laparoscopic gall bladder surgery

[captain_doogan]

On Sunday, October 21, I went into emergency with major gall bladder pain. It was determined that a stone had become stuck on the duct leading from my gall bladder and it was necessary to remove the gall bladder ASAP. On Tuesday, October 23, I had laparoscopic gall bladder surgery. The surgery seemed to go well.  I had to stay in the hospital for an extra day as my gall bladder was infected so I needed to be on an anti-biotic for an extra day. I was released from the Hospital on Thursday afternoon and had been feeling better and better each day. I woke up on Sunday, October 28th feeling pretty good so my son and I decided to go out for breakfast. I had a MacDonalds egg mcmuffin, sausage, cheese, and egg.  About 1/2 hour later I began to have the feeling that a gall bladder attack was coming on.  I had an attack that lasted for approx 1 hour with a lot of pain. What's up, didn't I just have the gall bladder removed, why am I still having an attack?  When I checked out of the hospital they didn't tell me that I had to be on a special diet, should I be on one and for how long?  I'm scared to eat anything now, I don't want another attack like the last one.

Thanks

[Jaybay]

Your body is still healing from the surgery.  Now that you have a direct highway for your bile from the liver to the small intestine, it can take several weeks for things to settle down.  Some people go right back to their old eating habits and never miss a step.  Others take a little longer, and a small percentage have all kinds of problems after surgery that never seem to go away.  

Everything you ate at McDonalds was loaded with fat.  You're probably going to have to avoid that for a while and add it back slowly.  I suspect this is a case of simply too much, too soon after surgery.  

If the problem is still occurring a month from now, you may still have sludge in your bile duct.  It may clear out on its own, or your gastro doc can do a procedure called an ERCP to get rid of it.

You're right about your discharge instructions: the doctor or the nurses should have made you aware that this might happen.  It wouldn't hurt to give your doctor a call in the morning and have them make a note in your chart, and certainly bring it up at your followup appointment.