Gallbladder removal surgery

July 7, 2017 2:52 PM

What was your experience with the gallbladder surgery due to gallstones from beginning to the end and the recovery afterwards? Were you in a lot of pain? What did you eat afterwards? Did they keep you in the hospital or did they release you same day? I will have this surgery before I get pregnant because the doctor said it is a big deal if you need a surgery during pregnancy. So even though I am asymptomatic we will remove the gallbladder. Never had an attack but the thought of complication during pregnancy is what makes me want to get this surgery
posted by barexamfreak to Health & Fitness (20 answers total)

Had the surgery laparoscopicly. My "stones" were basically fine sand which tipped out into my digestive system as they were pulling it out. I was pretty pain free from surgery but got a raging case of pancreatitis due to the sand. The after surgery hurt less than the gall bladder attacks (the pancreatitis sucked & hurt though), and because they pump air into you to see what they're doing the farting was the worst part. I was in hospital for 5 days due to pancreatitis, and off work another week after that and back to normal work levels in two weeks. I was never at any point told to change my diet so I didn't. Every so often if I eat too much fat I'll get weird green black poops from the bile. I still had some pain afterwards (still less than a full blown gallstone attack) I had to go back to have a sphinter related to bile being released in my digestive system (I believe) enlarged afterwards, that was day surgery done with a tube down my throat. Never clearly understood why, but it cleared up any residual pain.

This is not as minor a surgery as a lot of people seem to think. Most everyone I know that's had it has taken longer to get better or had complications of some sort afterwards. I imagine this is why they don't want to risk doing it during pregnancy. Everyone of them though has been happy with the results in the end if they've been having gallstone pain as pretty much anything is worth it to stop regular reoccurring attacks. They hurt like hell.
posted by wwax at 3:16 PM on July 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

I was diagnosed with gallstones and required gallbladder removal surgery last summer. I had several gallstone attacks and was barely able to eat anything. My gallbladder apparently looked like it was a packed sack of pebbles and there were several in the duct.

I had laparoscopic surgery with no complications. The surgery did not require a hospital stay and I was allowed to go home immediately after. Pain management is important for the first week. Keep up on the pain meds because waiting until they have completely worn off is a bad idea.

As far as eating things, though, I had a milkshake on the way home! It was glorious. I have had no problems with food since the surgery, but YMMV.

In two weeks, I was recovered enough to drive from Arkansas to Washington solo. I took it relatively easy, but I was able to set up and take down my tent each night. Full recovery (no pain, no problems with bending over) took about a month and a half.
posted by Gneisskate at 3:21 PM on July 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

I had keyhole surgery after a gallstone attack about four years ago. I'm relatively healthy, mid-thirties and, for what it's worth, I don't remember a great deal about the recovery period. Suggests perhaps that it wasn't so terrible!

I has the surgery in the morning and was due to go home the same day, but because I didn't shake off the general anesthetic as fast as the nurses liked, I was kept in overnight. No complications.

My then-boyfriend took care of me for the next week and I had to move gingerly because of the incision scars. Felt a bit bruised and battered, but nothing excessive and watched a lot of television from the sofa. I do remember various sexy times during the latter part of that week, so I can't have felt too fragile.

The scars have healed to the point where you can't really see the two on the right hand side of my belly, though the one near the bellybutton and in the centre of the abdomen are slightly raised, but perhaps that could have been averted if I'd been more careful with the scars during the recovery period.

I have no symptoms and am able to eat whatever I like. A+ would have it removed again. Hope this helps!
posted by doornoise at 3:24 PM on July 7, 2017 [3 favorites]

So even though I am asymptomatic we will remove the gallbladder. Never had an attack but the thought of complication during pregnancy is what makes me want to get this surgery

I apologize for being this person but have you gotten a second opinion? It's kind of weird they want to do this without your ever having had issues. My understanding is that many people remain asymptomatic. Disregard this if you've already done your due dilligence.

My gallbladder is falling apart--I know because although they didn't find anything on the ultrasound I'm still kind of constantly in dull pain and my doctor was pretty much like, 'Dude, I don't care what they see: it's your goddamn gallbladder.'* No fever, but it's not great; I am working up the steam to deal with it, but if there were any chance I could get out of surgery I would totally take it.

*I am not a dude
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:29 PM on July 7, 2017 [7 favorites]

I had laparoscopic surgery in 2007. I was in the hospital overnight. Was definitely in some pain for about a week, at which point, we drove to the beach and I spent a week drinking, so it wasn't that bad.

