What should I ask my surgeon? Gallbladder Surgery

[mnkyluvr68]

Hello, First let me say, I am so thankful to have found this site!
I go to see my surgeon this week and am wondering if there is anything I should ask him about my condition other than the obvious. I have severe pain in right shoulder blade, abdominal pain RUQ, nausea. I have no stones but had a hida ejection fraction of 18%. I am living on avocado, bananas, broth and strawberry smoothies. Is there anything I need to specifically ask him to check or should I be asking more than just the usual...how long is surgery, recovery time etc...? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Matthew007]

sorry to hear that...:S glad to hear you're kinda recovering.  Hard isn't it?  I remember I couldn't stand up straight for days..they were doing street construction at my parents house, road all torn up so I had to walk a good block in the neighborhood in the house.  You should have seen the shocked faces as I had my parents under each arm.  Looked like I had been mugged and stabbed lol.

Anyway on to more serious note..i'll try and save you some grief.  Ummm.. I also had mine removed - turned out it was all moot and after about 14..15..days later I knew that it had solved NOTHING to my illness.

So what I would do if you I was you, is first make sure you eat low low low fat stuff..no cheese...no donuts..nothing fatty because without that gallbladder most patients can't do anything like that anymore.  But I would also eat a bunch of rice..maybe eggs or..since you're stuck at home trying to feel better I would take wheat/dairy totally out of your diet, you might be gluten intolerant like I am.  Took me years to figure that out but i'm 99% sure I am.  Totally messes with your digestive system (gallbladder) and makes life miserable so fruits..veggies..meats with little or no seasoning and take it easy or get some lactaid milk instead of dairy (tastes the same) and just totally avoid gluten for a good 2-3 weeks..and also avoid fatty oily foods of course.

Hope you're feeling better by now :S  Also after my surgery the surgeon warned me that sometimes patients get ulcers after the procedure so that's also a possibility.  When is your follow up?  Anyway seriously look into doing a elimination diet, I probably would have saved 3...4 years being sick if I had just done that in the first place (when your body rejects food it screws up your entire digestive system including gallbladder)

[mnkyluvr68]

Well, Surgery was one week ago today. The day of surgery is a big blur, second day not terrible, felt like I did 1000 sit ups was able to eat a little, third and fourth day were pretty good then it went down hill...I have no appetite, generally ill, tired etc... most times when I do eat I have diarrhea, the pain in m back between the shoulder blades is still there and I feel like my upper abdomen is always full, like something is just sitting there. I am so disappointed and a bit worried too. Not sure where to go from here??

[Matthew007]

Good luck on the surgery! For sure post back and let us know how it went and if it fixed you :)

[mnkyluvr68]

Thanks everyone, surgery is this Tuesday. Didn't get many answers from the surgeon except..."you'll be fine, it's a very simple surgery" then they gave me a pamphlet that explains the procedure, risks and possible after affects. I certainly got more out of the pamphlet than I did the surgeon. The only thing that makes me feel ok about him is he is a board certified vascular surgeon as well as general and emergency surgery. I'll let you know how it goes.

[pfehrman]

I am a month post gallbladder surgery and the best I can tell you is ask your doctor about every aspect of the procedure and after affects. I never had problems with gas, for instance, before my surgery. Now, it's a daily problem along with occassional bouts of bile salts (yellow liquid) burning diahhrea. Some people get over this, others need to be treated with a medication for the rest of their lives. Find out everything!

[mnkyluvr68]

Thank you both for your responses, it really helped. I am truly a nervous wreck! I deal with anxiety and panic attacks so this is just adding to it. I found out today that I am scheduled for surgery on the 20th and have not even seen the surgeon yet! Thanks again and will let you know how it goes.

[Matthew007]

I couldn't stand up straight for a good day or 2..so make sure you have some help getting in the car and out after..you'll go straight to bed after that and konk right out.  I did.

[Matthew007]

Hey mnkyluvr68 (that's hard to type!)

anyway welcome to the board, if you were like me you're probably excited to get feeling better.  Funny thing was I wasn't scared at all because I knew having gone through a endoscope/colonoscopy that they just knock you out, do their thing and you wake up feeling like you were only out seconds.

On your visit with the surgeon..there's not much to ask honestly, it's fairly routine but I would do a little research on sphincter of oddi dysfunction.  Sometimes it happens after surgery and it's a royal pain (literally) so I hope it doesn't happen to you but I've seen users go on this board who never heard about it until after the surgery so you could ask or just inquire about that.  He'll probably be impressed more than anything that you did research.

On your recovery I went to work 4 days after surgery but I was VERY sore.  You'll look like you got involved in a knife fight or something.  You'll be black and blue and won't for a few days be able to do anything.  Before your surgery I'd get your hubby/bf to rent you a bunch of movies you can watch while you sit there and do nothing.  The pain level was kinda high for me and they give you pain medication to get through it but they warned it's super addicting stuff so I only took one pill.  Also you want to make sure you at least keep your legs moving, or not just spend 4 days in bed.  Main reason is blod clots..you'll notice when they put you in surgery they put leg warmer machines on you to keep the blood flow moving.  So it's good to walk around and you can ask about that.  Fact, most likely your surgeon will ask about any pain in your legs and will want to see your scars.

I think 3 weeks later I feel the same way I did before I went into surgery but you probably could go to work maybe 4-5...days after surgery.  Sadly I had no gallstones and a low ejection rate like you do and it turned out it was food intolerances/food allergies and now I suspect celiac/gluten issues.  So HOPEFULLY this is your only problem and you'll feel better.  I've heard people say if you eat something fatty or high fat like a donut or cheese they get IBS-D in a bad way...since your body can't handle fats right now.


Anyway good luck!  Basically there's not much to ask to tell you honestly and hopefully you wont' have any complications after.