Thoughts and prayers please

[Der Cute]

The doctors HAVE to disclose the possibilities. Like...side effects of a drug. Even though it's RARE that someone grows an extra toe, it happened and has to be disclosed. Rare weird stuff, yeah have to talk about it.

So.
I've had mine done. Laproscopic and I was more stoned than I was in pain. The attacks were so much worse, it's disgusting. Get some easy to eat foods, low in fat, ok? Books to read. I was off work for about 3 days, then the weekend, back to work. Fine with me.

Use relaxation techniques now, and think - this is so common it's old hat for the doctors. They know what they're doing. I will be safe. I will be better soon. I will heal quickly.

[hinakiba777]

Thanks everyone for the support so far. It's just nice to have such an awesome community to depend on.

I was able to eat normal food after about 3 days. .

I'm going to ask my surgeon this too, but just in your opinion. If my surgery if Friday afternoon, do you think I'll be able to eat Thanksgiving dinner Sunday Night?

The doctors HAVE to disclose the possibilities. Like...side effects of a drug.

My friend Keo has a drug for her eczema where one of the side effects is Hepatitis. It says so on the package. Though it doesn't say the likelihood.

[Amina516]

I'm going to ask my surgeon this too, but just in your opinion. If my surgery if Friday afternoon, do you think I'll be able to eat Thanksgiving dinner .

That's up to you. Start slow. And as I tell my patients...listen to your body. I'd stick with the more bland foods I.e. mashed potatoes.

Good luck tomorrow!

[Sonoma]

The pre-surgery waiting is the worst. I thought my gall bladder would have to come out, but got a different diagnosis after further testing. Long story short, had surgery, and am currently recovering & going through chemo, but doing well.

I had only had oral surgery before, and only had a 3-day wait for the surgery, but it was the longest 3 days of my life. Once I got to the OR, I remember just a few breaths in the mask, then the next thing I knew, I was waking up in recovery.

Best wishes for a simple surgery and a speedy recovery. I'll be thinking of you tomorrow.

[wolfie]

I'm going to ask my surgeon this too, but just in your opinion. If my surgery if Friday afternoon, do you think I'll be able to eat Thanksgiving dinner Sunday Night?

I'm not a doctor, but if you do eat Thanksgiving dinner, go for SMALL PORTIONS. Also, the gall bladder is where the liver stores bile (used in digesting fats). With it gone, you can't get the "surge" of bile to digest a large quantity of fat all at once. You'll need to re-learn how much of what kind of food you can eat at one sitting.

[Crossbow]

I'm not a doctor, but if you do eat Thanksgiving dinner, go for SMALL PORTIONS. Also, the gall bladder is where the liver stores bile (used in digesting fats). With it gone, you can't get the "surge" of bile to digest a large quantity of fat all at once. You'll need to re-learn how much of what kind of food you can eat at one sitting.

Agreed. My wife found out that there were certain foods she couldn't eat anymore without needing a run to the restroom soon after. It varies from person to person, but you might want to be careful at first until you see what hits you the hardest.

[MoonCat]

Agreed. My wife found out that there were certain foods she couldn't eat anymore without needing a run to the restroom soon after. It varies from person to person, but you might want to be careful at first until you see what hits you the hardest.

Yes. I was dreading this, but it hasn't turned out too bad at all. I can still eat most of the stuff I did before the surgery. Oddly, the thing that seems to sometimes cause some upset is spaghetti sauce...which, as I consider tomato sauce a reason for living, ought to be awful, but it doesn't happen every time. Probably has to do with the amount of oil in the sauce, and we don't put oil in when we make our own sauce at home, so no big deal. And I look at it this way: I shouldn't eat a lot of fatty stuff, anyway.

[Crossbow]

Yes. I was dreading this, but it hasn't turned out too bad at all. I can still eat most of the stuff I did before the surgery. Oddly, the thing that seems to sometimes cause some upset is spaghetti sauce...which, as I consider tomato sauce a reason for living, ought to be awful, but it doesn't happen every time. Probably has to do with the amount of oil in the sauce, and we don't put oil in when we make our own sauce at home, so no big deal. And I look at it this way: I shouldn't eat a lot of fatty stuff, anyway.

Could be oil, could be a side ingredient. I have trouble with pasta sauce because of acid reflux, so I try to avoid too much anyway. For my wife, it's cheap hot dogs (all beef are fine) and *some* restaurant eggs. Depends on how they're cooked. Margarine also is right out now, but she never uses it at home. Everyone is different, and some people aren't affected at all.

[hinakiba777]

The biliary colic was always 1000x worse after anything too fatty or acidic, so I associate those foods with pain now. Still I'll be careful and slow testing my limits after all your advice.

Going to bed now. I'll update you all tomorrow once I'm able to type.

Thank you all for your good thoughts!!!

[Amina516]

Good luck! Got my toes crossed for you.

[Crossbow]

Good luck! Here's hoping all goes well.

[Mikkel]

Good luck. Too late, but you will see it when you wake up .

My brother had his gall bladder out five years ago. Except that he can't eat much fat, he have only positive things to say.
The traditional Danish Christmas food is very fat, pork roast and caramelized potatoes, so his first Christmas after the operation was spend alternating between kneeling before the toilet and sitting on it.
I think you will be able to join the thanksgiving dinner, but for your own sake don't overindulge. You will learn what you can tolerate but a heavy fat meal two days after the operation is probably not a good idea.

[hinakiba777]

Hey everyone! Sorry for not updating you all sooner, I didn't have much computer access when I was home. So I'll just give you all the details now.

First the surgery went excellently. There were no complications, everything went smoothly. If you want I will post the whole "My day at the Hospital" story here. But only if you want.

While I was asleep the doctors, nurses, and my father made the decision that it would not be smart to travel on the fifth and I should stay in my apartment until the sixth. The funny thing about that is that we had to wrangle my cat into the bathroom so he didn't climb on me in my sleep, and I kind fell asleep right before we were going to leave. I got up, laid back down, and realized I needed my pain meds before I could get out of bed again. But to have a drink of juice I needed to roll onto my side. I was sleeping on the right side of the bed and my incisions were on that side. So I couldn't roll on to my side to drink my juice, and if I rolled onto my left side I was too far from an edge of the bed to get my juice. So I tried shimmying to the left side of the bed, and fell asleep halfway across.

Drive home was fine, but a little uncomfortable. Family was awesome taking care of me at home. Though a few times I was trapped because I couldn't get out of bed on my own, and there was actually no one around. Like on thanksgiving my parents left without me, and my brother (who works nights) didn't wake up until 4. So he had to call the parents and get them to come take me up to dinner, and he had to get me out of bed.

So it's been 11 days and my steristrips are starting to release themselves. But I'm kind of nervous because I know I should clean the area now that the steristrips are coming off, but i'm worried about irritating it. The steristrips were the only thing I was closed up with.

Anyway, again thank you for your good thoughts during my surgery. Looks like all the positive energy really paid off. Thanks!

[csquared]

Is this where I get to say "I told you so!"

Glad to hear you are feeling better.

[MoonCat]

Good for you!! You'll feel a little better every day. I'd still keep the cats off your stomach for a while, though.