Experience with gallbladder removal.

August 30, 2015 9:44 AM

Can you guys tell me how your gallbladder removal surgery went? Is it true that you can go back to work after a full week? I am having surgery on Friday and I am not going back to work until the following monday( a full 9 days at home besides the surgery day). I am completely frightened. I heard about davinci surgeries that are robot assisted. I am next looking into that. I heard some can do even with one single incision.
posted by barexamfreak to Health & Fitness (21 answers total)

I had my gallbladder out 5 years ago. I was offered the 1 or 3 incision option for my surgery, I picked 3 based on a chat with the surgeon. My surgery had complications, as my gallbladder was actually necrotic, having been undiagnosed as an issue for years, and would have required 3 incisions no matter what I'd picked. Even so, the surgery went relatively smoothly, all told. I ended up taking 2 weeks off of work, but I definitely could have gone back after 1 if I'd needed to. Make sure when you get home that for the first few days you stay on schedule with your pain meds, the biggest setback I had was when I thought I didn't need them, and had to catch back up. It's a pretty routine surgery. I was utterly terrified about it, but it really wasn't bad at all. What I can tell you is that my quality of life has increased dramatically since having it out. It's totally normal to be scared.
posted by Nimmie Amee at 9:57 AM on August 30, 2015

I had mine done 15 years ago and it was a breeze. Mine was done with three small incisions and I am sure the full 9 days at home will be plenty of recuperation time unless you do heavy lifting in your job. You will, of course, be tired.
posted by OkTwigs at 9:58 AM on August 30, 2015

Hey you're gonna be just fine! Cholecystectomy is super routine and your surgeon has probably done it a million times. A week recovery sounds about right for normal activity, assuming your job isn't like, lift heavy things all day and what not. Even then eh, do what your surgeon says.

Don't know nothing about robot stuff but lap choles are same day in and out where I live. You get four holes IIRC and they glue 'em shut or use steristrips. That's how not very major this is: they don't even stitch ya closed afterwards most times. If you're getting the old school one big ol' cut then it's longer recovery and you'll get stitches or staples or whatever but still a run of the mill surgery that happens thousands of times a year.

Source: My wife made her bones in surgical care before moving to critical care and has seen literally hundreds of gallbladder uninstallations. I'm scheduled for one myself next month and have done ALL THE RESEARCH because I am prone to panic about health care issues; I've completely satisfied that I'm gonna be fine. Plus I have it on good authority that once that miserable little sac comes out, life gets so much better.
posted by Sternmeyer at 9:58 AM on August 30, 2015

NOTE: My experience isn't typical.

I am at the end of convalescing from an incredibly fun (and SURPRISE!) bout of gallstones with pancreatitis with gallbladder removal.

I had my gallbladder removed a week ago Friday. I have to keep reminding myself that I was really sick (5 days in hospital sick), and that normal gall bladder removal is easy as pie. Had I not been pretty sick, I would have been fine by now.

My surgery was laproscopic, and a week on I have had no problems at all with my incisions. I have no stitches, only steri-strips (and they remind me of strapping tape, much to my eternal amusement).

And on preview: what Nimmie Amee said about the pain drugs. I was actually scared of running out, but I have leftover.

Please please memail me if you have any questions at all. Had I had time to think about everything, I may have been scared. As it was I was just relieved to be in hospital where they could take care of me/it. It wasn't scary at all, and like I said, my experience was not typical.

Good luck, and good for you for taking care of it before things go south.
posted by bibliogrrl at 10:00 AM on August 30, 2015

I would absolutely take the nine days if you're able to. I had a similar laparoscopic surgery, and while I felt well enough to go back to work by a week, my abdomen was still a little swollen from the surgery and, er, my work pants wouldn't go on without irritating my stitches.

As far as pain after the surgery, the worst part was the sore back from napping so much! I was able to go for a short run 14 days post-surgery. You may get weird twinges in your shoulders -- the gas they use during surgery irritates your diaphragm muscles, which you feel in your shoulder. I found that moving my arms helped because it made my brain realize that, hey, wait, I'm getting signals from the shoulders and they say they're fine.
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 10:04 AM on August 30, 2015

Laparoscopic surgery is typically done with four small incisions. I had mine out two years ago and right now, the scar from only one is still visible, but fading: it's a line less than an inch long.

We've discussed this surgery here before, here and elsewhere.

