Pain has a reason! If you are in pain, it's not trivial! Get it checked out. If the doctor says it's trivial, get a second opinion.

Well, yes and no. I am fully recovered from the surgeries. I am not fully recovered from spending half a year flat on my back. I have no stamina. Being retired doesn't help with that much either. A trip to WalMart can wear me out! Now that the swimming pools are open, I'm working on that!

Best of luck to you!

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Any day you wake up on "the right side of the dirt" is a good day.

T. Anderson

You really want to know?

I've dealt with a couple malpractice cases involving this procedure, and I've really learned how it is supposed to be done. I guess it's always preferable to have a very experienced surgeon, one who has performed the procedure more than 50 times at least. The gallbladder is obviously attached, and these attachments have to be clipped and cut. The rule is, don't cut anything that you have not positively identified 100%. If there's any doubt, they can do a cholangiogram on the spot, which is where they inject a contrast medium into a bile duct, allowing visualisation of the biliary tree.

It's pretty amazing, but this very common laparoscopic procedure is all done by inserting 2 or 3 (?) little cameras into your abdominal cavity (which is insufflated with CO₂ to create space) through a few very small incisions in your belly. If all goes well, recovery should be a cinch. There's always a chance they may have to convert to an open procedure, which leaves a much bigger scar and takes longer to recover, but I wouldn't complain too much because they will only convert to open in the interest of your safety.

IIRC, a stone blocking a duct is serious, so don't mess around. ERCP is apparently an effective non-surgical solution for such blockage, which is endoscopic rather than laparoscopic. Modern techniques are freaking amazing. I imagine they go after the gallbladder to treat the cause rather than the likely recurring symptom.

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Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.

*faints*

*THUD*

thanks cougar!

Kaptain K, I hope the swimming pays off for you! don't you have hydrotherapy pools in your rehabilitation centre, when I had a big operation on my knee last year I went to one, it was fantastic and nice warm water too! I recommend it.
best off luck to you too.
chrissy

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Great minds discuss ideas,average minds discuss events,small minds discuss people.Admiral Hyman Rickover.USN.

"Make the most of every day like it could be your last, enjoy each others companyas this will make good memories for when we pass". chrissy

chrissy,
Thanks for all the good wishes! As for hydrotherapy pools, I don't know. I assume they have them in Austin, but I'm out in the sticks about an hour from town. A couple of hours of paddling around the local public pool is good enough for me. I used to be a damned good swimmer. Intramural swim team practice 5 days a week plus swimming for fun almost every afternoon. That was long ago. Now, as I said, I'm content to paddle around the pool and swim some laps. I started at 25 yards (one length of the pool) and am up to two laps (100 yards) increasing by one length every visit. Obviously, I'm in no hurry!
Good luck and best wishes to you!

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Any day you wake up on "the right side of the dirt" is a good day.

T. Anderson

Chrissy, ask specifically if there will be a problem doing a laparscope with the size of your gallstones. When I had mine out, I was expecting a couple little cuts, and to be out of the hospital the next day.

What I got was a bunch of staples on my belly closing a 4 inch long gash. It was kinda disconcerting when I woke up and found I was gutted.

The doc said that things were too big to take out with the laparscope, and he had to do it the old fashioned way.

I was in the hospital for about 3 days after the surgery, and it took about a month to get back to 100%.

I do have to say that I find it kinda horrifying that you are going to wait a month to have it taken out. I had an attack (stone blocking the outlet) on Thursday morning, and had it removed saturday morning.

A few months ago I went to the doctor for an ultrasound, since my mother was concerned about me getting abdominal anurysms, since a couple of my cousins had died from them. The doctor told me I was fine with that, but that I had a couple of small gallstones. He recommended I have them removed before they become a problem, but I didn't. A few weeks ago, coincidentally, another of my cousins ended up in the hospital getting his gallstones removed. He recommended I avoid the procedure as long as possible, although my doctor had told me it would be quick and painless.

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"Most editorials are written by people that love to argue but got kicked off debate team for not making any sense." -Seanbaby

Almost as disconcerting as reading that, and seeing this avatar right under it..



No offense, Kebsis.

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge" -- Charles Darwin
"Ignorance convinces" -- slang's dad
"Your right to hold an opinion is not being contested. Your expectation that it be taken seriously is." -- Jason Thompson

I recently had keyhole surgery for gallbladder removal, and it is painless.