I was back to normal for fatty food eating in about 2-3 weeks, and have been totally normal since. Scars are basically invisible.
posted by Chrysostom at 3:30 PM on July 7, 2017

I had laproscopic surgery.

I had stones. Not particularly painful. But 8 weeks after first attack, a stone moved from gall bladder into duct causing jaundice. Jaundice terrible. I had endoscopy to have stone removed, and then gall bladder out a week later. I went to a party the next day. I took care of two kids (toddler and baby) by myself two days later.

I don't remember being in pain or uncomfortable. It really wasn't a bad surgery.
posted by Ftsqg at 3:33 PM on July 7, 2017

I had emergency gallbladder surgery following my first attack, which put me in the ER. The procedure itself was fine. The recovery was fine with the normal post-surgical soreness and crankiness. I was in the hospital for 48 hours after surgery but protocols here will be different than in an insurance-driven healthcare system.

Be aware that I am in the tiny group with a not great outcome. I eat like a hobbit now: first dinner, second dinner. It's very unpredictable and not tied to specific foods, fat, or anything I seem to be able to control. It isn't my favourite aspect of my life.
posted by DarlingBri at 3:41 PM on July 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

I had laparoscopic surgery to remove my gallbladder after several extremely painful attacks. I did the surgery as an outpatient at a surgery center so I could get a surgeon I liked. I went home late afternoon and laid on the sofa watching TV and chewing painkillers for a few days. Recovery was really pretty easy, and I was active and seemingly normal within about a week (maybe less?). Within about 4 days I was eating normally again, although avoiding fat out of an abundance of caution. I now eat exactly as I did before, and frequently forget that I even had the surgery done.
posted by Joh at 4:12 PM on July 7, 2017

I had laparoscopic surgery about 5 years ago - and it was not a big deal at all. I lean towards fairly extreme anxiety when it comes to anything health-related, and I can happily say that there was absolutely nothing to be worried about when all was said and done. I was home the same day and I took (opioid) pain meds for about 2 days afterwards before realizing that a) constipation was going to be far worse than the recovery from the surgery, and b) I didn't need pain meds anymore. I had booked 2 weeks off from work and felt quite reasonable within about 4 days of the surgery - but my husband made me take it easy nonetheless. Watched a lot of movies, napped, and tried to keep myself from getting too enthusiastic about living my life. I ate cautiously for the first few weeks, but now I eat normally and, as far as I can tell, haven't had any issues as a result of it.
posted by VioletU at 6:11 PM on July 7, 2017

I started having gallbladder attacks after having my son, though I wasn't sure that's what they were. There is a strong family history of needing your gallbladder out after having a baby. I would feel gassy and heartburny for a day or so and then it would culminate in an intense stomach ache that lasted for about an hour. Until I had an attack that lasted for six hours. It was about eight months after having my son. My husband came home from work and found me curled in a ball, crying. He took me to the ER, they did some labs, I threw up epically and felt better, they found that my GB was so bad, it was starting to affect my liver. This was a, I think, Monday night? I met with a general surgeon the next day and had my gall bladder out that Friday morning. I spent the week in between eating saltines, plain chicken, dry cereal, and canned pears because I was so afraid of setting off another attack.

(Because I live in the shitty US and had just come back from my FMLA leave, I was afraid I would get fired for having to take a week off for the surgery. My boss assured me they wouldn't fire me and I only missed three days of work. So that's a concern if you're an American. If you burn up all your time on your mat leave and your GB needs to come out before a year is up, you might get fired.)

The surgery went fine. It was laparoscopic, hey kept me for about two hours, fed me apple juice and LORNA DOONES (After a week of nothing flavorful to eat, those sweet, buttery cookies were literally the best food I'd ever eaten. Between the flavor deprivation and being high as a kite on Dilaudid, I kept holding the cookie up and giving long speeches about how delicious it was. The nurse found this hilarious and kept bringing me more of them), and then sent me home. They gave me Percocets for the pain, which was honestly minimal. I had a drain, which was disgusting (and none of my friends who had the surgery had, so I guess my surgeon is weird or old school) but it wasn't a big deal, really. And I had to wear a corset thing, which I hated, but did keep me from bending the wrong way. I also had surgical staples which I think I was allergic or sensitive to because a few of the incisions got all red and gross.

Getting the staples out HURT but was super-fast. I healed up quickly and without incident. I could lift my baby, but not my baby in his car seat so my mom had to pick him up at daycare for me. He kept kicking me in the incisions and when I fed him, he pressed against the incisions and that sucked. (I was done breastfeeding by then, so I don't know what effect the surgery or the drugs would have had on that.)

