One less organ to worry about

So there might be a few of you that I haven't told that I recently (2 weeks ago) had my gallbladder removed via a laparoscopic procedure. About a month and a half ago, after enjoying a very spicy and delicious Qdoba burrito, I started having some severe pain in my stomach. I wasn't terribly naueous, but the pain was centered right in the center of my abdomen, just beneath my sternum. The pain was bad enough for me to go to hospital at 1:30AM. After about 3 hours of diagnosis, chest x-rays, blood tests and finally an ultrasound, they discovered that I had some nice sized gallstones in my abdomen, and that I was having a gallbladder attack--my first one ever.



If you don't know what your gallbaldder does, it stores bile made by the liver between meals. Bile is an enzyme that emulsifies fat you've consumed and makes it absorbable in the small intestine. The gallbladder, pancreas, and the liver all feed the small intestine digestive juices via the common bile duct. The gallbladder secretes bile after the stomach releases a hormone into your bloodstream that signals the gallbladder that bile is needed to digest food that contains fat. In my case, and other people's cases, calcium and/or cholesterol can harden in the gallbladder and form stones. Typically, those that are at high risk are the 4 "F's:" Fat, Forty, Female, and Fertile. In my case, I was high risk because of heredity.

So after a followup ultrasound, I conclusively had 3 large gallstones in my gallbladder that were, at least until that point, asymptomatic. But after my first attack, anytime I ate anything with fat, my side began to hurt, I would feel dizzy, and I would feel hot, although I was not feverish.

My Surgeon recommended that I have my gallbladder removed as soon as possible. My case was not severe since I did not have any gallstones stuck in my common bile duct, but if one were to become lodged, my surgery would have been more complicated, and my recovery time would have been longer. I decided that it was gonna come out now rather than later.

So for those that have never had surgery, I'll tell you what it's like. It seems a whole lot scarier than it really is. Since I have little problem with anesthesia, the to surgeries for me were relatively smooth.

The first thing you do after you get into your pre-op room is that you undress and put on a hospital gown. Then you lie in bed while they bring in a bunch of insurance forms to fill out. They also ask you several times what your name is, and what procedure you are having performed. This I'm sure, is to make sure people aren't getting the wrong surgery, and also to make sure people aren't there against their will. At any rate, the nurse will give you an IV, and take your blood. After the IV is started, the Anesthetist comes in and asks you a bunch of questions to make sure they give you the correct dosage of anesthesia. Then after that, the Nurse Anesthetist comes into the room and administers a small amount of anesthesia to make sure you can handle it. After you get this shot (in your IV of course) you start feeling a little dizzy, or kinda like you are drunk. It's not bad really. Finally, after they determine you can handle the drug, they give you the rest of the medicine, and wheel you into the operating room. When I had my appendix out, I didn't remember them wheeling me into the operating room, but on this surgery, I did remember. I also remember them asking me to move over on the operating table, and then nothing after that.

I was given my first shot of anesthesia at 7:30AM and I remember waking up at 8:30AM. The hospital is nice enough to put a big giant digital clock on the wall so you can see what time it is. Everything is really fuzzy when you first wake up from surgery, but they wake you up because they want to make sure you are getting enough oxygen in your brain, and that you don't get blood clots in your legs. In fact, they put your legs in these pressurized tubes that apply pressure to your legs occasionally so you don't get clots in your legs that could cause a stroke. It kinda feels like a giant blood pressure cuff squeezing your legs every few minutes.

I was in the post-op recovery room for about 30 minutes while they watched me. My throat was really sore from the breathing tube, but it wasn't too terrible, I just couldn't eat or drink anything acidic for about 2 days.

From there, I was wheeled into a recovery room where Jessica, Mom and Dad joined me. The pain of the surgery wasn't too bad, although I now have 4 permenant scars, 3 nickel-sized scars staring below my Xiphoid process, and angling down along my last rib on my right side, and one big incision near my navel.

I went home at about 1:30PM that day and laid on the couch all the rest of the day. Getting around was painful since my abdomen was sore from the surgery, but I was able to walk around relatively pain free very shortly after the surgery. Riding in the car was not fun, especially in my car, which I'd recently modified with tighter suspension. It was probably the only time I didn't want to feel every bump in the road.

It's been over a week since my surgery now, and I really feel very good today. I have had little trouble eating (although I've been watching my fat intake very closely) and my incisions are healing very nicely. I really don't have any soreness today, but I have just a little residual soreness in my abdomen. I haven't felt hot at all since the surgery, nor have I had any pain in my digestive tract. Although my doctor said I can eat anything I want, I've read some accounts of people who have eaten a lot of fat during a meal, and paid for it with a trip to the bathroom very soon after. I'll be conservative on my fat intake from now on, but I am sure that I can have BBQ and Mexican food still (thank God!)

I am so thankful to God for getting me through this surgery, and for all the prayers from my friends and family. I am very sure that it helped!