Unless you have complications, nine days is about enough. I found it difficult to take a deep breath for about two weeks after the surgery, without getting a stitch in my side, so any exertion was out, but I could move around. You will probably be advised not to lift anything for a month. This is a good idea.

I'll summarize what I said earlier: you may get a sore throat from intubation, so have something cold on hand, not fatty – sherbet or granita is good. The sore throat lasts a day or two at most. If you can do cannabis, after this surgery it may be helpful for a day or two particularly to help with residual pain (I did not experience much, and never touched the oxycontin) and any remaining nausea.
posted by zadcat at 10:12 AM on August 30, 2015

I felt SO much better after surgery, so perhaps that'll quell some anxiety. Previous to the surgery the pain above my last rib on the right--I assumed it was an on-going gym injury; I was only in terrible pain for 2 days.
Also you are in a wonderful situation, being able to take so much time off work.
In my case the sonogram operator identified the gallstone (the size of a golf ball) as the gallbladder itself. After surgery, I was surprised to wake up in the hospital [I was supposed to go home directly after surgery] where they wanted me to stay for 2 days. That was the most aggravating part of the experience.
2 years later the larger than expected scar (laparoscopic surgery had been planned), well, it's disappeared. Totally unnoticeable.
I was quite able to get around 2 days post surgery and left the hospital a day early. Seven days later the sutures were painlessly removed.
Make sure you have foods/drinks, the doc should be able to recommend what you'll be able to digest well, all in convenient locations at your house.
In my case digestion has been squirrelly for the entire 2 years post surgery. A couple of my friends have no such problems but make sure your doc goes through dietetic issues when you talk to him/her at later check-ups. Managing the lack of a gallbladder has been a breeze compared to the attack I experienced before surgery.
oh, also, I was able to do light gym activity within a week of surgery. Best of wishes for your speedy recovery.
posted by Twist at 10:16 AM on August 30, 2015

I had mine done about 15years ago, laproscopically with three tiny incisions (one in my belly button so you can't even see a scar) I had an incident where I had hundreds of tiny stones that emptied like a marble bag, as my doctor put it, as they were removing the gallbladder itself. This set off a pancreatic attack. I was still home 3 days later. back to work 4 days after that.

I did however have a very sedentary job & understanding workplace & they let me go home early around 2pm one or 2 days there the first week when I pushed myself too hard. If you have a low stress office type job where you sit in a big comfy office chair all day you could maybe go back, if you are up & down or on your feet all day, in a stressful job where you have to be alert & give 100% then try for more time off. I did find driving painful though for some reason so caught lifts for the first couple of weeks back just to be safe.
posted by wwax at 10:47 AM on August 30, 2015

Previously and More Previously and Even More Previously. You can see that this is a very common thing and people generally have very little problems.

I had mine out in January with 3 incisions. One note about them, if you get a navel incision. My navel swelled shut and looked really funny and a little bruised for a few weeks. In the end, my navel is a slightly different shape and a bit deeper than before. the scar there is well hidden but still a bit solid and feels tight sometimes. I'm trying to remember to massage it. (Nobody warned me how weird your belly button can look once they take the gauze off...)

I had a non-standard recovery due to other health issues but the surgery went fine. I have a sensitive stomach so I didn't do a ton of pain meds. The main thing is to start eating slowly following surgery. Your gut is going to need time to adjust and can even take a few months to really figure itself out. So jello, soup, mashed potatoes, applesauce, bananas, etc and slowly eating more solid foods. Keep it pretty low fat for a while until you know how fatty foods will affect you. Use the stool softener if you take lots of pain meds. Drink plenty of water.

Deep breaths will hurt. Moving around will hurt. All my muscles got really sore from laying around. I found it helpful to hold a pillow to my stomach a lot and it helped when I was trying to walk around. I had a small ache in my side for a few weeks and my abdomen didn't like stretching out for a while by the incisions.

Overall lots of people have this procedure and do fine. Just let your office know that since it's surgery you may need more time (or if you can work from home or something...)
posted by Crystalinne at 11:48 AM on August 30, 2015

I had the typical 3-incision laparoscopic procedure, no complications and was back to work after 1 week just fine. I came in at 9, signed in, prepped etc.; surgery was performed at around 1 PM. I came to recovery and stayed til 9 pm or so and was released when it all looked fine. Went home (this was a Wednesday). That's the short story. And represents what many people would say their experience was like I bet.

