Gallstones

[psophia17]

A night in the ER, presumably passing a kidney stone (although there was no evidence of one besides the excruciating pain I was in), did determine by abdominal u/s that I have a gallbladder full of stones.

My Mom had her gallbladder out ages ago, and ended up having complications and a huge surgery, so I'm essentially clueless on what I need to know. Or if I need to know anything, given that the stones aren't causing me any problems at all...anyone have any recent experience to share?

As for the ER experience of kidney stones, I will never darken the door of this particular ER again.

[kep]

Petra, I have absoluetly no advice, but I'm so sorry that you are having to deal with this now. I can't even imagine. Are you doing okay now? Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help. Long distance baby sitting... ;)

Kelli

Proud Mommy to Lukey (2003). Weaned after 3 years of happy nursing!
And Mommy to our newest baby, Joseph, born 3 days after Christmas.

[kdeunc]

Petra,
My Dad had his gallbladder out this spring after an attack. It was a laproscopic procedure which normally would be outpatient (He is 72 with a cardiac history so he stayed overnight). He had no problems at all. I do know that it is better to go ahead with removal while you are not having symptoms. Are you sure that you were having kidney stone pain and not gallbladder pain? I swear that hurts worse than labor! Good luck. Hope you feel better soon-

[lovin2shop]

My DH just had his Gallbladder removed about two weeks ago. Try not to worry too much, it was not a bad surgery all things considered. Since I'm expecting, the surgeon laughingly said that Jeff's recovery would be a piece of cake compared to recovery from labor & delivery or certainly C Section. He also said that this surgery is often the first one performed by many surgeons since it is the easiest. Good news as long as you make sure that you don't get a first timer! So, I'm not trying to make light of your situation as any surgery is a big deal, but if you have to have one, this is a better option than most.

Jeff actually felt relief to have the surgery since he had been in a lot of pain. He didn't have actual gallstones, just a poorly functioning gallbladder that took a long time to diagnose. I do remember from reading the literature that his surgeon gave us that gallstones generally require surgery as they don't get better or go away on their own. They can get lodged in the bile duct and cause major pain and very poor digestive functioning. So, that would be my guess about your pain over the kidney stones, as well. Jeff was in the ER with a lot of pain medication also.

Big hugs, I hope that you have a quick road to recovery! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about how the surgery or recovery went for my DH.

[millerpjm]

Gallbladder surgery is MUCH easier now than in our parents' day. My mom too, had her gallbladder out and has a big scar. I had mine out the same year I had DS (DS in Feb. GB out in Sept.) and it wasn't a big deal at all. It was a laproscopic, outpatient surgery for me, and I was back to work in a week. I was tired, and I had some discomfort, but I don't really remember it being bad at all. And I have just a couple of teeny scars.
HTH!

Jen

[psophia17]

I'm okay - the worst is behind me, I think.

Long distance babysitting, however...I'll take you up on that...

[psophia17]

They seemed pretty certain it was a kidney stone before the u/s, and most of the pain had passed by the time I had that (it started at 1am, the u/s was at 4pm). I originally thought I had a UTI, and the pain that sent me to the ER was localized in the lower left front, it didn't turn to excruciating pain in the left kidney area until I had been in the waiting room for almost 2 hours.

When I see my GP, sometime in the next two weeks, I guess we'll talk about scheduling some surgery for me now...

[bubbaray]

Petra, I might be able to help you with other ER or hospital options as I'm pretty familiar with most of the hospitals in the region. You can PM me. Some are definitely better than others and most hospitals here have specialities too. You could also ask your GP which hospital s/he would recommend if you have another episode while you are waiting for surgery.

Also, is there any kind of u/s therapy they can do for gallstones?? I have no idea, but there is some sort of sound therapy they do for kidney stones (FIL had it done here in BC). Maybe there is something similar???


Hope you are better soon!


