Unplanned emergency Gallbladder removal 5 weeks ago
Posted , 3 users are following.
Hi to everyone I am on here looking for some advice! The city I live in is in lockdown due to COVID 19 and all medical appointments are on hold or cancelled. I had my gallbladder out 5 weeks ago after going to hospital in ambulance at 1 am. I was in terrible pain and did not know what the issue was but I was vomiting. I am also a diabetic so that can confuse things sometimes. I waited for 3 days in emergency to see a doctor and finally after several attempts at a diagnosis they decided I needed my gallbladder out. Things were tough in the hospital as a diabetic and I had nothing by mouth until they finally did the surgery at about 9pm at night 5 weeks ago.
Okay if you read this far thanks just trying to give some context to help with any advice you can give me. I am in my 60s and cared for my 2 year old granddaughter in her home up until the day this happened. So I live alone and things piled up I did the best I could with cleaning and getting a little bit of food from the store at a time for each day.
Having the surgery unplanned I was not prepared at all for it and when I google it tells me to prepare meals ahead blah blah which I couldn't have done or have someone help me which no one did! So I feel much better this week and have been doing laundry and vacuuming and sweeping a bit without knowing if it is okay or not. I can't speak to anyone and no one can look at my incision to tell me anything. Due to unplanned surgery I had the surgeon on duty and was not really given a lot of instructions for afterwards except don't drive until the anesthetic wears off and don't lift more than 8-10 pounds (too late for that one)
Now my son is expecting me to come back to caring for my granddaughter and I went to visit only and I could not feel safe to lift her she weighs 40 and is not toilet trained yet. I don't know what to do as I can't see any medical professional right now and I am scared that I will do something wrong. I have been pushing things all along because I had no other way to do it.
Can anyone who has been through this surgery tell me am I risking doing something to my incision if I lift my granddaughter? I get very tired easy too and just not sure I am up to it and understandably my son took time off to take care of her and now wants to get back to his job. Please help if I wasn't in lockdown here I could at least see someone at a walk in clinic. My incision has scabbed over and not sure if that is normal either. Thanks for reading this long post!
0 likes, 5 replies
blaise112233445 deborah91099
Posted
hello! you say you have an incision. i had 3 due to keyhole (small ones) and one larger one on my belly button to remove the gallbladder through. or maybe one under your chest?
if its more than the three small incisions, its advisable to not lift anything more than a half full kettle for at least a couple of weeks id say. i didnt lift my kids for some time.
deborah91099 blaise112233445
Posted
Thanks yes I thought when I was taken in I might be having the keyhole one but it ended up due to prior surgery I had the bigger surgery although in the end I guess it is all major surgery. I find lockdown has been hard on knowing what to do and I have been doing a lot of things I was not sure about.
deborah91099 blaise112233445
Posted
Would you think though by now that it would be okay to lift my granddaughter I know you did not lift for a couple of weeks but I am feeling the pressure to go back. I have googled and all I can find is that depending on the job you do you can probably return to work at 2 weeks. When did you you feel comfortable lifting your children? I have been lifting baskets of clothes and taking them down to the laundry room in my building but don't think that weighed much more than 15 pounds which obviously is just a guess I really do not know. Thanks.
livvy20 deborah91099
Edited
hi Deborah,
I am sorry to read that you are feeling anxious about your recovery. It also sounds as though you have had no support whatsoever during this difficult time.
I had my gallbladder removed last year by keyhole surgery, but I am aware that the recovery for open surgery, the type you had, does take much longer. You have undergone some serious abdominal surgery and you will need to give yourself time to heal and recover. The reason why we are told not to lift anything heavy after surgery is to prevent things like hernias developing. Whilst your external scar may look to be healing, you need to bear in mind that your body also has to do a lot of unseen internal healing. The last thing you need is to set yourself back by having to undergo more surgery to repair a hernia.
I am not sure which country you live in, but he advice provided on the official National Health Service website in the UK, is that after keyhole surgery one can normally return to normal activities after 2 weeks. Recovery following open surgery takes longer and it can take 6 to 8 weeks to return to normal activities.
You can look on the NHS site - gallbladder removal for lots of useful information. Also bear in mind that we all recover differently, and our ages, health conditions, and experiences vary.
It is important that you put yourself first and give yourself the time you need to heal properly. If you try to do too much too soon, you could cause yourself some damage. You should also not feel pressured into caring for your grandchild before you are fully fit to do so. Harsh as it may sound, your grandchild is the responsibility of your son, and I suggest that you explain to him how you have struggled to cope alone since your operation, that you are concerned that you are not yet fully fit, and that if you overdo things now, you could tun the risk of setting back your recovery, or worse still, end up back in hospital. You will be of no help to your son or grandchild if that were to happen!
On another note, you should persist in contacting your doctor to request that your wound is checked to see if it is healing as it should, particularly as you are diabetic. Perhaps you can request a telephone consultation or a video call?
It sounds to me like you are a very loving and caring mother and grandma, but just now you really have to put your own health and needs first.
deborah91099
Posted
Thanks for the reply I went back last week to caring for my granddaughter under great pressure. I lifted her throughout the day and seemed to have no issues with extreme pain so figured all was well. The first day after I went home I felt like my insides were on fire! It hurt to move or do anything else and I just came home and crashed after eating and did it all over again the next day. This is my second week and it is still happening including pain where my gallbladder was that radiates around to my shoulder.
It seems like I am now becoming more nervous that the doctors knew what they were doing as they first diagnosed me with hepatitis and gave me the news like it was a death sentence. I worry still about this but was told that the liver enzymes went back down.
I tried to contact my surgeon but was told he does not see his post gallbladder patients. (It was done at emerg so I have no prior history with him) Due to COVID lockdown my family doctor is only doing phone appointments. I am also extremely tired and feel I am not the carer I used to be for my granddaughter with such lack of energy. I tried to talk to my son and say maybe I should not come everyday since I had other issues related to my diabetes before this happened. He was so upset with me asking me what will they do during Covid Lockdown and I should be fine by now. I am so upset about it all and wish I never had to get this out!