I took it easy on heavy foods for a few weeks, but I eat whatever now and don't have a problem. I guess maybe I had diarrhea a few times in the months right after the surgery but now, over a year later, there's no problem. I'm glad I had that thing out. It was making me feel bad almost all the time but I didn't realize it. I kind of always had a low level stomach ache/heartburn that's gone now. I wish I'd had it out before I had my baby! I remember crying when I was in the ER because I missed my baby so much, I was lucky to have good help when I couldn't lift him. Also, we bedshare and had to move the baby to his own bed temporarily because I wasn't comfortable sleeping in the bed with him when I was taking narcotics. He was not best pleased by that.

GOOD LUCK!
posted by Aquifer at 6:22 PM on July 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

I know this doesn't answer your specific question so feel free to flag for deletion, but....

the doctor said it is a big deal if you need a surgery during pregnancy

I mean, it's never ideal to have surgery during pregnancy but it's not always a "big deal," and the possibility of complications during a future pregnancy certainly isn't a reason to take out a perfectly good gallbladder. Heck, you could get kidney stones during pregnancy, too, but the idea of removing one of your totally normal kidneys just to cut your risk of kidney stones in half is, frankly, insane.

Surgery and anesthesia have risks whether or not you're pregnant, and performing surgery without a medical indication is a violation of medical ethics and is not the standard of care.

More than anecdotes about other people's experiences with gall bladder surgery, what you need is a second opinion.

(Source: I'm a labor and delivery nurse with more than a decade of experience, including caring for pregnant women who've had gallstones and gall bladder removals during their pregnancies).
posted by jesourie at 6:28 PM on July 7, 2017 [11 favorites]

I just had my gallbladder removed laparoscopically in November of last year. I'll spare you the details of diagnosis, etc. Waking up from general anesthesia wasn't fun, but recovering from the surgery was not so bad. IIRC I was able to go home within a day or so. The incision sites were painful, and I had trouble sleeping and moving around for a few days (I'm a stomach sleeper, but that was not possible with the incisions). After a few days (2 or 3), though, the pain was manageable by just OTC painkillers. I did watch what I ate for the first couple weeks post-surgery, but was able to resume a normal diet thereafter. As surgeries go, it really seemed like no big deal.

Keep in mind, even though the incisions look tiny, they're deep, and as wwax notes, they inflate you so that they have room to work. You're going to be sore afterward. If your gallbladder is enlarged or inflamed, you may wind up with some bruising around the navel incision when they yank the gallbladder out of it.

That said, I'd encourage you to think about is whether or not you really need this surgery. You said you're asymptomatic. Do you have gallstones but they're not blocking the duct? It's not clear to me if your doctor has advised you to have your gallbladder removed -- because it's only a matter of time until it has to be done regardless -- or if this is a "what-if" sort of scenario.
posted by Janta at 6:29 PM on July 7, 2017

I apologize for being this person but have you gotten a second opinion? It's kind of weird they want to do this without your ever having had issues. My understanding is that many people remain asymptomatic. Disregard this if you've already done your due dilligence.

FYI because I think it's only fair to mention, this is the poster's I think 4th time asking this same question in the past 2 years (including this one), and she has apparently been scheduled for the surgery in the past but didn't have it done, not sure why. This is definitely not the first time that the issue has come up. I think that she should have it done because it is clearly causing her a lot of anxiety over an extended time period.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 8:51 PM on July 7, 2017 [4 favorites]

No one remembered to give me any IV fluids after my procedure (keep in mind you can't drink or eat leading up to it), so by the time I was in recovery it had been a LOOOONG time with no liquids. The next day I was back in the ER getting IV fluids from acute dehydration. So just a be cognizant of that I guess?
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 9:12 PM on July 7, 2017

I had my gallbladder removed laparoscopicly a bit over a year ago. I had a few attacks in the months before the surgery, prior to getting the gallstone diagnosis. The attacks were majorly un-fun, the worst one involved several hours of intense, sharp abdominal pain and nausea, and dry-heave with occasional small amounts of sticky yellow discharge (that's the bile, and is what tipped off the advice nurse that it could be gallstones instead of the food poisoning I had assumed it was). I avoided fatty food, caffeine, alcohol until the surgery to prevent triggering another attack.

