Gallbladder Surgery

Hi all! Just wanted to check in with you. Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  I am recovering from gallbladder sugery and the meds have me pretty loopy. Last week starting on Sunday I starting feeling very sick. Couldn't eat anything and could barely keep down my protein shakes. I kept having this horrible pain right through my sternum to my back. I felt like someone was sticking a hot poker throgh me. I couldn't get comfortable in any positon. I was really constipated and figured all that back up was causing the pain so I took that milk of magnesia and drank some of that dieters tea it didn't take my pain away but then I had diareha and throwing up. At this point I was sure my band had slipped. Wednesday about 4 am I woke up my hubby in tears begging him to take me the the ER. I couldn't breathe. So we get to the ER and I was so dehydrated they couldn't get an IV in or take blood. They had aobut 5 people try. (Needless to say I am covered with bruises) Finally they had the flight nurse come down from the helicoptor and got a line in. They called my baratric surgeon and he said do an ultra sound of my stomach. Sure enough my gallbladder was inflamed, full of stones and sludge. I had to be on IV antiboitics for 24 before he could even do anything. He was afraid if any of the fluid got on the band it would erode. So finally about 8:00 Thursday night they had me in the OR. What should have been a simple 45 minute procedure took 2 hours. He said it was the worst gallbladder he had every seem and the hardest surgery he had ever done. GREAT!! They kept me in the hospital for 6 days. The last 2 I couldn't keep the IV's in my body kept rejecting them so they were giving everyhing in shots in my hips OUCH!!! I am glad to be back home, but I'm still in lots of pain and very weak. I want to quit taking the pain meds they are making me so lethargic. Worst of all I've gained 5 lbs! Thanks for listening. If you have bad pain don't wait 4 days to go to the DR!!! I hope you are all doing well and I will go back and read posts after my nap! Take care of yourselves! Trina __________________ Trina Banded 03/29/2007 Dr. Frank Chae Sky Ridge Hospital Colorado

Hi there - there is some details in here that could be gross.... I am sorry to hear of all the pain, but I hope that it is better now. I wanted to post to all who have had GB problems because I am trying to figure out what is wrong with me. I have an appointment on Monday to talk with my PCP about my possibly having Chronic Dysfunctional GB. About 3-4 times a year I have an 'attack' where i have the worse pain in my life (bar childbirth) in my upper abdomin (usually on the left side under the bottom ribs, or in the middle under my sternum) and this pain last for 3-4 hours. Sometime it feels like there is a blockage or something and it wont go away until I hear like this large gurgle sound and then there is a bad case of  diarrhea. And I mean bad..... I have constant diarrhea and have had it for the last 4+ years. The pains ONLY strike at night, and like I said, about 3-4 times a year. My diarrhea is always about the same color no matter what I eat - yellowish/brown. Which I have heard can be the color of bile. The last time I had an attack I ended up in the ER and they thought I was having a heart attack. They couldnt find a thing wrong with me. I have also read that IBS could be a misdiagnosis of GB problems. It seems that what I am going through could be this problem except for the location of my pain. Anyways, has anyone else had this type of problem? Any other symptoms with yours? I dont think I have stones, just a GB that dumps to much bile into my system. Thanks Diana

Hey Diana, Thinking back even before the gastric band I had all of the problems you described. I've been hopitalized at least 5 times because of this pain. It's a shame it took them so long to figure it out. I always got CT scans in the ER and it took to find this problem was a simple ultrasound of the gallbladder. I would insist your dr checks it out. One part I left out of my post  is that the infection from the gallbladder was starting to affect my liver. VERY SCARY! Had it burst it could have caused lots of internal damage and eroded my lap band. By the way I am feeling better. Trying to ween off the pain meds so I can think straight again. Trina 

TRINA, Oh my God!  I just read your post, I can't believe you went through that!  I am sooo glad you are okay.  So, you had problems before the lapband surgery and nobody caught it?  Oh, you must have been miserable!  Don't worry about the 5 pounds, it will come off in no time.  Take care!  Anne   I will probably be at the Sept. support group, I have to miss July and August because of my son's tball games.  Hope to see you then.