BUT. For some reason, after my procedure, no one thought to give me any IV fluids in the recovery room. This meant I had had zero fluids in 14+ hours (since you go no-fluid/food the night before to prep for the surgery).

I went home at 9 pm as I mentioned, and went right to bed. I slept in the next day and had a low-key day; same for Friday. Saturday afternoon I went to Target with a friend and recall feeling dizzy. It felt odd. Sunday I stayed in bed. I felt weird every time I moved my head... like my vision couldn't keep up with my physical movement.

Monday morning I was still dizzy on standing and nearly fainted. I called the doctor and they had me rush in, for fear of a blood clot. Hella stressful and scary. Turns out I was severely dehydrated. After several hours getting IV fluids I felt dramatically better. Unreal how fast that turned me around. That's all it was, and directly due to not being hydrated in recovery.

There would have been no way for me to drink enough fluids on my own to make up the deficit, so that was the only remedy. Luckily nothing worse happened.

So- that's my anecdote. Not really anything to do with the procedure at all, just don't let them forget to hook you up w/ fluids afterward. :-) YMMV of course.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 11:53 AM on August 30, 2015

I had my gallbladder out earlier this year, and it was awesome! It's amazing that I used to have an organ, but now I don't, and that not having that organ makes me feel better. Here's how my recovery went:

Wednesday (day of operation): Cleaned the house, organized my bedside, went to the hospital, got knocked out, had the operation, and then came home and laid in bed. Everything I wanted (apple juice, phone, comic books, laptop) was within arms reach, so I didn't need to use my stomach muscles to twist around or sit up to get something. When I needed to get up and go to the bathroom, my boyfriend supported my back and pulled me up.

Thursday: Laid in bed, ate Ritz crackers, played games, and binge watched Entourage. I could get up by myself but it was kind of painful, so I only got up when I needed to go to the bathroom, and I would grab more snacks on the way back to bed.

Friday: Laid in bed, ate Ritz crackers AND some turkey lunchmeat, and did some more bingewatching. My stomach area was still painful when I sat up, but by Friday, I got out of bed a couple times even if I didn't have to, which was a notable improvement. In fact, a friend of ours brought her dogs over and I wanted to go out to the back yard and see them, but nobody was paying attention to me, so instead of waiting patiently for help, I navigated stairs AND carried a camping chair outside so I could hang out with the pups.

Saturday and Sunday: Hung out in the backyard, read some books, drank more apple juice. I was eating, but but mostly colorless bland things. I remember seeing a commercial for hamburgers and marveling that they didn't even look like food. Getting out of bed wasn't a big deal at all anymore.

Monday: Walked half a mile to the Trader Joes to get more crackers, and then took the bus back, exhausted. Napped.

Tuesday: Walked half a mile to a bus stop, took the bus to the library, checked out more books, took the bus home, and napped.

You get the picture. Each day, I was a bit stronger and had a bit more energy. It was incredible to be able to witness my body healing itself day after day.

I took the week after my surgery off of work, and towards the end I felt a little silly about it, because I was better enough to go out and do some shopping or see my friends. Then I went stir crazy, and on the Sunday before I went back to work, I decided to clean out our garden shed and ended up tweaking something near the surgery area, which resulted in additional painful twinges whenever I moved a certain way. That sucked.

When I returned to work the following Monday, it quickly became obvious that hanging out with friends took a lot less energy than working my desk job. I worked shorter days for another week or two, but then mostly returned to my full schedule. Some of this was because I didn't have a car and couldn't bike right after the surgery, so I had to take an hourlong bus ride each way, which also drained my energy. I'd probably have gone back to full days sooner if I had a car.

Even a month later, I had to be careful with my stomach area. There was a photoshoot where I was laying on my stomach on concrete and then getting up and twisting around, and that area was sore for the next couple days. The surgery was at the beginning of May, and I didn't feel ready to bike to work again until the first week of June.

As others have said, the incisions are super minimal if the removal is done laparoscopically. The worst part about the whole ordeal was how bad I felt BEFORE the surgery; everything after the surgery was great in comparison. I still freaked out a little afterwards, though; my stomach area felt so sensitive that it was hard to believe it'd ever get back to normal, but it did! And I ate pizza again, and hamburgers, and Thai food.

