Laparoscopic gallbladder surgery
December 6, 2006
Since I had laparoscopic gallbladder surgery (called cholecystectomy) a lot of people want to know what it was like.
A few remember the days when it was considered MAJOR surgery when you were laid up for weeks recuperating. When you were left with a hugh scar that went down the front of your
I had the operation at 7:30 AM November 17, was back in recovery at 9:30 AM, home by 12:30 PM. It couldn’t have been faster or easier.
The worse part was waiting in the OR holding area–
A joke is coming: although I was the patient I was very impatient to get the surgery going…Pa-dum.–
from 6:45 AM ’til about 7:15 when the nurse anesthetist wheeled me to the OR.
I had the surgery because I had had 2 very painful attacks in the middle of the night, the first of which I though might be a heart attack. So I ended up in the emergency room. After all the tests my gastroenterologist said “gallbladder.
The thoracic surgeon after the second attack showed me the sonogram and said a BIG stone (usually made of cholesterol) was at the mouth of the duct and was causing the intermittent pain.
“Get it out,” he said. But I had to go to the Dominican Republic on vacation, so I went on vacation…
Eventually in November I had the surgery. The surgeon didn’t have to cut stomach muscles (which would have been done in an open surgery so getting up and around was very quick.
There was some pain around the incisions for a couple of days. Getting up and down was careful and slow. I took pain medication for a day or two.
Heck, I had my nails done at my salon 2 days later. I was driving the car on the 2nd day.
I have experienced, for the last 2 weeks, gas, diarrhea, and slight abdominal pain. These are supposed to subside.
There are some complications or side effects that 5-40% of those who have the surgery experience:
- Upset stomach, nausea, and vomiting.
- Gas, bloating, and diarrhea.
- Persistent pain in the upper right abdomen.
You can ease diarrhea by taking the medicine cholestyramine.
Here is the Google search for the surgery.
The surgery went very well indeed. I was warned ahead of time that the surgery could have been converted to open surgery, that I could have had a tooth broken or knocked out from intubation for general anesthesia but that probably wouldn’t happen.
And none of it did. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions.
maryt 
I HAD A TERRIBLE PAIN THAT WAS CONSTANT ON DEC11TH! I KEPT ON TAKING OXYCODONE THAT WAS PRESCRIBED TO ME FOR PAIN BY MY GASTROENTEROLOGIST.. I HAD ALREADY BEEN REFEERED TO A SURGEON, BUT MY APPT. WASN’T UNTIL THE NEXT DAY.. OUR YOUNGEST SON WAS ILL ON THAT DAY, SO I MISSED MY APPT TO TAKE CARE OF HIM… HE HAD TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL, AND SO MY HUSBAND HAD TAKEN HIM, BUT THEN I HAD TO GO AND WOW!! I WAS ADMITTED. I THOUGHT THAT I WAS GETTING MY GALLBLADDER REMOVED, BUT I WAS SO WRONG.. THEY KEPT ME THERE DOING X-RAYS, SONOGRAMS, PICTURES… ANYWAY, FINALLY I JUST CHECKED OUT AND BECAUSE I KNEW THAT I HAD BEEN REFFERRED TO A SURGEON & I HAD RESCHEDULED MY APPT. FOR THAT THURSDAY! YEYYY! I WENT, AND HE TOLD ME THAT HE COULD GET ME IN THAT MONDAY.. WELL, I WENT IN FOR SURGERY ON MONDAY, BUT DIDN’T GET IT UNTIL TUESDAY.. YEAH, IT WAS LAPROSCOPTIC, IT’S JUST THAT TOMORROW WILL BE A WEEK AND I AM FEELING MISERABLE.. TAKING AMOXICILLON, AND OXYCODONE 500MG. I AM 24 YRS OLD, WITH A 3-YR MARRIAGE AND 2 BABIES TO CARE FOR!!! WHAT SHOULD I DO AT THIS POINT? MY PAIN IS IN MY RIGHT-UPPER ABDOMEN, ABOUT WHERE THE GALLBLADDER USE TO PROBABLY BE… IT HURTS TO GET UP OUT OF BED AND TO LAY DOWN… LASTLY, IT HURTS TO BREATH IN, LIGHTLY OR DEEPLY.. PLEASE HELP ME MAAM???
Latasha, remember it’s only been a week that you’ve had the surgery. I’d contact my surgeon and tell him about the pain. The oxy should be taken regularly and that should help. Ask him why you are taking amoxicilin, that’s an antibiotic and I didn’t have to take one.
