Do you really need your Gallbladder???

[ChampcarShark]

Hi y'all.

I am back at work after a month of time off.

I know I am not a regular, but you guys are part of my life. I lurk all the time when at work.

I had some strange abdominal pain and went to the doctor, after some exams and an sonogram, no I'm not pregnant, (look like thou), my doctor said that it could be my gallbladder, game me some painkillers and went home.

This was saturday, on sunday the pain came back, I took the medicine and went to sleep, the pain was bearable so I went to work on Monday.

Tuesday I woke up very early in the morning with pain, called the doctor and she sent me to the hospital for additional testing.

Last meal monday 6:00 pm, was admitted at aroun 9, not allowed to eat or drink after some testing. Had a CT scan, X rays, Nuclear Medicine, Sonogram. Liver Biopsy. Last I know it is wednesday 6:00 PM with no food or water. Finally the doctor said I could eat something while we waited for the results.

Thursday afternoon, still at the hospital, an intestines specialists comes by says nothing wrong I could go home. An hour later my doctor comes and says I have to stay for a second opinion from a surgeon, probable cause gallbladder not working properly.

Saturday morning, at around 11:00 AM, surgeon comes says my biopsy was delicate and to go home for two weeks and then plan gallbladder surgery, my gallbladder was not working properly but was no emergency.

Went home at around 2:00 PM, yaeeeee.

Sunday afternoon pain came back stronger, monday morning, 5:00 AM, called the doctor who sent me to the emergency room to be prepared for surgery while he arrived, surgery was at 1:00 PM, a success. Sent home the next day with four holes in my belly.

Got home with doctor's instructions to be home for at least two weeks. Well time warner decided to mess my internet access, so I was with no internet at home for one week, then I got tired and called at&t for DSL and took another week to be connected. So I stayed home with no internet, which I think was good so I could stay in bed, not much of a complain there.

Now I wonder what I can eat or can not eat that will not upset my stomach.
So far, no more beef tacos, no milk, no fried food, no ice cream.

Doctor says the symptoms are different for everybody.

Thank God I am still around. So I will be lurking some more.

[JLMannin]

That's correct. Avoid high-fat foods. The gallbladder holds liver bile, which is an acidic brew of digestive enzymes that specialize in fat metabolism. Your liver still produces it - now, there will be no "holding tank" to store it. Gallbladder disease does affect people differently. One common symptom that you apparently did not have is projectile vomiting with little of no warning. When I say projectile, I'm talking several feet here. Never happened to me, but this did befall a co-worker once.

One common symptom is the feeling of severe bloating that just does not go away.

Glad to hear you are better now.

[G.]

You're a regular, you're just regularly quiet. :thumbup:

Glad to hear you're on the mend.

Amazing; you are in pain, they lock you up in a hosp. room.

They figure out why, cut some holes in your gut, pull stuff out that was really supposed to stay in there, then send you home.

It's kinda like, yeah, now we know why it hurts, we can see the stitches. Go home.

[Don Quixote]

Sounds like an ordeal to avoid if possible. Glad that you made it through all that in one piece. Good luck! :thumbup:

[Andrew Longman]

Glad you are mending.

Except that my own liver is a little "irregular" (hereditary) I'm not much of an expert on gall bladders.

I did have reason to spend a few days years back with a medical device manufacturer who was having trouble with the a gall bladder device. I'll bet you were treated to a similar/same device. It looks like "wand-type" lighter you might use to light your grill (see meat smoking thread :gomer: )and it essentially would have gone into those four holes of your and they staple off the blood vessels to your gall bladder which then basically dies and is absorbed into you body.

The issue this company had was they were going with a new staple supplier and about .05% of the last 1-2 staples in the pack would jam.They couldn't certify the new staples and they were running out of the old supply. Six months had passed and they couldn't solve the problem. Not a good thing to have a device jam when it is inside you. That's when I came in.

After a lot of time looking at metallurgy and exploring various hypothesis it was decided that the failure rate was actually not any worse (better in fact) that the previous staples and was not in any case statistically significant. It. could be explained by the fact that they adopted more stringent testing procedures. In other words, it is not a problem because we say it is not a problem. Problem solved.

