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Gallbladder removal and swimming

So, My girlfriend is having gallblader removal on 4/28, we leave for disney on 5/6 and will be there for about 6 days.  Do you think it will be possible for her to go in the pool at the water park at disney while we are there?  We are going to the water park on the last day of the trip to give her wounds time to heal, I also bought some waterproof sealers for surgical wounds for her to wear.  Do you think she will be ok?
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Avatar universal
I know this thread is old but I am commenting for the benefit of others who may yet happen across it as I did:

If you're having gallbladder surgery or know someone who is, you may find that the doctors don't tell you much because it's so routine to them that they forget it's not routing for us.  Fortunately I knew two people who'd had gallbladder removal and got more information from them pre-surgery than I did from my doctors.

First, if your surgeon is worth his salt he'll be doing the surgery using three small incisions on your stomach and a fourth small incision inside your belly button.  There is a chance that the gallbladder will not cooperate and the surgeon will still have to do the surgery the old fashioned way by making a 3 inch cut in the upper-right quadrant of your stomach.  This chance is increased for people who are overweight but FYI it's still an extremely small chance since I'm 300 lbs and they did mine with the four tiny cuts.

Second, your belly button incision will most likely be the most painful.  Sitting up will be really difficult for about a week because your belly button will feel like it's splitting open every time you try.  You'll be able to sit it an upright position after 2-3 days but only for short periods of time.  Getting up after laying down will require some maneuvering skills for considerably longer.

Third, nowdays this surgery probably won't involve traditional stitches.  Most surgeons use a shiny glue stuff that will look wet for a week even though it's dry to the touch and it might be kinda purpleish in color.  This glue is the reason you can shower the day after surgery and take baths 7 days after surgery.  It will either come off on it's own after 10-12 days or your surgeon may remove it during your follow-up visit.

Fourth, you'll be tender for more than a week but it will be an obnoxious kind of pain rather than an activity ending one.  Sleeping on your side might still hurt if you're overweight like me but you can use a pillow tucked under your stomach to help support your belly if you get completely sick of sleeping on your back as I did.  Running/jogging, coughing, laughing, hiccuping, sneezing, etc. will all still hurt.  Keep your stools nice and soft with a high fiber diet and/or fiber supplements because pushing out a bm is still really painful even 10 days after surgery.

Fifth, that brings us to the possibility of constipation.  It's a side effect of any surgery because of anesthesia and pain killers.  The longer you take your prescribed pain killers the more likely you are to get constipated.  This was worse pain than I've ever experienced in my life.  2 days after surgery and I was laying on the floor screaming and sobbing in pain thinking I was dying.  Do yourself a favor and start taking a low-dose stool softener immediately after surgery to keep thinks soft and moving - stop taking pain killers as soon as you can live without them.  The constipation is so much worse than the post surgery pain.

Sixth, swimming in a pool 10 days after surgery is fine but wait until the incision sites are fully healed (1 month or so) before swimming in anything like a lake, pond, or river that might be full of bacteria.  Just be careful with physical exertion because it is still possible to "pop your stitches" at this stage even though you don't actually have stitches.  Swimming good, zooming down a water slide, on the other hand, might not be a good idea.

Seventh, you aren't going to be able to metabolize food as well as you maybe could before surgery (depending on how dysfunctional your gallbladder was before they removed it).  You may need to take a really good multi-vitamin to compensate so you don't have some of the side effects associated with malnutrition such as hair loss, weak fingernails and bones, etc.  Also useful are vitamin D3, a good liver tonic and/or ox bile supplement (to help you break down food like you would if you had a fully functioning gallbladder), taurine (an essential component for breaking down food, found in many bitter/sour foods like artichokes, lemmons, kale, etc or you can take it in pill form but no it is not bull semen - yes it's IN bull semen but it's a natural ingredient found in about a billion other foods you eat and drink every day so don't believe the facebook hulliballoo).

Last but not least - as long as you don't go hog-wild on fatty foods now that you're post gallbladder - you can expect to lose weight (especially if you don't take the supplements listed above but, even if you don't, you really should take the multivitamin to prevent bigger malnutrition issues from arising).  It's not a lot of weight loss fast but pretty much everything you eat will go in one end and out the other in about an hour.  Be prepared for that too.  Learn to like public restrooms and carry a portable thing of baby wipes if you can as they can come in really handy depending on what you've eaten.

Cheers and welcome to the club!
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2 Comments
Thank you
Thank you so much for the information!!!
Avatar universal
well id thought i would update, 7 days after the surgery, the surgen said her wounds has almost completly healed up and shes free to swim without bandages!  
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Avatar universal
hope you have a great holiday, whether or not your girlfriend is able to swim.  good luck for her op.

vix
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Avatar universal
Ya thats what we are planning now, it seems that she will see the doctor the day before we leave to make sure the wounds heal, at that point the doc said she will let us know if its safe to swim.
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Avatar universal
i had an open conversion that did not heal for 2 months - i could not take a bath let alone go swimming for over 2 months!! just see how it goes - if her healing is not complete i would suggest catching some relaxing rays by the pool rather than swimming.
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140029 tn?1393298142
If I was her I probably wouldn't even want to be in a bathing suit with stitches like that on.. she'll be swollen and sore and recovering.. like in professional sports I guess that would be a game time decision but I don't think she'll want to be swimming that soon after surgery (even a week..took me like 4 days before I even dared go back to work)
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Avatar universal
assess her wounds is what i meant to type!!
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Avatar universal
you will really need to play this by ear!! if the wounds have healed i would go in the water if not stay out - dont risk interfearing with the healing process. folowing my surgery i had poor healing but found even waterproof dressings did not keep the wounds watertight even for a quick shower.... i would not have risked soaking them in water. at the end of the day even if she rests by the pool and catches some sun she will still beable to enjoy a relaxing holiday after all she has been through... if still unsure prehaps discuss it with a dr before the holiday who will be able to ***** her wounds and advise in her particular case.
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499534 tn?1328704178
It is going to take at least a week for her to comfortably be able to walk around and up to 1 1/2 weeks before she will be able to bend comfortably. EVen after the 1 week mark she will still be tired and sore. My steri strips weren't removed until my post op appt 1 week after surgery, and then he replaced them with a second set for another week.
So i couldn't swim or take a bath for 2 weeks....showers only.
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Avatar universal
thanks for the help! every where i read they say stay out of bath or swimming activities for a week after, and i spent 10$ for 5 of those sealers so they better work lol.  she wont be working from the day of the surgery to the day of the trip, so she will be getting lots of rest.
Helpful - 0
875771 tn?1240274933
They will put regular band aids on the surgical scars (at least that's what I've always seen). She can take them off after a couple days. My only concern is that she needs to get plenty of rest that short period between her surgery and the trip you are going on. The surgeon is also going to want to make a follow-up appointment, and that is usually about a week after the surgery. Just making sure you were aware of these things. But waterproof sealers should be fine...especially considering you are allowed to shower the day after you are released from the hospital.
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