laprascopic surgery??

[georgie439]

First I want to say I'm thankful this sight is here, I dont feel so alone.  I have been having pain under right ribs for past 3-4 years, had liver profile done and ultrasound about 3 years ago, blood was ok but ultrasound found some stones. Dr. said I really didn't have to take out at that time.
About 2 months ago started having that funny feeling under left side, kinda like something was there and it hits my ribs if I move a certain way.  Pain still on right side but was also right in the middle right on the bra line actually hurt to wear a bra.
OK 2 weeks ago went for another ultrasound, when she pressed done in the middle under ribcage, it really really hurt, also hurt under right but not as bad as the middle.  
Next day dr's office calls, you have to go for surgery NOW to get gallbladder out. So I go see the surgeon he pokes me more looks at my slides, and tells me a little about the surgery.
He did say if there was alot of inflamation I might have to go for open. OK they were able to take it out with the laprascopic,
For the next two days I was having a really hard time breathing
and pain on top of both shoulder blades, find out they pump you up with gas, so they can see.  What organs can they see?  Can they see if there are stones in the ducts at that time??  I also read somewhere that they also do laproscopic surgery to just look at the internal organs, Is that true??
I do still have that feeling on left side, how can they check pancreas, what about MRI?? Sorry so long, any other message boards like this out there about gallbladder,liver,pancreas??

[georgie439]

Hi: You really seem to know your stuff.  How long ago did you have your gallbladder removed?? Also is it possible, to have some kind of problem w/ your pancreas w/o having excruciating pain??
I had some correspondence w/ Nanny on this board, but I have to admitt, you and her are just a "tad" bit more intelligent when it comes to this topic.
Are you a nurse or in the medical field??
Anyway I'm glad you guys are out there!!!.....georgie

[kimbacat]

chickensoup-  you're right, it does vary.  for me, worst of the shoulder pain only lasted a couple of days.  after that, it was only when I would yawn or take a really deep breath that it would hurt.  I have a lot of adhesions and could only find one surgeon even willing to attempt laparascopic removal of my gallbladder.  she was able to inflate the area with only a minimal amount of gas and the surgery took about 4 hours.  even so, the recovery was a lot easier than open abdominal surgery for me.  I was back to work 2 weeks after surgery (sedentary job).  I had to stay longer, cause I had an ileus and kept throwing up.  I think anywhere from 1-4 weeks is the expected recovery time.  something that sometimes helps with the gas pains is to use gravity to your advantage.  if you go down on all fours and lower your head to the floor, but keep your butt in the air, after things shift, the gas will work it's way towards your bottom and away from your diaphram.  sometimes it takes bowing a few times to work.  you'll look like an idiot doing it, but it does help.  :)  good luck with the hernia repair.  

Georgie -  ditto what fan said about the blood tests, just ask for copies of your test results.  you can also ask the hospital for copies of your surgical reports and discharge summaries along with all pre-op testing results.  the hospital might charge to make copies, but you just need to sign for them and they're yours.  my surgeon explained that they would be flushing my ducts to remove any stones that might be in there that didn't already show up on previous testing.  as it turned out, there were more stones in my ducts than what she had expected and said they were most likely the source of my pain.  if you have something out of whack that was causing your body to produce stones, then, removing your gallbladder might not resolve the issue.  sometimes stones can form in any remaining ducts or in any 'walled' off ducts.  when I had pancreatitis, I had what the docs said where 'classic' pains.  the pain was in the upper center of my abdomen and went straight to my back.  I couldn't lie down.  sitting up and leaning forward helped a little bit.  eating anything made it much worse.