Melissa

DD#1: 04/2004

DD#2: 01/2007

[psophia17]

Thanks Melissa :)

DH's aunt works as a nurse at Vancouver General, so that's likely we're we'll go in the future, unless there's a reason to be in an ambulance...that's where our GP has privledges, too, and DH is kicking himself that we didn't go there first, since I likely would've gotten some fluids between 1am and 2pm...and maybe even some treatment besides morphine...

[psophia17]

Turns out my niece had her gallbladder removed last year, she came over to see how I was this morning.

I've recovered from two c/s so far, and an appendectomy, and so far the pain of coupling ctx was worst, followed by the appendicitis (before surgery), passing a kidney stone, and recovery from the first c/s...

...what do I win?

[psophia17]

Thanks Jen :)

I feel a little better about it now - I'm glad I know, so that I can avoid another ER visit, at the very least...

[teddy]

I know your pain. I had my gall bladder taken out almost a year ago September. I was also 11 weeks pregnant at the time. The surgeon was hoping I would be able to wait until 2nd trimester but I was in too much pain. The pain would come and last for hours, then go. I was afraid to eat anything in fear of triggering the pain. I was taking Vicodin (my OB and the surgeons and the ER doc all told me it was okay to take while pregnant). The pain was _so_much_worse_ than natural childbirth, which I did three times.

The pain was caused by gall stones getting stuck in the common bile duct. The duct was trying to squeeze through bile and the stones were plugging up the works. Hence, the pain. Fatty and/or greasy foods were definite triggers.

I had two surgeries, an ERCP (endoscopic) surgery to get rid of the gall stones. This was under general anesthesia with an endoscope down my throat. Two days later, I had the laprascopic surgery to take out the gall bladder, also under general anesthesia. I have a few little scars on my abdomen. I was hospitalized for a week on the high risk OB floor.

My surgeon said this is becoming a common ailment for women in their 30s. Pregnancy also worsens the condition. But it is also easily remedied. I was hospitalized because I had to have 2 surgeries and I was pregnant. My FIL had his gall bladder out last year also (same surgeon) and I think stayed overnight.

I hope I didn't scare you or give you TMI. It was my long winded way of saying that both surgeries were successful and rather routine (except for the pregnant part but I was not their first pregnant patient). But try to get recommendations for surgeons. The surgeon I used for the laprascopic procedure was NOT the general surgeon who came to the ER when I had my first attack. I just didn't feel "right" about him. The surgeon I used came highly recommended from several of my MIL's friends.

AS for your stones, if they are not causing problems now, they are probably small and passing through the common bile duct. You might develop larger ones that *could* get stuck later on. That is really painful. Perhaps ask if that's a possibility given the condition of your gall bladder. Apparently, one does not "need" the gall bladder, so if you did have it removed, you would probably not notice any difference. Your bowel movements might be softer, but nothing significant.

Hope this helps a little. Feel free to ask anything else.

[trumansmom]

Petra - I had my gallbladder out about 10 years ago. It was done laprascopicaly(sp? It's Saturday morning and I haven't had coffee yet.), and you couldn't find the scars now if you tried. I spent one night in the hospital, but was released the next morning. I remember I took one week off work, and then worked half days the following week. While it wasn't fun, it was much better than suffering through another gallbladder attack, and the healing was pretty quick.

Good luck!
Jeanne
Mom to Truman 11/01 and Eleanor 4/04

[AngelaS]

I had my gall bladder out 2 years ago. I'd known they wanted to take it out for several months after finding it full of gravel via ultrasound but I didn't want surgery so I spent several months eating lots of VERY low fat foods and suffering with what felt like horrid heartburn if I ate very much fat.

The surgery was fairly quick, but I woke up really nauseous because of the all the poking around they did in my tummy. I was sore for a few weeks but by 2 to 3 weeks post partum I was back to normal.

I think I got back to normal too fast tho--because 3 months later I discovered a hernia at one of my incisions sites and had to have THAT repaired too! Doh!

Just know that if they do take it out, it forever alters your digestion. If you're prone to constipation now, you won't be later. ;) If you're regular now, you'll lean close to the 'waay too loose' side later. I think for the first month post op, I had diarrhea every.single.day which got old VERY fast!