Question:
I have gallstones. Can I still have my surgery?

I had my ultrasound of my abdomen and tehy see gallstones. Will this complicate or prevent me having my surgery? Thanks!    — Julie S. (posted on August 20, 2002)

August 20, 2002
It's not unheard of for surgeons to remove the gall bladder along with the WLS ... my surgeon does it routinely. I would say the gall stones won't hurt your chances for surgery but it's definitely something to discuss fully with your surgeon.
   — BlueGray

August 20, 2002
No it will help approval since it has to come out and in such cases its removed during WLS. Relax its nothing to worry about.
   — bob-haller

August 20, 2002
I was scheduled for my Lap RNY for 9/16 and had a gallstone attack. The doc said it was too bad he didn't have room to move up my RNY but if I was in a lot of pain, he'd take my gallbladder out now. Otherwise, he'd see me for both on 9/16. Nothing to it, they can easily do both and that's what I prefer doing, waiting and having 1 operation instead of 2.
   — Nell C.

August 20, 2002
My advice before surgery is to go on a low fat diet so that you don't have a gallbladder attack before your WLS surgery and have to have emergency surgery for your gallbladder first. My badly diseased gallbladder was removed during my WLS surgery with no problems. Take care.
   — Joanie J.

August 20, 2002
My doctor routinely removes the gallbladder if stones are detected pre-operatively. You might check out this option.
   — Marti R.

August 20, 2002
When I had my ultrasound pre-op they didn't see any gallstones. But sure enough when I woke up in recovery they had some there in a little bottle for me (nasty looking things!!). My doctor always removes the gall bladder with surgery, so it was coming out anyway. It didn't make things more complicated for me. I had a fairly quick and uneventful recovery. Like another poster said, it should help with approval because they're going to have to go in after your gall bladder anyway. Good luck with your surgery! =)
   — Tanya B.