The End.
posted by redsparkler at 11:56 AM on August 30, 2015

Oh yeah! I was super worried about how my stomach was going to adjust after the surgery. Diarrhea was a possibility, but so was constipation! I took a careful amount of stool softener, but I still don't think I pooped for like, four days. The doctor's office said that was fine, though.

Also, I was definitely out of it for the first few days after the surgery, so my boyfriend printed up a little daily schedule with my medications on it. That way I could wake up, check the clock, and then take whatever pills I needed and mark them off on the sheet. There was also a space to write down what I was eating, to keep track of any food issues.
posted by redsparkler at 12:01 PM on August 30, 2015

Had mine out on May 4. I'm significantly overweight, so (what is my surgeon's) normal 4-incision procedure ended up being 5 due to some minor complications and difficulty in getting to it / removal. But I still went home the same day.

Dr. also said I would probably have more residual pain than a normal recovery due to the necessary pushing / shoving around of my extra insides. I could probably have made it back to work the following Monday (desk job), but because I was still not 100%, have an awesome job, an awesome wife, and a ton of vacation to burn, I stayed home an additional week.

I also experienced the odd right shoulder pain, which I would describe as the most annoying, if not necessarily severe, pain I had during recovery. I had no need for the prescription pain killers after 2 or 3 days, but took it easy sitting and standing up. In addition, I'm a side sleeper, and it was July before I could comfortably sleep on my right side, but I'm sure my extra weight contributed significantly to that.

Given the extra weekend in your plan I think you'll be fine going back to work in 9 days, assuming you're not doing intensely physical labor.

I too was worried, but far more than I needed to be. It was a simple procedure, and just minor discomfort afterward. You'll be fine, good luck!
posted by SquidLips at 12:01 PM on August 30, 2015

Echoing what others are saying re: you need all that time to build back up. You will become Very tired VERY fast. You get up and feel OK; then the mere effort of taking a shower and getting dressed saps all your reserves and you're wiped out.

It just takes some time to recoup your normal self after oh, having an organ removed. Your body is dealing with that. Let it.

9 days is just fine. If you have the time, take it. You gain nothing by pushing yourself. Set up your recovery environment ahead of time to minimize the need to travel, go up/down stairs, deal with any pets/kids or other things that required bending, lifting, etc. Just plan to rest and sleep and toward the end of the 9 days, start to do a bit more activity so that the first day back doesn't decimate you.

As I now recall, I worked half days my first 3 days back. And I was glad I did. I had a desk job but I forgot how much movement was required even for that. If you can swing that, at least plan for the option. If you don't need it, great. But build in the option for yourself just in case.

IANAD, IANYD, blah blah.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 12:04 PM on August 30, 2015

I had my gallbladder removed Wednesday before last, by the end of the day I felt well apart from some soreness, the next day I went for a fairly long walk and out for lunch. I'm not working but I do have a nine week old baby and was fine to care for him solo by the Saturday. So you may be absolutely fine!
posted by threetwentytwo at 12:29 PM on August 30, 2015

I know you're scared, but you asked almost the exact same question a few months ago and got 29 answers. Make sure you're discussing and addressing your anxiety issues with professionals such as therapist and primary care doctor as well.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 1:42 PM on August 30, 2015 [2 favorites]

Also, if there is only one incision that can make it technically harder for the surgeon to do the procedure. Fewer incisions does not automatically equal better surgery. Talk to your surgeon about what option is best for you and why.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 1:49 PM on August 30, 2015

They did not reconnect my belly button in the right place after the laproscopy. It was lowered by an inch or inch and a half. I feel they separated my belly fat from the musculature on my abdominal wall. Otherwise it was easy, except for the sepsis that necessitated a five day stay with IV antibiotics. Yeah.
posted by Oyéah at 1:59 PM on August 30, 2015

The shoulder pain is common- here's why it happens.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 6:20 PM on August 30, 2015

I had a 3-incision laproscopic surgery on a Saturday. I was home Sunday, and working from home on Monday. A week later, I was at the beach. My digestion was back to normal in about two weeks.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:22 PM on August 30, 2015

A quick spot of anecdata: My 87-year-old aunt had her gall bladder out a couple of months ago. A week later, she traveled about 250 miles to enjoy a family reunion.
posted by bryon at 4:21 AM on September 1, 2015 [1 favorite]