Well, this is a little exciting. I am only a few months away from my 5 year anniversary of having my gallbladder removed. The big day will be on 8/26/2016. Five years ago it fell on a Friday, and this will also be a Friday. Even more reason to celebrate into the weekend.
Thinking back, 5 years ago today I was under a ton of stress. I had gone through a number of bad gallbladder attacks (some had forced me to leave work and lay in my bed for hours). My doctors had been looking at my gallbladder and felt it was advisable to remove it.
Major surgery. Very scary. Sure, nothing compared to real issues and surgeries, but to me, a healthy 36 year old guy, it was the first thing I needed to have done outside of wisdom teeth being pulled and a few knee and head stitches from various times I was playing too rough as a boy.
Now I was told I was going to be put under, cut open, and a have an organ removed! This did not sit well with me. At the time, I started taking walks, and I developed a playlist on my smartphone that was essentially 20-30 of my favorite relaxation songs. Going on these walks and listening to these tunes seemed to help ease my worries. I found it cathartic.
If you are in these shoes, find something that takes the edge off for you. It helps.
As for me, I am looking forward to the next 5 years, and continue to try to EAT A CLEAN DIET, the thing that would have likely prevented this from the beginning.
Cheers all!
I'm almost 4 weeks and I can't tell you how grateful to read your blog!! The Internet is full of the scariest stories about after life of gallbladder removal. It's nice to hear that there might be bumps in the road but it's not doom and gloom like everyone says. You give me encouragement. I hit a batch of reflux this week and the Internet says this is a new way of life that will never go away. So thank you from the bottom of my heart.
ReplyDeleteThanks Renee, that is very much appreciated! I'm glad to hear you are progressing, and 4 weeks in I would say it's pretty normal to have minor setbacks and such. Over time, your body will continue to heal, our bodies are amazing in terms of their resilience, and you will also learn some of your limits and boundaries (hopefully they are very few!). I know for me, if I crush a bacon double cheeseburger with frizzled onions, and a side of fries, I am likely to be in some discomfort that evening, but most of the days I don't even think of it.
DeleteHi, i just had my GB removed last week and how i wished i read your blog before the surgery. I tried doing research by reading what people said in forums but they were mostly negative. I was so freaking out that at 1 point i was even considering to cancel my surgery!! Now that I'm 1 week post surgery, i had exactly the same effect as you. Constipation on the surgery day and the day after and then diarrhoea for 3-4 days. Today, exactly 1 week post op, i was able to eat some fats without having to run to the toilet. Same here, wound at the belly button is still tender. I only had 3 incision sites and the other 2 are ok. Just slight pain when i use my fingers to press on them. Thanks again for the blog and I'm looking forward to 1 mth, 1 yr and 5 yrs post surgery!! :)
ReplyDeleteHey SG Gall, welcome to the Club! Sorry that you didn't get a chance to read this blog before the surgery. I know the feeling, a large part of the reason I wrote this blog was because I also couldn't find a good detailed overview of what to expect. Hopefully this can continue to help others.
DeleteSounds like your experience is very similar to mine through the first week, so hopefully it continues without a hitch!
Hello and thank you for posting your experiences. Im 6 days post-op and your blog and my doctor have kept me sane during some of the rough spots in my recovery. Ive read a few things pre-op, as well as heard people's scary, well-intentioned advice and was terrified; however, the constant pain i'd felt for a whole month was enough for me to go through surgery. And im glad I did despite some of the bad symptoms( nothing major) post-op.
ReplyDeleteTonight was the first day i could hold down solid food. First 2 days I stuck to broth, jello and lots of fluids. Then i tried Fruit, rice and soft veggies but just about everything would give me a bout of diarrhea with a lot of pain, but tonight I feel better after eating and slowly reintroducing food in my diet. Terrified of going back to work and dealing with this diarrhea. I think what helped me feel better overall was stopping the percaset. I went from twice a day down to once a day to just using Tylenol.
Thank you so much for your openness on your blog because it has helped so many of us!
KL
Great Blog! Thanks so much for taking the time to write it. Like you I'm around 40 and never needed any major medical procedure doing before. I am full on terrified of hospitals/dentists/Doc's etc. And find even stepping into these places a really stressful thing. But here I am in week two and just starting to feel better. Week one was terrible and required many trips back into hospital and to my doc. But my body has got its self together in the last day or so and im feeling better every day. My only problem now is struggling to sleep (it's 3am as I type) due to resting up and generally not being as active as i would be. Plus I spend a lot of time worrying about how the next few months will work out and this really can be stressful. So reading your blog is excellent in calming my fears and giving me some perspective. Thanks again for writing it and I'm pleased for you that it's worked out so well.
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