The only issue I had was very minor.....some light bleeding from over-exerting myself. Do it now, you won't regret it, I felt better immediately!

Can I just clarify - You're having the gallstones removed, not the gallbladder, is that right?

If out patient, he's planning laparoscopic procedure. My SIL had that done several years ago. I took her to the hospital - her procedure didn't take place until evening and they did keep her one night. If they had gotten her in earlier, she would not have stayed. So - day 2 (or about 12 hours later) she went home. She worked the following day taking tylenol, but because the dentist she was working for was closing the office for vacation after that one work day and she knew she'd have the week to just hang out. She did great, no issues. Ate whatever she wanted, felt fine, and needed no help.

My mom had the open incision type following an emergency admittance and was in 3 days, about 6 weeks recovery. I remember helping her and how careful we were being with that bit of drain poking out, concerned we could dislodge it. I went with her to her follow up when her surgeon removed the drain. It was about 6' long. Feet, not inches. It wouldn't have fallen out ;0)

Blfenton, they suck out the entire gallbladder, not just the stones.

Morz8, I would be thrilled to have an experience Ike your SIL. I think it would be unusual to feel so well right after the surgery. Yes, he will do it laparoscopically. The doctor did say that I would be feeling much better overall after getting rid of my gallbladder. Evidently you don[t realize that this is weighing you down a bit.

Lisaw, my friend also overdid it after the surgery and it took her longer to recover, s that is a good lesson — don’t push it.

I had mine done laparoscopically. It wasn't bad, but I felt lousy for the first 2 days until all the gas dissipated. I also had heart palpitations for about a week from the anesthesia....I thought I was having blood sugar crashes, but I wasn't...eventually it went away. A dr. friend of mine always says it takes a week for every hour you're under anesthesia for all the side effects to go away.

I think it's a good idea that anyone who's had major surgery ... and just because you come home with bandaids, doesn't mean it isn't major...should have someone stay with them for the first 24 hours just in case something goes south and you need help.

The rest of the time, you should be fine on your own provided that you are prepared ahead of time so you don't have to do any cooking or other chores. You're really going to want to rest a lot, esp those first couple of days. Having someone stop in to take care of things for you once or twice a day should be fine.

But mostly it's going to depend on how you feel. So be prepared and hopefully it will all be fine.

Best of luck to you.

(And yes, sooner better than later...don't wait until you're inflamed and risk peritonitis!)

Are you having the bladder removed or just the gall stones (IDK if they even do that)? I had mine removed in my mid 40s. I missed about a week of work. I had some severe nausea for the first couple days and couldn't even keep down water and got dehydrated. The pain wouldn't have been too bad if I wasn't vomiting so much.

I believe they make 2 small incisions and another one that is a little longer and also go in through the belly button like most laparoscopic procedures. The belly button takes the longest to heal IIRC.

Make sure the surgeon gives you a prescription for nausea and be sure to take it for a few days.

Your digestive system may be a little out of whack for a while and you may need to adjust your diet a bit post surgery. Fatty foods can cause a "sudden need" shortly after eating.

After several gallstone attacks, I had it done in 1995 as a laparoscopic type surgery. I had no problems with the surgery or any other related problems during recovery. I just took it easy for a couple of days. Gallstone attacks ruined my trip to Scotland and England in 1995. I was so happy to get rid of it.

Gall bladder surgery has come so far since I had it done in 1978. I have a horizontal 7" scar on my abdomen .I thought they tried to cut me in half ! Hospital stay was over a week and It took me over 4 weeks to recover . Now a days ,there's so many options , it's a piece of cake !

Wow, thanks, CAflower. That’s what I needed to hear. I want to get this over with and be ready for a trip to Switzerland inJune.

Too much, I am glad I waited until now to need this surgery. Amazing how far some procedures have come.

In 2013, my gallbladder was done laparoscopically also and no problems. But I still had to stay overnight. Not much pain that I can remember, but the anesthesia seemed to stay with me several days. Was back to work in a week. I had my daughter on call the first nite, but no problems.

What are your symptoms? is it just pain or do you have other issues? Just curious if it's anything like I'm experiencing.

Search here for gallbladder threads there's a few of them. My problem was not the surgery or recovery. It was discovering that I now had bile dumping syndrome. Most intense pain I have ever experienced. Google it. Unfortunately it is quite frequently a result of the surgery. I try to warn everyone about it if they are having surgery so if it happens to them they at least know a little about it. I knew nothing and thought I was dying. So heads up.

Best of luck!

Mine went well. Off work for two days. On the roof, cleaning out my chimney on the third day.

Lady pat, I wouldn’t be unhappy to stay overnight since then I would not have to ask someone to stay with me. The doctor did say home the same day.

schoolhouse, the gallstones were found when I had a CT scan for something else. I did notice occasional twinges under my ribs on the right but was unconcerned about it.

Raven, oh no! I will read up about that.,the doctor did say we can get along fine without our gallbladder.

Jrb, you give me hope. I will never be on the roof, though.

I had my gallbladder and stones removed laparoscopically at about 9pm and they sent me home at about 9am the next day. My DH took time off work to stay with me for the first week.

Before the surgery the doctor said it would take anything from one to six weeks to recover and that no matter how good I felt I should not lift anything heavy for at least six weeks. I thought I’d be in the six weeks recovery group but I felt pretty well back to normal after a week.

BUT, the first couple of days were rough. Every time I turned over or went to get out of bed, it felt like all my insides were sloshing around loose in there. Really horrible feeling. I’m really glad DH was there.

Upside is, I don’t miss my gallbladder at all and fatty foods don’t bother me, which they did a _lot_ before the surgery. One bit of fat or oil and I was dashing for the bathroom :-(

Could you stay with someone for at least the first few days?

