Recovering From Gallbladder Surgery: Post-op visit with surgeon

Recovering From Gallbladder Surgery: Post-op visit with surgeon

Paraganglion of Gallbladder

found: http://www.flickr.com/photos/euthman/209411606/

(This is not my gallbladder.)

I’ve been feeling a lot better. I still have pain, but I’ve dramatically cut down my pain meds and only take 800mg ibuprofen. Usually I can make it through the day and just take one at bedtime. Even though it hasn’t been quite two weeks since the surgery, the surgeon only had available times yesterday afternoon or in another two weeks. I had questions and wanted answers. Immediately.

Questions I asked:

  1. What caused this? Any indication of sudden onset of anything? Since there were no gallstones present, why would my gallbladder just stop working?
  2. What caused the scar tissue?
  3. Why did it take me so long to recover from anesthesia?

Answers:

  1. Not sure. Gallbladder wasn’t contracting correctly to drain bile. Could be smooth muscles. Since I’m not diabetic, not sure if it’s neuropathic or a muscle problem. Verdict: Not sure.
  2. Dyskinesia.
  3. This was likely my first true general anesthesia. For my cornea transplant I was not all the way under. The first 24 hours is bumpy for everyone.

The surgeon also gave me a copy of my pathology report: mo stones, no sign of cancer, no sign of any other damage. Just a tweaked gallbladder. The language on the report was counterintuitive and confusing. I’m sure somebody could translate it, but basically it said no presence of gallstones, malignant tumors, etc. etc.

I wasn’t sure I was going to share this, but here’s a sweet video showing a Cholecystectomy:

Just about barfed watching this, but I couldn’t look away.