It is important to rest up for 3 weeks after - no heavy lifting. In fact no lifting at all, include groceries etc.

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The Heavens Declare the Glory of Mathematics

Convention medical opinion would be against this.

I have tried it - so called non surgical gallstone removal - 3 day fasting on apple juice followed by a lemon juice and olive oil mixture (it goes down fine - you really don't taste anything) followed by a couple of hours curled up not feeling so good.

It does work in drawing out gallstones, according to most who try it.

Trouble is, as my surgeon pointed out, if one of the gall stones is just a bit too big to pass through the bile duct into the intestine, well you are then in deep doodoo. You are in agony and require emergency care (ever try to get a surgical team together at 2am?).

I chose to have routine surgery with a competent surgeon who is very familiar with the procedure. This minimises the risks.

However, each case is different. I had a number of attacks but no stones showed up on testing, but my gallbladder was traumatised. Removal was the best option. If it was not traumatised and no gallstones showed up on testing I may have chosen not to have the operation and just managed my diet. Each case needs to be assessed. Getting medical advise from the net is not smart.

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The Heavens Declare the Glory of Mathematics

Agreed.That depends, too. Three days ago, my brother began taking an antibiotic---Clindamycin. Late last night, the side-effects became overwhelming. Googling Clindamycin side-effect convinced him to call his doctor at home, immediately, resulting in a prescription change first thing this morning, after a follow-up exam. Without the Net feedback, he would have elected to just tough-it-out, knowing him, or waiting until Monday when his doctor's office normally re-opened.

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what I do know is the stones are about 1" in diameter, I will ask but I have to wait until my pre-op and see if the nurse has any idea, as the doc hasn't asked me to come back for a follow up check.

your not the only one, considering the pain I have been in and when I was at the hospital seeing the so called specialist.


Kebsis, I'm not in a possition to give out advice, I know they say if it isn't bothering you they won't remove it, but I would have them monitor it!
The hospital neglected me years ago, sending me home saying its just stones.
Then this doctor I saw told me "why didn't you ask them to take them out"
I was shocked to say the least, who am I to tell those who should know better than me?

I will have to find some willing slaves then!

I think I'm to far gone to do this with olive oil etc, I have been drinking just lemon juice, my grandmother had to do it and the stones reduced by half, mine groged themselves on the stuff I think, but I can say is it reduced the pain quite a bit .

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Great minds discuss ideas,average minds discuss events,small minds discuss people.Admiral Hyman Rickover.USN.

"Make the most of every day like it could be your last, enjoy each others companyas this will make good memories for when we pass". chrissy

I had my cholecystectomy back '81 in the Republic of (South) Korea. I even got to take a helicopter ride in the supine position, as I was medevac'ed to the 121st Evac Hospital in Seoul. This was very much in the pre-lap days for the military. They even performed an incidental appendectomy, since they were in the neighborhood. My recovery was complicated by a nosocomial infection of the incision, requiring a Kennedy bandage and daily irrigation.

I'm sure yours will go much better.

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Brett
Peters Creek, Alaska

Thanks PetersCreek.

hope by now you have recovered from all the infection you recieved post op!

chrissy

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Great minds discuss ideas,average minds discuss events,small minds discuss people.Admiral Hyman Rickover.USN.

"Make the most of every day like it could be your last, enjoy each others companyas this will make good memories for when we pass". chrissy

Cant go much worse

Hmm...that's a problem. My job has alot of heavy lifting. I have to lift hundreds of 15 foot long, 60lbs. steel bars up over my head over the course of a workday.

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"Most editorials are written by people that love to argue but got kicked off debate team for not making any sense." -Seanbaby

hope by now you have recovered from all the infection you recieved post op!

Seein' that it's been 27 years, I should hope so! It was weird, though, having laces hold my incision closed.

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Brett
Peters Creek, Alaska

what I was meaning was , hope you don't have any recurring problems from that, and now just going to throw up with the thought of laces hold your tummy closed.

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Great minds discuss ideas,average minds discuss events,small minds discuss people.Admiral Hyman Rickover.USN.

"Make the most of every day like it could be your last, enjoy each others companyas this will make good memories for when we pass". chrissy

When my farther had cardiac bypass/valve replacement surgery many years ago, his ribs were wired together with the wire ends held by a variety of buttons. I never asked if the surgeon was out of proper wire-holders or if he just thought it added a bit of local color.

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The Devil offered me power. I told him I preferred aperture.