Day Zero: My Gallbladder Is Gone!

Once my surgery had been completed and I had been rolled out of the hospital in the traditional wheelchair, my recovery had officially begun. I was feeling pretty good considering I was loaded up with anesthesia and I had four small lacerations on my stomach and a small organ removed. It wasn't great, but my imagination had me thinking it would be far worse.

Incisions

In terms of the incisions, here is a picture of someone else who has incisions that looked pretty much the same as mine: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sudama/60291047/

To be honest, they seemed pretty small. The two lower outside incisions were about a half an inch (tiny) and they were sealed using surgical glue. The incision at the bottom of my naval was also glued, and so was the larger incision just to my right and below my sternum. Glue everywhere, and on the larger incision, two small inch long pieces of tape (also known as "paper stitches"). So everything was glue and stickers, no actual stitches in site. I was told not to shower for 2 days, and after that I should be OK. I was also told to leave the "paper stitches" on until my one week follow-up with my doctor.

The hardest thing to do on day one was to drop into a seat from a standing position, or stand up from a sitting position. This caused me to have to move my abdomen in ways it did not want to move or flex. I had to warn the kids not to hug me or bang into me.

Get Moving

I had heard many people say I should get moving as soon as possible. A nice easy walk would be good, and sitting around too much would be bad. This was no problem for me as I actually felt more comfortable standing (straight) than sitting (bent at the abdomen). In fact, I probably stood more than I sat my first few days.

We picked up my prescription (Vicoden, a pain killer) and headed home. I was told to take 1-2 vicoden every 4-6 hours. I decided to go with a minimalist approach as I don't want any more medicine than I need. Your mileage may vary, but I found one painkiller every 4-6 hours was enough for me, and I was off of the painkillers by the next morning and taking 2 Advil instead.

The good news is that I was not in desperate need for painkillers. The bad news is that they didn't help much with some of the symptoms. I'm sure the helped the pain coming from the lacerations, but the bloating and discomfort I was on my own with. Also, the CO2 gas floating around inside of me causing sharp pains here and there didn't seem to be phased by painkillers. Either way, it was all bearable, but again, make sure that you clear your schedule.

Sleeping

Sleeping was the hardest part. I normally sleep on my side, and that wasn't an option. The first night, I would lie on my back and try to fall asleep that way. Laying flat on one pillow was painful. Using a second pillow and sitting up a little bit was more comfortable, but still hard to sleep. I found that if I tilted my body about 5 degrees to my left (liver-side a bit higher) there was more comfort. I would sleep for 2 hours and then need to get up and move around, have a drink of water, go to the bathroom.

The big pain (literally) when trying to sleep is the CO2 gas that was in my abdomen. When they do a laparoscopic surgery, they will fill you up with carbon dioxide. This will space things out so they can work easily. They get most of it out before they close you up, but some always stays behind in your abdomen, and it shifts around and causes gas pains. They tend to drift upwards towards your shoulders and neck area. I found that if you move around a bit you can adjust them, and bending over (head down) will get them to move back away from your shoulders. This is important to remember because if you don't know about the CO2 pains, you may think you are getting chest pains or pains in your neck/shoulders that mean bad things. It's not really bad things, just air. Your body will absorb it in time (everyone's capacity to absorb CO2 is different. Mine seemed to be gone in a few days).

Oh yeah ... for whatever reason, I was urinating every 2 hours for the first day and night. Maybe it was the IV fluids, maybe it was the water I had been drinking since the painkillers and meds make your thirsty, but I was bathroom bound often. So between the bathroom visits and the discomfort, I would sleep for 2 hours, wake up for a half hour and move around, and then repeat. I slept about 6 hours the first night.

Next Few Days

I'll talk more about my first week after surgery in upcoming posts, and some of the things I experienced in that week. My surgery was on a Friday, and I went back to work on Wednesday morning. It was bearable, but I ended up going home early on Wednesday, and asking to work from home on Friday. If you can, take an entire week off and relax. I couldn't, but wish I could have.