Any DukeWLS Cntr patients had gall bladder removed? HELP

I'm about 1 month and a week out from RNY surgery with Duke WLS Center.

Am on soft foods diet now. Beginning last week, I noticed that I started having some pain/discomfort in my upper abdomen near my rib cage on my RIGHT side. I put a heating pad on the area but figured I'd see if it got better. Didn't bother me much over this past weekend but acted up yesterday and seems worse today. Today when I take in a deep breath I get a tightness feeling in my upper abdominal area and it doesn't feel good. Right now I have this dull ache & discomfort in my right side. I read online that this is a symptom of gall bladder issues. I made a call this morning to Duke. Got an appt this Friday with one of the Nurse Practitioners because Dr. Pryor couldn't see me. I need to be seen so I took the appt.

Has anyone who's had RNY surgery with DUKE WLSurgery Center, specifically with Dr. Pryor, had to have your gall bladder removed?

If so, what were your symptoms of the gall bladder pain?

How did your surgery go?

Is it on an outpatient basis or do you have to spend the night?

Does the RNY surgeon (Dr. Pryor) do the gall bladder removal surgery as well??

I hear the recovery time is short for gall bladder surgery, perhaps a few days or so. I know it can be different for everyone. I do think that's what is going on with me. I'm sure they'll have to run some tests most likely. I hope I can get this treated ASAP too. If it has to come out, I'd rather do it now.

Any advice/suggestions/comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks everyone!!!

I'm not with Duke and haven't had my surgery yet, but I do have a pretty big gallstone and have been told that my surgeon will probably remove my gall bladder when I have my rny.  I wish I had more information for you, but I can empathize with the pain you describe.  Mine sometimes wraps around that  rib area into my back.  It is a burning pain and nothing seems to help.

Yep, you're right--nothing seems to help.  Luckily it's not too terrible right now but it can be sharp pains at times I've noticed.  I sure do wish I wasn't having these problems but I guess it's because I've lost so much weight in a short time period.  I wish they would have give us medication that might would have helped with this if it was a possibility that the gall bladder would start "acting" up after losing weight.  Mine seems to have started EARLY since I'm only 1 month and 1 week out .  I really do think that's what it is too.  Seems reasonable.  I guess I'll get more info on Friday when I see the doctor.  I'm just glad I was able to get an appt this week.  Hopefully I can get some relief soon.  Thanks for your response.

Hi There!

I am almost one year post-op and Dr. Pryor is my surgeon.  I had the same pains you describe post op for at least three weeks.  That said, at the time of my RNY I had my gallbladder removed because they found that I had stones.

The month prior to my surgery, I ended up in the Duke ER with severe abdominal pain and vomiting.  After a litany of tests, the felt it was my gallbladder and put me on the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast****il my surgery a month later.   The funny thing is that I had overall abdominal pain and it was not located in one place, that is why they were uncertain as to what  was actually wrong with me (they thought gallbladder, appendix or kidney stone) but finally came up with a gallbladder diagnosis.

Because my RNY and cholecystectomy were performed at the same time I don't know much about the independent recovery times.  I can say that I had mild surgical pains for about three weeks post op. 

The Nurse Practitioners are wonderful and will take good care of you.  Should you need your gallbladder removed, I think it is likely Dr. Pryor will do the surgery as you are her patient. Dr. Pryor is wonderful and even if you don't see her in clinic, the NPs talk with her about her patients and she will be in the loop regarding your care.

My surgery went fine, I did have some complications post-op but I am fine now.  Ten-days post-op I ended up with a blood clot in my messenteric vein (which goes through the bowel) and was readmitted to the hospital for 8 days.  This is a rare complication and only occurs in 1 in 1000 patients.  The pain was significant from the clot which is what led me back to the doctor. Very early on, I also had a couple of trips to the ER but I was quickly cared for and the subsequent trips did not result in an overnight stay. 

I will be one year out on 4/28/11 and thus far have lost 173lbs!  I feel like a million bucks.   If someone told me that I could do the surgery all over again but I would experience these same complications; I would do it again in a heartbeat!  

Please feel free to ask my any questions that i have not covered.

All the best-
Pink

 

While I had my surgery at Duke, I had a different surgeon and I'd had my gall bladder removed laproscopically i***** The surgery was done as inpatient surgery then, I think it is still done that way now. I had to stay overnight when I had mine. My symptoms were similar to yours and the surgery relieved the symptoms. I think it is likely to be an easier recovery than your RNY.

If you are seeing Hillary Blackwood, please know that you will be in EXCELLENT hands. She is one fine RNP!! I've been seeing her for years and one of the good things about her is that she sees you as a whole person, not just as an RNY or Gallbladder patient. All of the surgeons at Duke are more than just competent, so if you end up with another surgeon for any reason, please rest assured that you will be in very good hands.

I know how incredibly uncomfortable gallstones can be, so I hope that it can all be resolved quickly. Please do let us know how you are doing as things move forward.

Wishing you all the best,

There might be a light at the end of the tunnel! I am about 5 days shy of a month post-op and I had about the exact same symptoms and mine was nothing but a pull, or stretching, of the muscle wall, or an internal stitch problem. One night, out of the blue, I got an extremely painful stabbing on my right side under my ribcage, that would sometimes wrap from my waist to the middle of my stomach, and whenever I would try to take a deep breath, yawn, or do it without even thinking, I would feel like I was getting stabbed, sharply, in the side. I thought it was strange because I figured any post-op pain would be on the left side. I had a little knot under the incision mark on my right side that was a little sore on occasion, but this pain was completely different. I too, thought it was gall bladder issues and went to my doc and tests done...nothing. It has been 6 days since it started, and just today, I have had absolutely no pain when I take a heaping deep breath.
 Just wanted to share with you, because I know that we forget, because we feel so good, that we did JUST have a major surgery. Even thoughwe think we can do just about anything we want, we still need to be very careful. You should still see your doc, but wanted to let you know that gallbladder may not be the case. I hope not, for you, like it wasnt for me. Good luck, and keep us posted as to what you find out!!