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Gallbladder Removal Surgery Advice

Only recently have I started talking about my new health problems publicly. I have a whole post on the process finding out I had Gallstones and as a fun extra health condition, being diagnosed with Adenomyosis. Now I’m 2 weeks post Gallbladder Removal Surgery I’m here to share all the incredible tips and advice I’ve received, as well as tell you about my experience as a plus size person having a laparoscopy cholecystectomy, also known as keyhole surgery to remove my gallbladder. This was my first ever surgery and it’s safe to say I was extremely worried and nervous but it ended up being a really positive experience and I do hope this post can help someone in the future. Gallbladder Removal Surgery – What Happens on the Day of Surgery We headed to the hospital for 7am and were seated next to my bed on the ward. We were with 5 other people who staggered in at different times. Everyone was checked in with pre-op questions, just normal things like who you are, what are you there for, and then my blood pressure and bloods were taken. Other people who were having surgery before me then got changed into their gowns and dressing gowns but as I wasn’t due down until 3:30pm and it was only 9am, so I didn’t have to change just yet. A few hours later the Anaesthetist came to introduce themself and talk more about the surgery, and then someone else came with the consent forms. When it was my time to go down someone came to collect me, they asked everyone if they wanted to walk or be wheeled on the bed based on their mobility. When we got to the room, I then walked into the theatre and was greeted by a whole team of friendly faces. They all turned around to introduce themselves, say what was going to happen, help me onto the bed and get my gown ready. They then carefully put in my cannula (it’s hard to find a vein on me so they wanted to use my wrist and apologised as it’s a bit painful.) They then made jokes and put me completely at ease. One saw I was a little nervous and grabbed my hand to comfort me. I actually fell asleep laughing! I woke up around 2 hours later in the recovery room and I was sobbing. I was in so much pain it really shocked me and took my breath, but I had a team of people around me, making sure I was getting the right medication and care. They put a hot blanket on my stomach to help with the pain that I had changed a few times as I really needed the heat. It wasn’t a pleasant experience immediately waking up after gallbladder removal surgery but I could see a clock and the most painful part only lasted an hour. By the end of it I was chatting away and asking where my partner was. I was then taken to where I would stay overnight, as due to being plus size, it meant that additional monitoring was needed but more on that later. The overnight stay wasn’t as uncomfortable as I thought it’d be. At first no one really checked on me but I was fine and didn’t need anything, my family came to visit, set my chargers and heat pads up, Alfie helped me change as it was close to the end of visiting times and off they went. I made friends with everyone, and ended up helping a few of them with odd things whilst the nurses were busy. I didn’t mind as I needed to walk as much as possible. During the night they topped up me up with liquid morphine, changed my bandages, and gave me a blood thinning injection. I noticed in the morning my throat was really sore but I had packed lozenges so I started to have some of those and it went off quickly. Discharge takes a little while as you have to wait for the Doctor to come check you over, then prescribe what medication you need, then wait for that to come up from the pharmacy so I didn’t end up going home until 5pm. For day patients you’re only there for a few hours before and after surgery, they ask that you wee, eat, and drink afterwards and then you can go home after a laparoscopy cholecystectomy (Gallbladder removal surgery.) Having Surgery Whilst Plus Size When I first had my surgery consult I was told that I could do with losing some weight beforehand, but it was never said as a condition to whether or not they’d go ahead with the surgery. I’ve heard from a few other people that they’ve been told they won’t operate until they’ve lost weight. As I talked about in my last post, not being able to eat much has resulted in weight loss for me so perhaps at my appointments they’ve been able to see that, I’m not sure and can’t say for definite. With gallbladder removal surgery when you’re plus size I was asked to do a milk & yoghurt diet for 2 weeks beforehand. I’ve seen other people in different cities be offered a 1000 calories solid food option instead but I wasn’t. As I’ve been avoiding dairy I instead did 8 non-dairy yoghurts a day. It wasn’t fun. This is called the liver shrinking diet, it’s done so your liver is easier to move out of the way for surgery. Due to this diet it meant that I was extremely constipated so I highly recommend starting and keeping up with laxatives before and after your surgery to help with this as morphine also causes constipation. At one point I felt like I could burst like a balloon. My weight was only mentioned extremely briefly on the day by the anaesthetist who said that there are increased risks, that was it. I was really […]

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