Gall Bladder Gone

I made it through laparoscopic gall bladder removal okay. I was at the surgical center at 8:00 yesterday and home again by 2:30. I don’t recommend gall bladder removal (ha ha). I was in a fair amount of pain. Quite nauseous too. The worst part was when they woke me up in recovery and almost immediately cranked the head of the bed up to sit me up. Yowch!

Doc said my gall bladder most definitely had to come out – it was full of gall stones. It was also pushing up into my liver. He said he didn’t like the looks of the top of it (what the ultrasound sound called thickening and he initially called a Phrygian cap after my MRI). They have sent it out for pathology. Hopefully that will be negative for anything worse. I have photos of my gall bladder (full color). I’ll spare everyone and not share. I also have a drain (a flexible, plastic bottle attached to my belly). I need to empty it twice a day. I need to go back in a week to have the drain removed. I can’t shower until the drain comes out. Yuck. I also have a banged up upper lip. There’s a cut and it’s all puffy and swollen. That must’ve happened when I was unconscious – might have been what the anesthesiologist said she was going to insert in my mouth to help me breathe. I had a croak for a voice for several hours afterwards.

I can’t lift anything for 3 weeks. I can’t drive for a week. I can’t lie flat (hurts like hell to sit up or move) so I’ll have to sleep in my recliner for a couple of days. Here’s hoping the painful part passes quickly. I’m glad it’s gone and I can now mend and heal.