Asani

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience with having their Gall Bladder removed.

On April 6, The same day my grandfather passed away, I was in another city awaiting a flight out for the funeral. I started having alot of back pain, mid/upper back. I also started having pain under my ribs and had a hard time breathing. I've had chronic back pain for six years, which had gotten worse over the years to the point that I wasnt sleeping anymore, and going to work every day in extreme pain, pain killers were no longer working, and in January of this year, I started having the pain in my ribs and having a hard time breathing. I had gone to my family doctor off and on and had tests for my back to try and find out what was going on, no sucess. I had ended up in the emergancy rooms at two different hospitals, and they did nothing.

So, on April 6 when the pain was at its worse, and I hadnt slept in days, I could barely breath and I had fallen alseep standing up, my mother said enough was enough and we were going to the hospital. I thought it was a waste of time considering my past trips, but since I was in a different city my mom thought they might do something.

So, 3 am I walked in, I was put in a bed right away, had blood taken, urine test, and a wonderful shot of demeral, and I slept for the first time peacefully in six years They did an ultra sound and they found it to be my Gall Bladder. The surgeon said it was quite large and there was alot of infection so that I needed surgery and he didnt recommend getting on the plane.

April 7th around 11:30 at night I was taken down to surgery, and was my mother and husband were told I would be out in about an hour, four hours later they were a tad bit worried. When the doctor came out he said that my Gall Bladder was the worse he's ever seen, it was the size of an egg plant, full of infection and stones and had been pressing against other organs. they couldnt do the surgery as they do these days, so I had the normal four incisions, and then a very large incision under my ribs. I also had two holes, one for a blood drain and the other for a bile t-tube/drain. I was in the hospital for two and a half weeks before I was released.

During Surgery, because the gall bladder was so large and so difficult to get out, they had ripped the tube attached to my liver, so six weeks later and I still have a t-tube and drain hanging from my stomach with hopes that next week when they remove it, the tests after will hopefully show I wont need a second surgery.

So..Just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience or if I'm alone in this. I was surprised my doctor and the assisting doctor both said it was the largest and worse gall bladder they had seen and they were both older and have been practing for quite sometime.

Looking forward to hearing from you all and I'm sorry to anyone who has a surgery coming up, I didnt mean to scare anyone...I'm sure my case isnt an every day thing =)

Asani