Bye Bye Gall Bladder

[mazzywoo]

Hi everyone
Just to follow on from my previous posts, I am delighted to say that my laparoscopic gall bladder removal went smoothly yesterday. I feel as though I have been kicked in the abdomen by a horse (bruises to prove it LOL) and could sleep for England but all that will pass hopefully. The 'team' were great and I had every confidence in them.
I am now looking forward to having a little bit of chocolate when I feel better!
Thanks for putting up with my meandering posts over the last few months :)
Love
Maz xx

[murraymints]

ah ..that's great Maz...you will feel much much better soon...take care xx

[Eve]

That's great news! So glad you've had it done. All those things you can look forward to trying again too!

Wishing you a good recovery x

[cazzz1975]

im so glad it went well for you, just a word of caution, you might find your ability to tolerate fatty foods may be limited, it certainly is for me since mine was removed!

obviously it doesn't affect everyone that way! I may be in the minority.

[Eve]

I still have some issues but nothing like when I still had my gallbladder, I can't tolerate too big a meal or too fatty, although I have IBS and a malabsorption issue as well so not that straightforward.

Hope you can get lots of rest and recuperation, take it easy at first x

[cazzz1975]

have you tried a fat free diet to see if it helps your malabsorption? I was going through a similar thing until I restricted my fat intake and I have been so much better since

[cazzz1975]

low fat rather than fat free*

[Eve]

I try to limit it as much as I can, I get really bad reflux as well and have been trying to get the malabsorption under control (it's up and down) and the IBS, tried some diets with the hospital dieticians but to limited effect. Gastro said it will be up and down though, even with the medication (bile acid sequestrants).

Strangely I had bile acid malapsorption a long time before my gallbladder issues, apparently more common after! Don't want to worry mazzywoo though, I don't think it's very common generally.

[Mick-the-Miller]

When I had mine done I was sore for a couple of days but was fine to go back to work after a week (but I took another week off anyway!) - no problems afterwards, I wish I'd had it done years before.

[anneasquith]

i hope you continue to improve. unfortunately my bile duct was ' damaged ' during surgery. long story short . numerous abdominal surgeries, treatment in a ' specialist liver unit' left with life changing symptoms. but I'm very much in the minority .

[mazzywoo]

Thanks everyone for your replies and to hear what you've all been through.
I have been on a LF diet since the diagnosis of gallstones. The upside is that I lost 1.5 stones in weight! I really want to stay slimmer so will not be guzzling cheese, chocolate etc (well not to a great extent anyway-just a taste when I feel better!).
Best wishes
Maz xx

[Eve]

No harm to a bit of a treat after :) I lost a load of weight too, was from November to March between diagnosis, acute cholecystitis then op, though symptoms a while before, I so don't miss that pain!

Amazing how effective a diet is when you have that as an "incentive', I was living on ham and wafer thin turkey salad wraps and sandwiches mostly.

I've out mine back and more but other factors for me like lack of mobility, steroids and other meds for other conditions.

It was quite a revelation though in learning to read labels in detail and how much fat is in so many things, especially ready meals, quite scary really!

I really like probiotics now, either in the low/no fat yoghurt or the Actimel drinks, especially when on antibiotics. I eat much healthier nowadays, just wish I could do more exercise to get the weight off, was so great to lose so much so quickly, although I had lost some quickly before and some say that can trigger gallstones to form.

Hope you have someone around to look after you a bit while you are recuperating. My mum came to stay after my op and was an absolute godsend! I'd have struggled without her.

Hope the air isn't too uncomfortable for you and keep an eye on the wounds. I had an idiot taxi driver who either didn't understand the request for no speedbumps or was really mean, getting home after my op, my main op would by my belly button opened (not as serious as it sounds!) and got infected but simple antibiotics job from the hospital walk in and then regular checks and special dressings sorted it.

I had two weeks off work and it was about right for me.