Gallbladder Surgery

Hey! I had my gallbladder removed 6 weeks ago on Thursday. I have not had any problem with diarrhea (that a lot of people warned me about). I really don't think it effects everyone the same.

I was told after 6 weeks to get back to normal. However, 4 weeks after surgery I started hitting the gym pretty hard (elliptical and treadmill) and I have been totally fine. It took me about a week before I felt comfortable walking for any long length of time. However, I was off any pain meds after 3 days and felt pretty good.

I can't believe how amazing I feel now that it's out though. THANK GOD! For the 3 weeks before my surgery I would either throw up or be really really sick for 2 hours after eating or drinking anything.

4 years after the fact and I STILL have to hit the loo 3-4x a day...........I am sooo ENVIOUS! :laugh: I know some folks never had a problem one with the 'this too shall pass' afterward and some of us will probably always have it ~ but it's a minor inconvience at most. If I know I'm going to eat out, I just make sure to take Imodium beforehand and it's cool. In my case, I didn't have a lot of advance warning that the old gall bladder was going wonky. One Sunday afternoon, I was sitting in the den with hubby, watching TV and snacking on a can of mixed nuts, by that night, I was curled up in a fetal position, crying in pain, :sad: by mid-morning the next day, I'm being hauled out of my office on a stretcher, :sick: by that afternoon, I'm in the hospital, being poked and prodded with IVs stuck in every which away :noway: and by the next morning, I'm being taken into surgery, with me loudly protesting all the way that I didn't have TIME for surgery because I was covering not only my caseload but acting as unit manager AND covering the caseload of the adjacent unit until we could hire a new unit manager and another counselor and my husband, who had had a heart attack about 8 months prior to that didn't need to be having to take on the stress of taking care of me. :explode: :noway: :sad: In retrospect, having a gall bladder go bad was a blessing in disquise because it FORCED me to have to slow down.

I don't think this will set you back too much. I had my gallbladder out laproscopically several years ago and (with the exception of trying to go off my pain meds too soon and puking for several hours, going back to the hospital for a day and then getting an infection at my IV site :sick:) have had almost no problems since. Your abdominal muscles will be sore for a week or so, and you will want to take it easy and take your meds. Walking is fine and I don't think you undo your hard work. And in the long run, you will feel so much better.

I only wish that my diagnosis had come as quickly as Frithrir's... :mad: it took several trips to the emergency room (where they had to give me MORPHINE for the excruciating pain) and several months of being told it was acid reflux (and bottles of acid reducers, antacids, and even putting my bed up on blocks so I was sleeping on an incline) before I finally got into see a specialist. I had an endoscopy - and it showed that my esophagus was fine! Finally, I got an ultrasound, it showed huge gallstones, and I got scheduled for surgery. Since then, I've had no problems. If I eat a really fatty meal, I will not feel too great - but that's only to be expected under normal circumstances.

I spent 8 days in the hospital before they finally decided to take my gallbladder out over 2 years ago. I also have a problem with hitting the loo. If you are not careful you will not make it to the bathroom. I actually had a really embarassing moment about a month after having my out and had to go and buy me some new clothes. It can be horrible but at least as soon as they took it out I could eat again. I even got pregnant 2 months after having it done and tummy was fine. Good luck to you.

Connie

Like I had been telling them for years, it needed out. And my path report came back and they said "it was a really really bad gallbladder" lol, duh.

Ugh! How frustrating. I cannot imagine suffering for 8 years before having it taken care of. My surgeon said something similar afterwards - "oh yeah, there was a lot of scar tissue, you must have had some pretty bad attacks." Ya think?!?!