Surgery on Thurs 7th Jan 2010 ... not looking forward to it

Just wanted to let you know that I'm 38 and had my gall bladder removed last August. I've never looked back. Had keyhole surgery and have 4 tiny scars which are so tiny that they won't put me off wearing my bikini. I was discharged the following day and suffered terrible pains from trapped air in my upper back/ shoulder region. Another patient had warned me to expect it so I took my pain medication and went to bed. Other than a couple of days of diarrhoea I have genuinely had no side effects. I feel great and am no longer living with the dread of the 'PAIN' returning. Good luck and watch out for the trapped air. You'll never look back! :D

I had mine out in April. had no diahorrea. The scars hardly show. Use Bio Oil once the scars heal it is very helpful. Give yourself time to recover and when you do you will be glad you had it removed. I have just had a groin hernia repair so have three more scars to heal. I can tell you now the pain from this is far worse than I had from the gallbladder removal. Good luck and don't worry.

Thanks guys, I was just getting really anxious and miserable about it all. The prospect of future problems and further complications is not something I want to have to cope with.

As it stands the surgery wont be going ahead after all. Due to 'severe weather conditions' it has been cancelled. You get a little bit of snow in this country and then all of a sudden everything stops working, including hospitals ... absolute f*cking unbelieveable.

Apparently all elective outpatient surgery has been cancelled ... I can't believe it. This is London, England ... not a third world country. I'm sure that snow does not disrupt things in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Russia, Germany, and just about every other part of Europe or the rest of the civilised world.

On top of that, they wont tell me when I will be rescheduled for. It may be over a months wait. I have been waiting for over a year to get this sorted and am now really, really P*SSED OFF.

This just makes me even more anxious and almost serves as some sort of sign that the surgery is a bad idea. Really not happy ... :x :cry: :x

Marco - I know EXACTLY how you feel!!! (((hugs)))

I also live in London, and was scheduled to have surgery on the 22nd Dec 09. It was a long hard battle getting to that date, going through exactly those same doubts you have. Im 34, and have spent the best part of the last year in bed and in pain.

I was at the door ready to go, having not slept for 3 nights, or eaten in 5 days due to anxiety, when the hospital called and cancelled for the same reason they pulled out on you. It devastated me completely and I have been waiting for a date since. I have this afternoon got a call saying could I come in tomorrow afternoon....Noooooooo!!!!! was my panicked response - purely because I need to get my head straight as I am not convinced its such a good thing to have the gallbladder out. I took the cancellation as some sort of 'sign' that it wasn't meant to be. The relief when I'd convinced myself of the fact was sooo great I felt like I'd been given a get out of jail card.

The thing was - on the 23rd Dec I had such a bad attack. The pain was excruciating and I was begging my mum in tears, for a kitchen knife so I could do the surgery myself. I know it sounds melodramatic but omg! The pain. My mother actually removed all the knives and scissors she could find just in case I got up to attempt it. Then I started vomitting. So bad and so hard, like I've never experienced it in all my life, and I was scared. I really thought I'd be in for emergency surgery - a 12inch scar in the fat tissue which will leave me disfigured for the rest of my life, etc. Then a final heave, and I heard a weak click sound and actualy felt the stone shift. That was very very scary! Mum rang the emergency doctor as I refused to go to hospital, and refused an ambulance, and after that the pain subsided - I was given antibiotics, buscopan and painkillers, and told to rest. By the next evening I'd slept deeply, and waking up, I felt better, and the pain went away...in fact the gallbladder felt great!!!!! I found I could suddenly eat more - Oh my gosh - food is sooooo good !!!!! I ate little and often style, but I did it for all the hours I was awake - I just couldn't get enough! lol.Over Christmas I ate chocolate...ok - a lot of chocolate - nearly a third of a tin of Quality Streets, and cheese - OH MY GOD! Cheese is amazing!!!!! And I had a mouthful of a frankfurter....ok - that really didn't taste like I remembered and it tasted greasy so I spat it out! lol. Oh and I had a packet of crisps...4 years since the last one...that was ok for a few of them, but the taste of the grease and the texture was completely alien to me - so Dad finished those off! lol. But nothing - no sickness, no pain, no nothing - haven't had that in 4 long years. I kidded myself I will not need surgery and gosh - the time out of that thought was amazing!!!!!

I made plans and began to get my head into a 'work' frame of mind - and all because I thought I won't need surgery. I put myself back onto a low fat, sensible diet, but with more vareity in it and was loving it. Then a couple days ago, I started feeling sick. I immediately cut back to my chicken and apple juice only diet, but it didn't really help. Then last night I had a big attack out of the blue, with the pain spike shooting up over 2 hours instead of 4 or 5 gradually, followed by a smaller one this morning. I feel sick, depressed, upset, and am back in bed feeling like a herd of wildebeasts are trying to make their way out my side, as if they were making their escape, through a catflap, in a burning building! And there was I thinking I can cope with things as they were. I'm not so confident about that right now. What if next time the gallstone gets stuck and I get rushed in, and have no choice given to me other than the traditional surgery, or the 4 hole keyhole surgery???....At least with me saying yes to the scarless surgery, I get some control and that - all being well - I have jus

i would far have the surgery and have a few wee scars then to have this pain for the rest of my days. you only live once and after a couple of months/years the scars will change colour and you wont even remember them unless somebodies askes what the war wound is for? *chin up!!!* xx

I understand your worries but take it from an OAP who dropped from 15st 11lbs to11st 3lbs in a matter of 18 months, who looked so ill that friends were asking my husband how I really was i.e. has she got cancer? that you are much better having the op than not. It will take time to recover. I did not have the runs but eating remained a probelm until recently. I had three entry scars which are hardly visible now. I have another three from surgery I had on the 30th Dec. Use Bio Oil it is great for the scars once they have healed. Your health is more important than worryiing about scars. Gallstones symptoms are horrific and you will get some naormality back into your life once the gallbladder has gone. Eat little and often and low fat after the op until you feel ready to bring back restricted foods again.

Please don't put yourself through this anguish. The outcome of the op far outweighs not having it at all.

Lecture over xx

i had my gallbladder removed 3 1/2 years ago - they tried to do a lapro op - but very quickly discovered i had adheasions that made visiability imposible through the scope (due to cronic infection) on opening me up i had early signs of gangreen and and it had to be removed there and then - i had only had a few attacks, the first being at the age of 14 (i think) and every other attack i had been able to put down to somthing i had eaten (at 14 i was too young for this mystery illness to be considered gallbladder related) untill i got ill and went yellow - my saving grace was that i got an earlier day case op date as someone cancelled due to holiday commitments, i took the date and my life was saved as a result .. yes i have scars - but i am still here - my surgeon actually insinuated i may not not have made it to my origional date 2 weeks later - better to live with a few scars - than the alternative.

Vixen thats scared the crap out of me.

you gallbladder was gangerious? what were the symptomns you had?

i have continous pain in my sides from morning through night, but doctors not intrested really i dont even think they've ever even touched my side to place the discomfort.

xxx