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Gallbladder surgery? so nervous!

Having my surgery soon because I have a gallstone stuck in the neck of my gallbladder and if it gets out it can be dangerous, so I really have no choice but to get surgery. Also, the pain is so extreme! It's in my flanks and inbetween my shoulder blades and in my upper abdomen and I can't stand it. I'm also super young [not gonna say real age, but between 14-18] and I'm so nervous about surgery. This is my first surgery and I'm having it at a children's hospital because I'm young but I just wanted some support from all the people who have taken their gallbladder out? I'm so scared of the anesthesia. What's it like being put to sleep? and can you eat what you want? I think I have gallstones because of my unhealthy diet [not overweight, have a fast metabolism. 5'4 114 lb] and genes. My mom, grandpa, and aunts have all had their gallbladders out but I'm the youngest so far. I'm getting the laparascope surgery. Thank you!
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Avatar universal
Surgery can be very frightening at any age, but especially when you're so young!  I feel you're going to be in the best place possible for this surgery - a children's hospital - they are much more used to pediatric patients and don't just treat them as "small adults".

The idea of anesthesia is very scary, indeed.  If you're especially nervous, dont' hesitate to tell the nurses and doctors - it may be possible they could give you something before surgery to help you relax so you won't be so uptight and worried about the whole process - you being as relaxed as possible will also make it much easier for the anesthesiologist to put you to sleep.  Typically, they will put an oxygen mask over your mouth and nose when they first take you into the operating room, then they will give you the actual anesthesia through your IV.  The anesthesia works very quickly - you may feel very dizzy and may have a feeling like you're going to pass out/things going dark, but the next thing you know, you'll be waking up in the recovery room and you most likely will not even think that anything has taken place yet because it feels like you were just wheeled into the operating room.

It's very important that you let your nurse/doctors know also if you are experiencing any nausea or pain after surgery - they are there to help you and there are many medications they can give you to help you with these issues.  Don't try to be "tough" about the pain - you actually will heal faster and better if your pain is under good control so your body has the strength to heal.

As far as what you can eat and drink following surgery - they will probably keep you NPO (nothing by mouth) for a while after surgery just to make sure you're not having any nausea and/or vomiting problems - sometimes the anesthesia can cause some of that.  Then they may start you off very slowly with just liquids to make sure your stomach can tolerate them and then gradually increase your diet to soft items such as jello, etc.  It shouldn't be too long before you are able to eat normal food.  You may find - I did - that after having your gall bladder removed, you are not able to handle fatty/greasy/fried foods as well as you could before.  That's really the only thing that I've found I can't handle as well as I could before - if I eat too much of it now, I get quite a bit of nausea and dizziness -- I've heard of many, many people that this happens to, so I guess i'ts pretty common.

I had my gall bladder out in 1998 and it was done laprascopically (the small incisions).  I was kept in the hospital overnight but was able to go home the next day.  The incisions were not much trouble, with the exception of the staples they used to close them kept getting caught on my clothing, so I had to "adjust"  things a little to help avoid this - once they took the staples out about a week later, it was much better.

You may also experience some bloating or gas after surgery - they pump air into your abdominal cavity during surgery to make it easier to see your organs and move the surgical instruments around without damaging anything - while they do release this gas after surgery, there is always at least a little that remains and will "leave" over the next few days.  Sometimes this left over gas can produce pain.  Again, the doctors should be able to give you some medication to help with this.  Walking will also help to get rid of this gas and make you feel better - start off slowly and not too far, but as you get stronger, you can increase your walking, which will not only help to get rid of that gas, but will help you feel better all over.

I hope things go well with your surgery - or if you've already had it, I hope it went well.
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Avatar universal
I had mine out going on 3 years ago.  I was nervous too, because it was my first major surgery.  If I can ease your mind, you will have a good anethesist that specializes in pediatric anathesia given your age (since you are going to a children's hospital).  They will take every care to ease and comfort you as much as possible.  Anathesia is just a like a sleepless sleep.  You will simply go to sleep, and when you wake up (which feels like the very next moment), it will all be done.  Laproscopy is the least invasive way of taking out your gall bladder.  It leaves very tiny, soon to be hardly noticable at all scars.  Three very small holes.  Within a week or two you will feel normal again.  You will probably get to go home the very same day after the surgery.  Everything is going to be okay.
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Avatar universal
Thank you so much for your reply! Yes, I know it's very young! My mom, grandpa, and aunts all had theirs out around 40 so I'm nervous the pain isn't from my gallbladder and am really nervous about the surgery but apparently if the stone gets out, it's life threatening so I have no choice. Hopefully I'll feel better after the surgery and get a good doctor:) Thank you, you made me feel a bit better. 2 more days!
Helpful - 0
1405105 tn?1281104430
My goodness .....that is so young. I had mine out around 52 yrs.I do know that pain, so I feel for you. You will feel alot better afterwords. I think being put to sleep is great. They start the meds in your IV, then all of a sudden you feel a little funny, but then you go right to sleep. Then when they are done, they take you back to your room, and you wake up thinking it had not been done yet, because it felt like only two minutes went by. I was so glad to have the surgery, because I think thats the worse pain anyone can suffer from. I had no problems after except my diabetes caused me grief. I was able to eat, and function again......I got my life back.
So I think you will be very glad that you are doing this.
Its normal to be frightened of surgery, and all that goes with it, but I will tell you with my experiance it was not as bad as I was thinking it would be.

I will be thinking of you
Helpful - 0
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