Gaul bladder advice required please.

[Wacky Racer]

OK,

One of my sons (21) has been in hospital for tests the last few days, as he has had stomach area pains for the last three weeks. He does not drink btw... .last time was around Christmas.

He has been diagnosed with possible Pancreitis,...had a scan this morning where a "largish" gaul stone was spotted.

Apparantly one option is the removal of his gaul bladder, which naturally he is not too keen on, only as a last resort.

Any Ph'ers had this done, and has there been any long term side effects?

Thanks in anticipation....

[Penny-lope]

I had mine out nearly a year ago....

Here's a thread I started before the op

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Btw no side effects apart from weight gain, but that might have had something to do with everything else going on at that time too

[Mazda Baiter]

Heskey?

I believe it is a fairly simple procedure, quite common really.

Other than that, good luck.

[Shaolin]

Send for Asterix!

[Dogwatch]

Shaolin said:

Send for Asterix!

[MacGee]

stinks of garlic this one......gallic..

[heebeegeetee]

Dogwatch said:

Shaolin said:

Send for Asterix!

The gall of it.






















Sorry.
Best of luck.

[ClassicMercs]

I've kept my head down on the subject of my own - never properly diagnosed. Hate hospitals and won't do operations. A result of an obsession with diary fats - cheese, yoghurt, milk, icecream etc.
My answer - go on a 'zero' fat diet for a while - good for weight loss. The pain starts to shift and go - but takes a while - three months or more. Got worse before better to start with. Can now tolerate certain crap and fats. In moderation. Substitute cow milk / yoghurt for goats. Greasy lamb - no problems.
Abuse it and get a couple of days pain that soon goes. Its like an inbuilt warning to start and look after myself again - my GP's own take on the matter. I do miss the family size yoghurts - and loads of icecream (live my the sea).
Plenty do have ops with no problems - but there are risks and i know folks who have had problems - damn filthy hospitals.

[CHIEF]

Yep i've had it done a few years ago.

Whatever you do dont believe all the st on the internet. It scared me to feckin' death when they told me and i didn't want it out.

I was in a few days and yes i was a little tender afterwards but all the little stomach problems i had was related to my gallstone problem cleared up. never had any problems at all since.

Now what i will say is this, dont be alarmed but my father had the same op last year and nearly died due to complications. he was in for 10 weeks and was in a bad way. Intensive care the lot.
It turned out he'd been diagnosed with the same condition 15 years ago and ignored it. This troubled him for the last 15 years until it came to a head last year.

The surgeon said because he'd left it fo so long it had created all sorts of problems. he is very lucky to be alive. The surgeon also said that this is extremley rare for this to happen but again this was caused mainly by him leaving it.

If he has to have it out then dont feck about get it done. Honestly, constant pain and tummy troubles was making me miserable and i dont have any problems now.

You also get people saying you cant eat this and that. I eat what i want and have currys the lot.

I dont regret having it done for one minute.

[gog440]

If he is the sort of person that will keep om producing gall stones he will have problems even if he has his gallbladder removed, BUT pancreatitis is very very nasty, people do die of it so if he was a member of my family I would be suggesting he had the op. BTW a friend of mines mum had gallstone pancreatitis ended up on intensive care and very nearly died, she did recover but her pancreas is practically dead and she has all sorts of other problems not least the diabetes.
(I`m not a doctor but have spent 20yrs+ working in healthcare)

[Wacky Racer]

OK,

Thanks for all the helpful replies:-

I will pass the information on, ultimately it is his decision, but it sounds like the op is the way to go.......(as a last resort)

[Spitfire2]

Wacky Racer said:

OK,

Thanks for all the helpful replies:-

I will pass the information on, ultimately it is his decision, but it sounds like the op is the way to go.......(as a last resort)

Pancreatitis = very nasty. My mother was unable to eat anything for a week due to gallstones causing this.

Felt immediately better once the gall bladder was out.

Was a keyhole job and back to normal very quickly.

If the pain's bad and the doc's advice is to whip it out I'd be inclined to go with it and not worry too much.

[Kneetrembler]

I had my Gall Bladder removed last year, went into hospital at 4pm down to theatre at 6pm, back up in my room by 9pm.
Slept through till breakfast the next morning, saw Dr mid morning and was discharged at lunch time.

Best thing I ever did as the pain before was unbearable,Doc said that he couldn't pack another stone in it was so full.

[Mrs Muttleysnoop]

My sister had hers removed last September via key hole surgery (64 yrs old) short stay in hospital and back to work a week later.

[bazking69]

Wifey had hers out a few years back after a build up of and trying to pass stones.

The op itself was a simple keyhole proceedure. She was in and out in a day and back to work within a week.

She still has the stones. One of them is the size of a kidney bean. Ouch.

[Fort Jefferson]

I had mine out in 2001 like this.

[evenflow]

A couple of years ago, at the age of 27, non-drinker, not overweight, I began to get some stomach discomfort that gradually got worse and worse over the course of a couple of weeks. It then started to wake me up in the night, and the only way to relieve it was for me to sit at the kitchen table, leaning forward and desperately chewing Gaviscon and Nurofen.

One night it was particularly bad. I was up at around 1am in agony, o/h asleep. I just didn't know what to do with myself. I tried to go to the loo, tried to make myself sick, tried to hug myself better, but the pain just got worse and worse. I then managed to go to the loo and my wee was brown - and I mean like Boddingtons. I woke o/h up and "suggested" that she take me to hospital, which she agreed was a good idea seeing as I was bright yellow and the whites of my eyes were now a shade of brown.

2.15am I arrived at A&E (driven there in a MX-5, natch!). The duty doctor examined me which was brave as every time he went near my stomach I felt like tearing his head off.

"Acute pancreatitis", he gravely announced. And sent me home with instructions to go to my GP in the morning and get a blood test.

How I got through the night and down to the surgery in the morning I don't know. Blood was taken, my readings were off the scale. I had scans and saw a specialist who said that gall bladder removal was really the sensible option as I had a stone stuck in my common bile duct. If I chose to keep the gall bladder and it produced another stone that irritated the pancreas in the future then that would not be a good thing.

I went in to hospital 10 days later (they didn't want to operate while my pancreas was so inflamed) and had a laparoscopic cholecystectomy (removal of gall bladder via keyhole). The operation is normally under an hour - mine was 2.5 and the surgeon told me afterwards they very nearly had to convert to a full open 'im up scenario as everything was in such a mess. I went under at 4pm, had a cup of tea at 3am and then home at 10am.

Three weeks later I was pretty much back to normal and now all I have to show is 4 tiny scars.

I understand your son's nerves but really he should take the best advice of the doctors. If they think removal is the best option, go for it. The operation is a cinch compared with what I imagine the last few weeks have been like for him. A month afterwards and he'll barely remember it

Sorry for the long post. Feel free to PM if you want