PISSED

I had my gallbladder removed a few months after I had my daughter, and it was a breeze compared to my c-section. I was out of commission for several days, but but the end of the week, I was feeling much better. I'd get it done sooner if you have to have it done. I couldn't keep anything down so I had to have it removed. 

 They have you scheduled a month out, but the reality is... you have ONE more attack, and you'll be in the ER and on the next day emergency surgery schedule.  It happened to me.

Gall bladder surgery was a two day ordeal.  I had the surgery on a Thursday, and I was back to work the next Tuesday, but I could have been back to work on that Monday.  I probably wouldn't have had to spend two nights in the hospital, except the first night was in the ER.  Easiest surgery I ever had.

I've already posted that blood clots shouldn't be a problem for your trip.  Even the most conservative  sites suggest that two weeks is more than enough time to get there.  Additionally, the fact that you are going on a 22 hour flight with six planes, means that your trip will be broken up into small enough segments that you shouldn't have problems finding ways to move around.  On your longer segments, you just need to get up every hour or so and move around.  If that's not possible, you can wear compression stockings and move around in your seat.

As for the money, I don't know your financial situation, but medical bills are fairly forgiving.  You'll have time to pay them, if the bulk of your surgery is covered.  You might not even be billed before you get home from Japan!

Just get the gall bladder taken care of.  You can't travel with them, and you'll never miss that pain.

Taking Actigal does not completely prevent gallstones.  As a matter of fact, some studies show that it only decreses your change of getting gallstones by only 10%.  You have a 40% chance of getting gallstones after RNY, and Actigal drops it down to 30%.  So even if you had taken the Actigal, you still had a 30% chance of getting gallstones. 

I know that you don't want to have gallbladder surgery, but you can NOT walk around with a diseased gallbladder.  You do NOT want to be overseas and have that thing act up on you or worse land in a hosptial and need emergency surgery.  You would be looking at a MUCH higher bill and your insurance will likely not cover ANY of it.

My niece just had her gallbladder removed. It was done laproscopically in the morning and she was home late afternoon. In a few short days she was feeling fine.

I would hate to hear that you went to Japan and got really sick. Better to have the surgery here.

Good luck to you,

Hattie

Would you rather end up in Japan with debilitating pain from pancreatitis caused by a gallstone stuck in the pancreatic duct and having to be hospitalized THERE (or have to find a way to be able to travel all those hours back to the US -- and find a way to pay the airline ticketing charges -- to get treatment)?!?!?

As I told you before, most people recover VERY quickly from gallbaldder surgery and you still have PLENTY of time to have surgery and recover fully from it before you leave.  If you are having gallbladder attacks, they are NOT likely to just go away...  just bite the bullet and do it.

Lora