I'm not sure I buy that, but they've been out of the news so I guess it was the right call. And I got paid. :D

[ChampcarShark]

Glad you are mending.

Except that my own liver is a little "irregular" (hereditary) I'm not much of an expert on gall bladders.

I did have reason to spend a few days years back with a medical device manufacturer who was having trouble with the a gall bladder device. I'll bet you were treated to a similar/same device. It looks like "wand-type" lighter you might use to light your grill (see meat smoking thread :gomer: )and it essentially would have gone into those four holes of your and they staple off the blood vessels to your gall bladder which then basically dies and is absorbed into you body.

The issue this company had was they were going with a new staple supplier and about .05% of the last 1-2 staples in the pack would jam.They couldn't certify the new staples and they were running out of the old supply. Six months had passed and they couldn't solve the problem. Not a good thing to have a device jam when it is inside you. That's when I came in.

After a lot of time looking at metallurgy and exploring various hypothesis it was decided that the failure rate was actually not any worse (better in fact) that the previous staples and was not in any case statistically significant. It. could be explained by the fact that they adopted more stringent testing procedures. In other words, it is not a problem because we say it is not a problem. Problem solved.

I'm not sure I buy that, but they've been out of the news so I guess it was the right call. And I got paid. :D

I could not see the device, I think I was asleep.
My brother in law worked at Surgikos,(a division of Johnson and Johnson) and he had shown me a wand like device used to remove gallbladder stones.

According to my surgeon they cut it and removed from my body thru the belly button, they never showed it to me, but I rather take the doctor's word.

Thank You all, I know you are the best friends anyone can have.

[ChampcarShark]

That's correct. Avoid high-fat foods. The gallbladder holds liver bile, which is an acidic brew of digestive enzymes that specialize in fat metabolism. Your liver still produces it - now, there will be no "holding tank" to store it. Gallbladder disease does affect people differently. One common symptom that you apparently did not have is projectile vomiting with little of no warning. When I say projectile, I'm talking several feet here. Never happened to me, but this did befall a co-worker once.

One common symptom is the feeling of severe bloating that just does not go away.

Glad to hear you are better now.

I do have vomit, luck me it gives some warning and enough time to make it to the bathroom, specially after eating something I did not know is bad for me.

The bloating I just took it as normal, since they told me they moved all my insides from one side to the other.

[dando]

Glad you are mending.

Except that my own liver is a little "irregular" (hereditary) I'm not much of an expert on gall bladders.

I did have reason to spend a few days years back with a medical device manufacturer who was having trouble with the a gall bladder device. I'll bet you were treated to a similar/same device. It looks like "wand-type" lighter you might use to light your grill (see meat smoking thread :gomer: )and it essentially would have gone into those four holes of your and they staple off the blood vessels to your gall bladder which then basically dies and is absorbed into you body.

The issue this company had was they were going with a new staple supplier and about .05% of the last 1-2 staples in the pack would jam.They couldn't certify the new staples and they were running out of the old supply. Six months had passed and they couldn't solve the problem. Not a good thing to have a device jam when it is inside you. That's when I came in.

After a lot of time looking at metallurgy and exploring various hypothesis it was decided that the failure rate was actually not any worse (better in fact) that the previous staples and was not in any case statistically significant. It. could be explained by the fact that they adopted more stringent testing procedures. In other words, it is not a problem because we say it is not a problem. Problem solved.

I'm not sure I buy that, but they've been out of the news so I guess it was the right call. And I got paid. :D

Pls. post a list of the companies you've worked with so I can avoid them @ all costs. :gomer: ;) :p

-Kevin

[nrc]

Glad you're doing ok. A lot of our regulars are pretty irregular. Not that there's anything wrong with that. :)

My dad had his gallbladder out back in the '70s when he was in his late 30s. I don't really recall him complaining much about how it affected his diet and we didn't exactly grow up on a low fat diet.

[oddlycalm]

Good to hear you're alright and that you got the soup can and string working again. :thumbup:

oc

[trish]

Welcome back! I'm sorry you had to go through that. At least it's over now and you can mend and hopefully feel much better very soon. Good luck!