Upside is, I don’t miss my gallbladder at all and fatty foods don’t
bother me, which they did a _lot_ before the surgery. One bit of fat or
oil and I was dashing for the bathroom :-(

That's a symptom I was wondering about. I guess I was thinking more of the gallbladder and not the stones dedtired, but thank you for that info too.

I had a laparoscopic and had to stay over because of severe nausea and vomiting. Also I had severe pain in my shoulder which I found out from the anesthesiologist that the gas which is used to inflate the abdoman during the surgery travels to the area. Took a couple of days for that to dissipate.

Yes, you will need some help at home for a couple of days.

Before you have this, go buy some GasX. The "inflate" the abdominal cavity with gas in order to better see the gallbladder for the laparoscopy surgery. It will cause your shoulders to ache and you to just generally feel terrible. Some GasX will quickly solve that problems.

Don't expect to feel back to normal for a couple of weeks. My DD had this when she was about 28 years old and very healthy, but had a 4 month old baby. Her surgeon kept telling her what a "minor" procedure it was. Well, yes, "minor" compared to the days when they split one from side to side, one stayed in the hospital for a week or two, and were out of commission for a couple of months. But not really all that "minor" for the patient.

I had my gallbladder taken out a couple years ago. I was in the hospital 5 days. I was in and out of things the first 3 days. Had it taken out on the 4 th day and home the next day.. I didn’t have a problems as far as the recovery. It was easy. The year before I had a pacemaker put in and it was easy, too. Hope this is all for awhile.

I had it done about 4 yrs ago. It was an emergency situation. I wasn't aware of any problem before that attack. I was in the hospital for a week. Recovery was quite painful. I did have to have some help at home. As I couldn't lift over 2 lbs per doctors instruction. Could walk Schultz, push a vacuum etc. I could however, bathe myself, fix light easy meals, and get up and down fairly easy.

Had laparoscopic surgery, home next day. I was nauseated, given an injection for that but no other aftereffects. The gas was the worst part but nausea injection knocked me out! Nurses on the floor were back to work in 3 days, they told me. I was so happy to be rid of it.

Thanks for the Gas Ex tip. I had laparoscopic surgery once before and remember how sore my shoulders were from the gas. Anesthesia makes me very sick. Since I know this, they add anti-nausea meds to whatever brew they put in you at the time of surgery.

It sounds like recovery varies with each person. I agree that often what doctors see as simple is not necessarily simple for the patient. Something they see or do several times a week is a once in a lifetime experience for the patient.

Thanks for all the good advice.

I've never had that surgery but when I worked in the hospital the laparoscopic patients were kept overnight. Most of the patients were in a hurry to check-out the next morning so they wouldn't be late getting to work.

I have gallstones. Found 6 1/2 years ago (but who is counting). I was in for another test - something as it turned out I did not have, which is a good thing. But they found the gallstones. Now it is a pre-existing condition and in Canada (at least in Ontario) I can't have my gallbladder removed (stone removal is not an option here) unless it is under emergency conditions, which of course I want to avoid.

I actually found the top gallbladder removal doctor and asked outright and he said that no, it would have to be under emergency conditions - but that I was right, non-emergency removal would be better, especially in my case. Neither of us is a drain on our medical system. I have one prescription - my husband has none - and we are almost 70.

I am of course concerned about any travel - and we do have a trip planned. I know the symptoms of a gall bladder attack - unfortunately they mimic other symptoms.

One of the projects my wife researched as a professor was a team communication study of surgical teams. To minimize the confounding factors the study only attended laparoscopic gallbladder removal surgeries. They documented the communication between team members with a goal of reducing risks and improving overall outcomes.

One unpublished statistic that the study uncovered was that the most important factor in the likelihood of complications was the skill of the surgeon performing the surgery (as measured by the total number that surgeon had performed).

Doctors as a general rule wouldn't say "Don't use surgeon X, he (or she) is not very good." but they may give useful information if you asked them who they would want if they were to have that particular surgery.

I had gallstones moving and causing blockage. The pain was horrible. But it would move back out it didn't stay stuck but we knew it could at any time so we opted for laparoscopic removal. Everything went well during. After I developed a large knot at one of the entry points, had to go to the emergency room to meet my surgeon to make sure it was nothing major like bleeding. It wasn't. It finally went down. My problem started shortly after when I developed the bile dumping syndrome. It will still affect me today, when I eat anything I need to be near a bathroom because in minutes it will be an urgent situation. It varies these days in severity. I take questran powder when it is active. I had my surgery in 2000 I believe or a little before that.

Eccentric - that's horrible that you can't have what is a standard surgical procedure here. Sometimes when gallstones cause an emergency surgery, the only option is the old-fashioned large incision surgery. That carries more risk, much longer recovery time/restrictions and is more expensive.

Raye Smith - I had the same thoughts.

Sure hope that isn't the future of medicine here. Sounds like health care rationing to me...

Of course that's exactly what it is! So many people are just dying to have national health service "just like Canada", but there are consequences of that and most Americans would be greatly surprised at the limitations of the Canadian system. The same is true in the UK with the NHS. I read the Times (London) daily and it is a rare day that there is not some article about a MAJOR insufficiency with care there. The more that is offered at no cost, the more takers and the costs just soar and services become rationed.

We have the best of both worlds here: government health covers everyone but if you don’t want to wait, or want to choose your own specialists, you can have private health insurance to allow you to do that’s or just pay cash. And private health cover isn’t nearly as expensive as it is in the US, nor are medical procedures.

To me, this refusal to cover medical expenses for laparoscopic gall bladder removal is an aberration. It is so much more expensive to wait and do it the "old fashioned" way. Surely insurance companies can/will see this.

That's exactly true !!!! They blame your weight on everything !!!!!