Go Home Or Stay overnight After Surgery

Hi Linda, I went home the same day. I had surgery at 11am but I wasn't allowed home until after 6pm as I was quite sick afterwards and my blood pressure went right down so they wouldn't let me out until that rose. They armed me with sick bowls and emergency contact numbers for the next couple of weeks. I felt fine once I was home even though I was tired and still sick I preferred to be at home in my own surroundings and at least I could sleep when it hard to sleep in hospital.

To be honest unless there's some issues during surgery there isn't a need to stay in hospital which is why they do it via keyhole so that you can go home much earlier. I did have to make sure that I had someone with me for 24 hours after surgery encase I became ill but I was fine just tired and sore and stiff.

I think if they do surgery later on in the day then they keep you in but its not necessary otherwise.

It'll be upto your surgeon whether you stay in or not I expect.

Let me know what happens. x

The removal of gallbladder surgery is a major surgery. It is estimated that over 500,000 surgeries are performed every year. I left the same day of surgery. Only sore and I felt great. No problems I couldn't believe I wasn't sick anymore. The medical field has this surgery down to a science. No guarantees though. The surgeon will tell you that. It's ok to go home the same day.

Really depends how you are after it and what time your surgery is at. I’d already been an inpatient for 6 days when I got my surgery. Was taken at 9am but didn’t get back to ward til 1pm. Needed a lot of morphine afterwards and there were issues with that. Was really sleepy because of this too so was kept in that night and allowed home the following morning. They try and get you home sooner as less risk of healthcare acquired infections that way xx

Hi,

where I Live its routine to stay overnight and I am glad I did, reading all the issues some can experience.

I only stayed in overnight because I went down to theatre at 5pm. I was happy to stay in, but hardly got any sleep all night. While you are at hospital they will do regular checks and make sure it is safe to discharge you. You will be given pain meds, which you should take regularly for the first week. You'll be fine!

You really don’t get a choice. If they feel there’s a medical need for you to stay in, you will be given a bed somewhere in the hospital, but not even necessarily on a ward that deals with HB patients (outlying). It all depends how well you are and what time you have surgery. If you are late on the list, they will allocate you a bed as they like to monitor everyone for a few hours. Most patients who have laparoscopic cholecystectomy are fine to be discharged a few hours after surgery and usually the relief is instant. When I was waiting for open surgery, I watched old ladies being wheeled out of the ward who were clearly very ill. They came back up from recovery looking and obviously feeling so much better that they walked out of the ward after discharge fully clothed: not even in their dressing gown.  I know how scary it sounds having major surgery then being discharged the same day. I even felt like that after having ERCP! I would have felt less anxious if I’d been allowed to stay overnight. The simple fact is there aren’t enough beds to keep every patient in overnight. They have devised a system where they can perform as many surgeries as possible without the need for overnight stays. They perform thousands of surgeries each year in this way and they would not do it if it wasn’t safe. So long as there is someone with you at home and there is no medical need for you to stay in, you will be discharged. If everyone with gallbladder issues had to have open surgery as they used to, the hospitals couldn’t cope and patients would wait much longer for surgery and take much longer to recover. Remember I was only in hospital for seven days when I’d had open surgery. It’s actually better for patients to get on the move as soon as possible. I was out of bed the same day. Even with my liver resection I was up next day- couldn’t move much for all the tubes, wires and catheter but I was out of bed and sitting in a chair for a short time which was gradually increased.

I know you have surgery this week. Just trust in the staff. All the nurses, anaesthetists and surgeons are specially trained, have years of experience and are very kind. You will wake up feeling so much better. Yes you will probably have issues from the surgery, but the gallbladder will be gone, so those issues are temporary.

Of course it should be mandatory. But money talks. The hospital will lose money for keeping you overnight. All the paperwork and everything adds up. They would rather you go home. Overnight stays are the thing of the past for gb surgery.