gallbladder and was told it would have to come out once pancreas enzymes reached normal. They think I passed a stone and it lodged in the common duct of the pancreas/GB, but they did not see anything still there when they did the MRI. Fast forward a couple of weeks, and I am still waiting on surgery. Now that I am not dying from pancreatitis they are taking their sweet time and it looks like it will be Oct before I get it out. I have near constant pain on my right side that gets worse when I do any kind of activity. The problem is that I am also having some stomach pain and GI thinks I might have another problem so he wants to do an endoscopy before they take out GB. I have had three attacks (where I think I was trying to pass a stone) in the last three weeks. Even afterwards my muscles around my chest are so sore and tight that it hurts to wear a bra. It almost always gets worse as night comes. I am so over this...I just want it out.

Did anyone else have pain also in their stomach area? It's not constant, and I know that the buildup of gas that comes from GB issues isn't helping, but it's more than that. After you had your GB out, did the pain/issues end immediately? Can anyone recommend anything that helps when you are having an attack? I am eating almost no fat, but still having them. I guess that makes sense though since I am losing weight and that is putting fat/cholesterol through my GB every day. Thanks for the info/advice.

[Amanda131 214]

Flygirl-

This one is going to be a breeze! I had by gallbladder removed a few years before VSG and I remember it as the only surgery in my life where I woke up from it feeling better than when they put me under. The constant pain caused by the almost non-functioning gallbladder almost drove me batty. I awoke pain-free and it almost felt like a miracle. I was slow moving for a few days but otherwise recovered very quickly- much easier than VSG in my opinion (and I didn't consider VSG a difficult recovery). Other than soreness from the actual surgery, I had no more pain after the surgery and I had very little, if any, problems with eating fatty foods after surgery (I hear this is a crap shoot in that some do and some don't- much like dumping with VSG).

Best of luck to you! I believe you are going to be a much happier camper.

Amanda

[Caliblonde 25]

I think I must have had the worst gall bladder surgery experience ever. I thought it was much more painful than the VSG recovery and I was laid up for 2 weeks recovering. I had extreme problems with eating fatty foods after surgery and definitely had the dumping-like experience with sweets and such. I was also not able to eat eggs after having my gall bladder out - though that seems to have resolved since the VSG and I can once again eat eggs.

[MsC 0]

I had a stone in the bile duct too. I passed out from the pain! Surgery was simple with a quick recovery though.

@ Cristin -- oh the pain. The people in the emergency room told me that I need not fear any other sort of pain because I had already had the worst one. They isolated me in one large room of the ER by myself because they didn't want other patients to hear me. For some reason they couldn't give me painkiller until some tests came back. I have always been stoic as is everyone in my family but that night I must have looked like an alien was trying to claw its way out of my body!

[ellemarie 196]

It was the easiest surgery I have ever had. As another posted said, I felt better just after surgery than when I went it. I also had a tumor removed on my leg at the same time (4 inch scar) and it was by far worse than my gallbladder. I took it easy on spicy food after because I was so scared to have pain like I had before surgery, but basically I was allowed to eat anything.

[FlyGirl 18]

Long time lurker, first time poster (on this board. I'm a plicator so I always post on Sleeveplicationtalk.com).

Spent the first few days of this month in the hospital with what turned out to be pancreatitis. MRI/CT revealed small stones and sludge in gallbladder and was told it would have to come out once pancreas enzymes reached normal. They think I passed a stone and it lodged in the common duct of the pancreas/GB, but they did not see anything still there when they did the MRI. Fast forward a couple of weeks, and I am still waiting on surgery. Now that I am not dying from pancreatitis they are taking their sweet time and it looks like it will be Oct before I get it out. I have near constant pain on my right side that gets worse when I do any kind of activity. The problem is that I am also having some stomach pain and GI thinks I might have another problem so he wants to do an endoscopy before they take out GB. I have had three attacks (where I think I was trying to pass a stone) in the last three weeks. Even afterwards my muscles around my chest are so sore and tight that it hurts to wear a bra. It almost always gets worse as night comes. I am so over this...I just want it out.

Did anyone else have pain also in their stomach area? It's not constant, and I know that the buildup of gas that comes from GB issues isn't helping, but it's more than that. After you had your GB out, did the pain/issues end immediately? Can anyone recommend anything that helps when you are having an attack? I am eating almost no fat, but still having them. I guess that makes sense though since I am losing weight and that is putting fat/cholesterol through my GB every day. Thanks for the info/advice.

Ugh, pancreatitis is the worst pain ever! I had that 2 weeks after my sleeve surgery and spent 10 days in the hospital. I had stomach pains as well and my GI dr did an Upper GI and everything was normal there. So as far as controling the pain before my gall bladder surgery I took vicoden when it got real bad. It sucks because I know the pain pills have slowed down my weight loss. So hopefully now that my gall bladder is gone and I won't have to take those pills anymore I'll see more loss. For me it was anything I ate gave me pain regardless if it was full or fat, fried, spicey or perfectly healthy... everything made me hurt. My pain was directly under my ribcage on the right side.. and yep hurt when I had my bra on too. Felt like a baseball under my ribs. I'm only 3 days out from surgery so I really haven't felt much better at this point. And I really haven't eaten much since I'm scared it's going to hurt. I hope they get you in to surgery soon! My DR had told me that if it wasn't removed there was a chance that a stone could get in the bile duct and actually cause perminant damage and lifelong pancreas pain. That is what made me decide I really had no choice and it needed to be done. (I have a blood clotting disorder which is why I was putting it off for so long.)

Good Luck!! and get that gall bladder out soon!

[Was a humpty dumpty 35]

Way easier the sleeve. I had mine removed about 10 years ago.