Gallbladder Surgery Yesterday - Gallbladder Message Board

Gigi D · 08-02-2006, 10:14 PM

There's already a ton of threads about gallbladder surgery and problems, but I had mine removed yesterday and really have no idea what is normal to be feeling and what is not. I haven't been nauseous-no vomiting or anything, so that's good. My throat is very sore. I still have a low grade fever, and my blood pressure is still very low (stays around 98/45-the diastolic number is what concerns me). My stomach hurts badly, and not just around the incisions. At times it feels just like before I had surgery, and sometimes the pain is on the extreme left side of my abdomen. I have right-sided neck and shoulder pain, and still have an enlarged lymph node in the back left side of my neck. My right hip bone is tender and aches. The Vicadin (sp?) isn't really helping much anymore, but I'm still taking 2 every 4 hours. My stomach burns a little when I take deep breathes, and I'm extremely bloated.
I have a follow-up appt with my surgeon in 2 weeks. I didn't speak to her after my surgery, but supposedly all went really well and I was able to go home yesterday (they suggested I stay, but I just wanted to recuperate in my own home and at the time was feeling pretty good).
Does any of the above sound out of the ordinary? I expected to be sore after surgery, but I just want to be sure that I'm not ignoring any pain that could be potentially serious.
Thank you!!!!!

crampster · 08-04-2006, 04:03 AM

Gigi D,
Not sure how much this will help but... I just had my gallbladder out on Monday so I had some of the same concerns. The surgeon returned my call regarding the burning pain in my stomach and said it was not unusual. After that I decided I need to stay put and behave a lot of my pain has settled down. Maybe someone else has more info????
Hang in there....

crampster · 08-04-2006, 04:05 AM

.... also I have found a small empty plastic water or soda bottle filled with hot water can be soothing to the insides. You got to remember they had to move everything around in there to get to your gallbladder so it is normal to be sore.

Gigi D · 08-04-2006, 06:23 PM

Thanks, Crampster-I'll give the warm water bottle a try. How are you doing now? Are you starting to feel better?
I go through times of feeling pretty good to feeling downright crappy. This morning I felt a bit better-took my temp and it was down to around normal for me, in the 97 range. My stomach wasn't hurting too badly (I stopped taking the pain pills yesterday-I'm tired of sleeping all day). I took a nice warm bath, which felt great. I had more of an appetite, and didn't have that queasy feeling in my stomach. I'm still walking kind of doubled over, though, and my belly is still very bloated.
Tonight I ate a low fat dinner and shortly thereafter felt very sick. I made a dash for the bathroom, but so far have been able to keep from vomiting (I'm afraid that it will hurt horribly so I really don't want to throw up). My temp went back up to 99.6, which is just a low grade fever but still. I feel really crappy. It's not just that there's discomfort and pain in my abdominal area (which of course is to be expected after surgery), but I just feel sick. That's what I hate the most-pain I can handle, feeling sick just really sucks.
Hope you're coming along in your recovery, Crampster-hope it's speedy and as painless as possible!

Gigi D · 08-04-2006, 07:04 PM

Now my temp is at 100. Not high enough to call my doctor, but I feel so lousy. I sound like a hypochondriac, but before this year I hadn't been to a doctor in over 10 years. Now I'm constantly going, and just keep feeling worse. I feel worse now than I did before my surgery-hopefully that will change in a few more days, but I just feel so sick right now.
Guess I'll try and sleep some more (sigh) as there's nothing I can really do.