GallBladder removal Grrrr..

Ok, I have noticed a shocking thing with some of the other people on this site. They have the surgery and a few months later have to have thier Gallbladder removed. Now my dr.(Dr. Neil Hutcher) automatically removes it. He says that most of the bariatric patients have an issue with it after and have to have it removed anyway. I look at the drs who do not do it and get mad, it seems like a silly thing to have to make your patient go thru two surgerys in a short amount of time. Mine would have had to come out anyway cause when my dr went in it was litrally green and falling apart...lucky me, but it would have come out even if it hadnt been that way, that just made it a bit harder for clean up. Melli

Melissa, although some people lose their gall bladders the % - I was told from my surgeon - is maybe 15-20% maximum. So many people - including me - still have ours - so far. However I am in agreement with my surgeon about not removing healthy organs as prevention - after all where will it stop? - appendices because they are not any use anyway, same with tonsils, remove the teeth before they all fall out - etc etc Each surgeon has his own way of doing things and if you have concerns I am sure that they can be discussed at the time. My surgeon does check the gallbladder and sends you for an ultra sound first and if everything looks okay he will leave the gall bladder in - if it looks diseased he removes it. You were lucky that your gallbladder did not burst before surgery!! Jackie

I was given actigall immediately following my surgery in order to lessen the chance that my gallbladder would end up bad. I am 7 months out and so far so good but of course, could take longer than that. I also had ultrasound and tests etc and my gallbladder was in great shape so they left it alone. My surgeon had said that if there was any sign of disease, they would take it out at the time of WLS. Christine

Yup, I agree with the above posters. Different protocol for different surgeons. Mine, for instance, did not choose to remove it unless necessary at the time. When you do it lap it's not as easy as it would be if you were opened up. He ran testing b4 to see if it was good or bad, and if it was bad it would come out. I am almost 2 years post op and mines been good as gold. I was on medicine right after to make sure it stayed ok too......must've worked well. OXOXOXOOXOX Sharon

Actually it did burst, it was literally falling apart..the dr told my mom and then me, he did not know how I was walking around with it like that. This has happened with my appendix also, where it totally exploded(three days prior to going to dr) so I guess im here for a reason :D. I still think they should just take the gallbladder out, however like it has been stated, its up to the individual dr.