Upcoming gallbladder surgery, question about surgical clips

[violetta1979]

I am due to have my gallbladder removed in a few weeks. It's full of stones and is working at 0%. I'm happy to get rid of it at this point due to the agony I have been experiencing. I do wonder about the clips they leave in though. How common is it for them to cause complications? I'm very athletic and a belly dancer, so would all the torso movements cause them to come loose/pierce adjacent structures? I also do historical reenactment and wonder if it would be a bad idea to wear a corset after this, if it would push the clip edges into organs? In the end I know this is for my health, but I'm not sure what is safe to do after I've healed up.

[violetta1979]

Wow! I'd take those odds to Vegas! Thanks so much, that eased my mind tremendously.

[violetta1979]

Aw, thank you, glad to hear your recovery went well. I will keep you updated when I get mine yanked here in a few weeks.

[Christopher R Watters, MD]

Reports of problems with the clips are extremely rare. There have been about 100 patient problems reported while 500,000 - 700,000 cases have been performed annually since 1990 just in the US. This means that the risk is probably lower than taking an aspirin.

[jmadzula1]

Yeah, its no problem at all!

   My recovery is going pretty well.  I was EXTREMELY fortunate.  The day my GI doctor told me to find a surgeon, I called a guy I found on the internet who had awesome reviews in my area.  I got into see him the next day.  I asked when he was available to do it, and he said probably in about a week.  I took a chance and said "How about tomorrow?!" and he said "SURE!" Lol.  (So I had the surgery yesterday!)

   Surgery was at noon, I got to the hospital around 10am per their instructions.  Got back in the OR around 12:15, and was released from the hospital about 2:30PM.  I do have some strong pain spikes, and I haven't been sleeping much (but I have never been one to sleep on my back, and I tend to move around a lot, so thats why I cannot sleep... I am a stomach sleeper, so sleeping on my back is awkward as crap for me! LOL!)  But the pain meds are definitely helping.  I had no problem with walking around or anything like that, so I anticipate within the next couple of days that I will be 100%!!!

   My wife and I almost cried together.  We have been battling with this stuff for so long, and for it to finally be over is just amazing!

    I wish you the best of luck, and I hope everything goes smoothly!  

I would give your surgeon a call on Monday, and discuss your question about the clips with him via telephone.  

Regardless, you need the surgery done (in my opinion based on what you said) so it will never ever ever hurt (and no surgeon will fault you) for asking as many questions as possible!

Definitely keep us updated!!!  Again, if you have anything else, or just need to talk because of nerves or anxiety or anything like that, feel free to ask!

[violetta1979]

Thanks for the reply, I hope your recovery is going well! I know, it is a strange question about the clips, I haven't run across any info about it and my surgeon bustled me in and out of the consult so fast that I forgot to ask. I have never heard of anyone being told that the clips could interfere with activities, so I am hoping that it's a non-issue, I just thought I'd throw the question out here. Thanks for the response!

[jmadzula1]

Hi,

   While I am not a doctor, I will do my best to answer this question -- hopefully one of the awesome doctors on here will answer with certainty though!

   I just had my gallbladder removed yesterday, and nothing was said to me about any limitations in regards to the clips.

   I would imagine that the pain your experiencing would limit you to do the things that you do in your life anyways, so I doubt the clips will be anything  compared to the agonizing pain while your belly dancing, working out, or doing your reenactments!  

   Again, I am not an expert, but those are just my thoughts as nothing was said to me as to limitations regarding the clips.