Having Gallbladder surgery in a week

Hi everyone,

I am having gallbladder surgery in a week and after doing some research online, I am afraid I may be chickening out! So many horror stories and it is really making me second guess my decision...

First off I have Ulcerative Colitis but I have been in remission for quite some time now. My main symptoms have been right sided pain, just tucked up underneath my right rib area and most of the time I have the pain in my back and up to my right shoulder blade..., some nausea and heartburn. I have had an ultrasound, which showed nothing, and about a month ago I had a HIDA scan that showed a EF rate of 39%... BORDERLINE...

Most of the time I can eat pretty normally as long as I stay away from red meat and deep fried foods. I can even eat almost normal amounts of fat without feeling too horrible. My main symptom I deal with on a daily basis is occasional pain in my right rib area, and sometimes it feels like I've got a golf ball shoved up in there. Sometimes I do get nausea but not all the time. And this is probably because I do not watch my diet SUPER close.. just kinda close lol...

I am starting to worry that I may feel worse after my surgery than I do now, and should I just wait it out to see if my symptoms get worse over time or if I try and eat a perfectly healthy diet will my problems go away.

My GI and my Surgeon both said that once you start having trouble with your gallbladder that things over time will eventually get worse and I'll have to have it removed. SO, I'm thinking do I just do it now and will it be easier for me to heal since I'm not SUPER sick, or will I totally regret going through with this surgery...

I did have an episode back in January where I ate a bunch of fattening food (new years eve) and I got super sick that night with nausea and diahrrea (sp) and I was feeling horrid for two months and lost 20 pounds... Since then I haven't felt as bad but I do have daily pain on my right side. I am so totally confused right now and I am so scared!!!

I do have Obamacare and my CoPay is only 700 dollars away from being totally paid this year so my surgery if I have it done will be way cheaper than if I wait till next year... GAH~!!!! WHAT DO I DO??????? :/

Hey Sherry!!!

Long time no SEE!! LOL

And ya, I've been doing pretty good lately Ulcerative Colitiswise, I have been in remission for quite a while now (I need to change my signature) But I'm also happier now than I've been in years!

Except for this darn gallbladder pain, I've been feeling really well. I will for sure keep you all posted and if I do go through with the surgery. I am probably gonna do it, but Dang, after reading a lot of the posts here, it's pretty dang scary!!!

I'll let y'all know what happened on Friday evening!!! (surgery scheduled for Sept 5th) LOL

Susie

Hi Again!

Well I went ahead and had the surgery last Friday and I must say..... I FEEL BETTER!!!!! I still have some right sided pain, but heck, it's only been 5 days so I am guessing that I'm just still healing from the procedure. I had Keyhole surgery and so I have 4 incisions on my belly, most are just a little poke, except the one above my belly button which is about 1 1/2 inches long. I had outpatient surgery so I got to come home the same day and I was feeling well enough that evening to eat a few crackers and have some apple juice. I have had NO nausea since the surgery and other than some residual pain I am pretty sure I can tell that it was the right thing to do. No more twinges, no more shoulder pain, no more back pain.... (well maybe a little back pain, but again I think it is because I am still healing.)

The surgery itself was EASY PEASY... they drugged me up with plenty of versed so I didn't really care what they did to me LOL... Waking up I would say was the hardest part... General anesthesia is so weird.. You are lying there completely aware of what's going on, but you can't move or even speak or open your eyes for a few minutes. I'd say it took me about 10-15 minutes before I could lift my head up and communicate with the nurses... Since I knew what was going on I found it not that unpleasant, I just realized I was waking up and just tried to relax until my body started working again... LOL.. My fabulous husband was there with me and they moved me to a private room to recooperate once I was good and awake. After about 2 hours I was able to sit up and move pretty good so they let me get dressed and sent me home. I have had NO liquipoopie or anything so far, and it was the 4th day (yesterday) before I could finally go poopie. I have been eating pretty nonfat, but I did splurge today and had a pop tart LOL... So far so good and for dinner I had a little bit of Tuna Casserole, maybe only 5 bites but it sure tasted good...

I had read so many stories of people having massive D after this surgery but for me, so far, I've been normal since yesterday. I am eating very carefully though as to avoid upsetting my system and after a few weeks I'll slowly reintroduce more foods back into my diet to see what happens.

Overall I'm very glad I had the surgery and have no regrets. I just hope other people getting ready for gallbladder surgery can find my post here because I was so terrified and now I am so thankful I went through with it!

:D