Gallbladder

Well... I've gotten word from the doctors office that I have a very large gallstone. I meet with the surgeon on Dec 14th to talk about the situation. I don't know if gallbladder removal is in my future or not. I don't know if they will hold off on it until my "hopeful" surgery in May?? Can they do a two for one?? If so I would rather have both surgeries sooner than later. ~Amber~

There are a lot of doctors that will remove your gallbladder at the same time they do the RNY, especially if you have stones already. If the stones are not causing any problems, then they may opt to wait and do both surgeries at the same time. If the stones are causing problems, they may go ahead and take it out now and then do your RNY in May. I had my gallbladder removed one year after my RNY (one year and one week exactly). Mine had to come out in an emergency situation as it was causing a problem with my pancreas which can be deadly if left untreated. Be sure to ask for the "good" drugs. Good luck! Toni

Thank you Toni. Unfortunately, my gallbladder is causing me to have some pain in my side and back so I'm guessing I will have 2 surgeries. Lovely! I will definitely ask for the "good" drugs. Thank you for the information!! ~Amber~

Hey Amber, I'm having my gallbladder taken out on December 1st. I developed a large gallstone that started causing me some pain. But, because my insurance deductible and out of pocket maximum have both been met, I decided to go ahead and get it taken care of. I had surgery 7 months ago and have lost 130lbs. I'm assuming my gallstone developed because of the rapid weight loss. I understand that if there is a problem with your gallbladder when the RNY is performed that it will be removed at the same time. But, if it is giving you a lot of trouble now, then it might be better to go ahead and get it taken care of. My gallbladder surgery is going to be outpatient and was told that the procedure only lasts 30-45 min. I'm a little nervous only because I really don't know what to expect. At any rate, good luck to ya! Hope you get to feeling better April

Thank you so much April! I think it will be best if I go ahead and get it removed so it doesn't keep causing problems and pain. Your surgery is in a few days... Good luck and be sure to let me know how it goes. I'm a bit nervous too. ~Amber~

The lap gallbladder removal is a piece of cake. I had mine removed 12 years ago and never needed anything stronger than Tylenol for the pain. They gave me one of my stones. It was the size of a robins egg, and green! Ewwwww! Susan

If it's causing you problems, don't wait for it to make you really sick. Get it yanked!!!! That way you'll be all set when you get your date for WLS. Susan

Thank you Susan. I agree. I feel that it needs to be removed, so I will see what the doc says on the 14th. Hopefully mine isn't that large. The nurse told me that she didn't want to discuss it with me and that she would leave it up to the doc - the only thing she said was that it was a very large gallstone and that I just needed to come to my appointment on the 14th, and if something happened before then I needed to go to the ER ... hopefully it won't get that bad. ~Amber~

Hi Amber, I had mine removed in 1998, I had to stay over for 24 hours rather 23 for observation at the VA hospital. It had to large stones blocking multi little ones. It was done Laproscopic and your can't even see the little cuts. So as they said it's a piece of cake. I had some pain shots while in the hospital, but only tylenol when I got out for about 2 days. Get it out, then you won't have to worry about it later. Love Kathy

Thank you so much for sharing Kathy. I am so happy to find others on this website that are like me and have went or are going through the same things as I am. Thank you all so much!!! ~Amber~