Also can you get anyone in to help with the kids for a little while? You probably need to rest too. I wish you luck.
Hi, Mary – I went in to see my doctor for an emergency visit on 12/13 with stomach pain that had begun the night before. She checked me out and sent me to the ER because she suspected appendicitis. After 7 hours in the ER and an MRI, the conclusion was that I had 2 large gallstones, and a very large abdominal hernia. The jury was still out on the appendix. Because of my excess weight, my organs appeared to be somewhat out of place. I ended up having an open surgery on 12/14 to repair my hernia and remove my gallbladder – as it turned out, my appendix was in bad shape, too – so they removed it as well. After a week in the hospital, I’ve been home now for a week and a half, and taking oxycodone on a regular basis (I’m down to one every 8 hours), and am having my staples out 1/3. Recovery is slow, maybe VERY slow would be a better description. Just a small trip out in the car just to weigh-in at my weight watchers meeting (someone else driving – only 2 miles from home – less than 30 minutes, total) results in exhaustion for the remainder of the day. It will still be awhile as I did have (as everyone keeps telling me…) 3 major surgeries at once. To get to the point at hand – I’ve been eating basically anything I want, and have not had much difficulty at all – but I had meatballs last night, and they seem to have brought on the famous post surgical gas pain. I’ll be avoiding them in the future, at least for awhile, but in the meantime – what can I do to alleviate the very uncomfortable gas pain brought on by accidentally eating the wrong foods? I do recall they gave me a pepcid a day in the hospital – I never knew why. Now I do! I prefer to handle this naturally if possible – no medications. Do you know of some herbal remedy for this dilemma? Drinking a couple cups of hot water seems to help a bit, but when you’re exhausted and awakened in the middle of the night with this persistent pain, who wants to stay up to drink hot water? I just want to go back to sleep! Any help would be appreciated…Thanks!
Becky,
It’s sounds like you’re doing really well with such drastic surgery and congrats that you are going to Weight Watchers as well. Gas pain can be terrible — I know.
Here’s a link: http://www.susunweed.com/Article_Stomach_Ache.htm. The recommendation is 2 capsules of acidophilus. She says she gets relief in 5-10 minutes. I’ve not tried it but acidophilus is an herbal remedy.
Good luck!
Can anyone tell me if they’ve had any problems after laparoscopic surgery. I have a place that is sunken in just below my breast. This is a month after the surgery and it still is giving me pain.
I’m open for suggestions. HELP.
Brenda, my lap gallbladder surgery scars healed up pretty fast. Nothing sunken in, no pain. What does your doctor say? I’d go back to the surgeon who did the surgery and show him and ask him what’s going on…Good luck to you.
Hi I had my gallbladder removed today Monday August 11th around 10:30 AM in the morning.I was back in recovery by noonish.It was a fast surgery and I can already tell it has made a bit of a difference.I am very sore in my stomach but that is normal from the procedure as they told me.I been resting on and off and getting up and walking some cause they wanted me to do that.I did have gallstones in fact 8 of them the size of black eyed peas.I can understand why the attacks hurt so bad.I wish anyone good luck with this surgery especially laparoscopic which is done so much easier these days.
I’m scheduled for gallbladder surgery in 2 weeks due to many large stones creating a few problems. I am also having trouble with fatigue and wondering if it was connected to the trouble with my gallbladder? I forgot to talk to the surgeon about it yesterday. Any ideas? Thank you.
Hi and yes the fatigue is related to your gallbladder problems,I had that before mine was removed and was tired all the time
I am going on 3 weeks since my surgery and already feel better than I did before.Wish you the best
Hello everyone! I’ve been reading up on everything I can find out about the laproscopic gallbladder surgery. My surgery is scheduled for tomorrow Sept. 19, 2008. I am very nervous about the pain afterwards. I hope the pain meds work. I have 2 children that I need to take care of. My husband will step in while I’m resting but you mothers know that we like to do things our way…lol So I’m sure I’ll still have to put my 2 cents in. I was hoping to be back at work at least on Tuesday. However, it looks like everyone was out at least a week. My dr. said 2 weeks, but I feel that I can’t just rest for 2 weeks. I’m a mom. There is always something to do. Even if your husband is helping. He’s not going to do it like you will. LOL Here’s my question, did anyone have any pain when they woke up in recover? This is important to me b/c after my 2nd c-section in May. I was in excruciating pain. They gave me dorphaset, morphin and percaset (sp). It took all 3 before my pain subsided. This is basically the only thing I’m worried about. I don’t want to feel any pain.
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