berza

i had my GB removed june 26th 2003. i had a three day hospital stay due to a blockage of my common bile duct. i had an ERCP done to remove the bile duct stones, which was an excellent procedure. the drugs were superb, completely painless, wouldn't mind having it done again for entertainment. but the gallbladder surgery was a little more painful than that. what they do is make four small incisions and inflate your belly to the size of about that of a woman who is six months pregnant. they stick a scope through one of the holes and the scope takes pictures and snips and removes the gallbladder. after the surgery you should expect to feel soreness across your entire belly, a mild pain in your right shoulder 1 to 2 days after surgery, a feeling of bloatedness due to not all the gas used to inflate your belly being released, a feeling almost like heartburn.. thats where they snipped your gallbladder. i had my surgery on a wednesday night and i was pretty much back to normal on sunday for my HS graduation party. my doctor told me i needed to wait three weeks before i resumed my normal work-out regimen of running 2.5 miles 3-4 times a week. um, he was a little wrong. i waited four weeks and ended up back in the ER with the same pain i had after surgery and the worry that i was internally bleeding. i just started running again THIS week, and i'm doing okay, taking it really easy. every time i start to feel even a tinge of pain i stop and take a break.

don't be worried at all. i was so scared before my surgery, but it ended up not being that bad. the worst pain is when you wake up from surgery but even that isn't bad. it is nothing you should lose sleep over, just take everything in stride. it will all be ok.

hope i helped,

alicia