The surgery itself was straightforward. The surgeon I got does 100s of these a year, a very routine procedure. You get put into a gown, get an IV placed. I have some anxiety around blood/needles/medical-apparatus, so I got a dose of Xanax in the prep room. The surgery is under general anesthesia, three incisions of about 1-2cm length are made around the navel, the right side of the abdomen, and the upper-right abdomen. There is a lot more bruising and tenderness around the navel incision after, as that's where a lot more things are moving. I went in at 7:30am for a 8:45am surgery, and left the hospital around noon-1pm.

Recovery officially lasted a week. I was prescribed Vicodin for pain/soreness, but only took them the first two days. The first day I was sore and just did not move. The second day I was sore and had a weak core, but could mostly sit up without assistance. Third day I could walk around, extremely slowly. By the fourth day, I was mostly functional; I would say I was at 50% physically. Back to 100% about three weeks post-surgery. Diet after surgery was a lot of Powerade, saltines, Lipton instant noodle soup, and plain yogurt for the first week, then my regular diet after.

I would rather spend an entire month in the state I was in the 24 hours after surgery, over spending 15 minutes with the pain of passing a gallstone.
posted by jraenar at 10:26 PM on July 7, 2017

My gallbladder got diseased for mysterious reasons. They never found stones, just sludge, but it was giving me lots of problems -- I was having attacks of pain as if I had stones, and various digestive problems.

Eventually it got scarred and shriveled up so they said it had to come out. They put me under general anesthesia which was scary because they make you sign a piece of paper that says you might die (anybody who ever goes under general has to sign this piece of paper). But it was fine. Like the vast, vast, vast majority of people who go under general anesthesia, I did not die.

I had it done laproscopically and was supposed to go home that day but I was sensitive to the anesthesia so when I came out of it I puked, and was nauseated and slept for another 12 hours and they kept me in the hospital. Then I went home and napped for a few days. I felt tired and delicate for a few days after that.

I've had digestive problems since, but nothing serious and I probably would have had them regardless.
posted by mrmurbles at 10:26 PM on July 7, 2017

I had two pretty large stones and my HIDA scan showed 0% function, so I was scheduled for removal surgery. It was outpatient; I went home the same day. There was just as much discomfort from the gas they pump in you as there was from the incision and removal.

The pain was totally manageable using the oxy or whatever it was the gave me. Two days post-surgery I was well enough to visit IKEA and be pushed around in a wheelchair for a few hours. Advisable? Eh, probably not. But we had guests visiting from abroad, and I was determined we would do everything on their planned itinerary despite my unplanned pesky surgery. As I recall I was back to normal within a couple of weeks, minus some pretty standard abdominal soreness that lasted a few more weeks.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 1:09 AM on July 8, 2017

Hugging a pillow whenever I got up, walked around, etc. after surgery helped.
posted by Jacqueline at 4:55 AM on July 8, 2017

Had it done a few years ago laparoscopically after a few attacks (including one thought-I-was-going-to-die-emergency-room visit). Went home the same day of surgery and felt okay--didn't use pain meds after the first dose. That said, I was also told I would be able to go back to work a couple of days later. It was really more like four days until I felt up to it. I was weak and had to have people carry heavy-ish stuff for me for a couple of weeks, but otherwise, it was not a big deal.
posted by pangolin party at 6:43 AM on July 8, 2017

I actually had my laparoscopic cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal) 24 hours ago. Was discharged about 3 hours after coming around from the anaesthesia. I was in quite a bit of pain immediately after, which they treated effectively with intravenously fentanyl. I looked up fentanyl and the advantage for patients they want to discharge on the day is that the half-life, when given intravenously, is only about 10-20 minutes, so once they stopped putting the drugs in the cannula I felt fine to move about within a half hour or so.

I am currently feeling quite a lot of achiness in my stomach, but painkillers (naproxen, paracetamol, codeine) are controlling this alright. I'm getting occasional pain where my gallbladder used to be, presumably from the bile duct sorting itself out, but the background ache it was giving me before surgery is definitely dissipating. There is a bit of bloating from the inflation, but I'm not getting any of the sharp referred pain which some people get as a consequence of laparoscopic surgery.

My mother has been here yesterday and today, to keep an eye on me, but she's going to go tomorrow morning, as it's pretty clear I'll be able to cope with the basics for the next couple of days.

They've signed me off as sick until the 28th of the month. Just over two weeks from the surgery. I don't have a particularly physical job, so I'm presuming that this is what they do as standard for sedentary/office workers. No athletic activities for 4 weeks and no heavy lifting for 8.
posted by howfar at 1:08 PM on July 14, 2017 [1 favorite]