[georgie439]

Thank you for the posts, kimbacat what is a surgical report?
Probably dumb question, it is what it says it is, but what does that entail, do they check the stones they took out? or the gallbladder? You said you had stones in your ducts, is that part of the surgery to check ducts??  Also was your abdomen swollen??
In the area where the gallbladder was??  I do feel better with the gas then I did 2 days ago, can breath alot better. And I do think that nagging pain that was in the middle is gone.  I know they dont cut into the organs when they perform the surgery, but if my liver or ducts were really inflamed would they see that on there video screen??  The surgeon did go out and speak with my boyfriend, and my boyfriend asked him how my liver was(cause pain was on the right side also) and surgeon said everthing looked fine!  One more question does anybody know if the pancreas is in their view when they do this surgery??

[kimbacat]

no, not a dumb question at all!  the surgical report describes how the surgery was done, what position you were placed, where the trocars where placed, how much gas they used, what they saw, how they removed your gallbladder, etc.  a pathology report would be where you would find out about your stones and gallbladder itself.  it would tell you what your stones where comprised of and what condition your gallbladder was in.  the discharge summary lists your medical history (in brief), what you were in the hospital for, what happened while you were there, any complications and what instructions/meds you were discharged with.  the docs check out the general area of your gallbladder and make sure everything looks ok.  they would have looked at your pancreas.  your gallbladder is on your right side, tucked behind part of your liver.  your pancreas is kind of just left of center, below your stomach.  sometimes inflammation can be seen (or the effects of it) from just looking at an organ.  it depends.  but if they saw something unusual, they probably would have biopsied it.  the pathology report and surgical report would include what they biopsied and what (if anything) was wrong with the tissue.  when you go back for your next followup appt w/ the doc, ask him/her all of your questions, that way, you'll know what went on.  take a list of questions with you and keeping asking until you understand everything and feel comfortable with what s/he said.  

take care

[5fan]

From my recent experience with pancreatitis and having my gallbladder removed I have found that when my doctors ran my initial bloodwork in the ER they ran hepatic (liver) and pancreatic levels along with the other battery of tests.  I'm not quite sure if they do this as a standard or not, but it sounded like they possibly do.

I knew when I went to the ER that I had had elevated liver enzymes for three months prior.  Very slightly elevated, but still elevated.  My doctor had actually told me that it may have been due to a fatty meal or to taking Tylenol fairly close to the blood work.  

Anyway when I presented at the ER the physician assistant told me that I most likely was feeling pancreatic pain (this was before blood or urine tests, or before the x-rays or sonogram).  I told him my mom had suggested it might be my gallbladder from the symptoms she had had with hers.

I really wasn't all that upset, other than the pain, until I took the urine test and it came back the color of diluted coffee.  Even in as much pain as I was feeling, I knew something was wrong.

Come to find out I was diagnosed with pancreatitis and an "enlarged gallbladder" with a "thickened wall".  My Amylase level was like 678 and my Lipase level was 1098.  My understanding is that both are supposed to be under 100.  I was also told that my hepatic function was high (liver).  I never was given a number on that.

Ever since my surgery in July I have been having pain and attacks.  I actually asked my surgeon if he was sure he took my gallbladder out.  He assures me they did.  Poor guy - he seems to remember my surgery like the movie Groundhog Day.  Remembers it like he lives it over and over and over.  It took them four days to get my pancreatitis under control so they could operate and then the last canula they removed nicked an artery so they had to go back in.  NO STONES FOUND ANYWHERE.  Instead of being 1 and 1/2 hours my surgery was closers to 3 hours.  My poor friend almost had a nervous breakdown waiting!

Back to the main point, now every time I have bloodwork done the doctors order heptatic function and Amylase and Lipase levels.  I assumed this was pretty much the standard, but you may want to ask just to be sure.

BEST OF LUCK

[georgie439]

Thank-you guys, I'm concerned about stones being stuck elsewhere,
someone posted on here that they saw stones trapped in the liver,
I guess I was wondering if they see the pancreas at all in the middle of the gallbladder removal, does anybody know if they check the ducts?  I will take your advice and give it some time. I'm wondering however if when they did the bloodwork on my liver if they did it on my pancreas?? They only mentioned checking my liver enzymes, I wish I would have met you guys years ago cause I didn't know that the pancreas could cause pain on right side or pain in the middle.