To ask for help re: elderly mum and gall bladder

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Moved here for traffic at another poster's suggestion.

Partner's mum is 86, taken to hospital by ambulance yesterday, diagnosed with gallstones plus infection and fluid around the gall bladder. It's so difficult getting information from the hospital and we are a long way away. Can anyone tell me how serious this is? For background she's not in great health, bedbound due to arthritis and quite frail.

Sorry you've not had any replies yet. I don't know much about gall bladders but here goes.
Gall stones, whilst not life threatening, can be painful.
The infection could be quite a threat, especially coupled with her age and frailty. How serious an infection is it? How are they treating it? Can the ward nurses answer your questions?
Sorry I can't help more 💐

Gall Stones can be incredibly serious. If left untreated it can lead yo rupture of the the gall bladder, sepsis and cholecystitis,pancreatitis. It can be incredibly dangerous to the frail. Hopefully, she won't have to wait too long to have her gall bladder removed if she is able to have it removed

Frailty adds quite a high risk to sepsis. Depending on how frail she is, she may also not be a good candidate for surgery if that's needed.

Can you not speak to anyone on the ward? On the other hand, if she was at deaths door, they'd be making every effort to get in touch so that's a good sign.

Has anyone else in the family been contacted? Next of kin?

Gall stones are always an indication of a diseased gall bladder. There is a risk of various things resulting from it.

The operation to remove it is generally very effective. But is she suitable for the operation?
The worse thing about her frailty is going to be it could well get worse if she can't eat and gall stones will put you off eating at all.

Did your mum have a mobile phone that she could take with her? If not is she able to use a basic phone and could one be taken to her.

The phones in hospitals are nightmares in wards due to reduced visiting. In a lot of places families are asked to just have 1 member to call and then the news can be passed on.

The problems is when multiple ppl call they are taking nurses away from providing care.
As your relative has just been admitted it would be useful for the NOK to call to gind out what tests have been done, what they think is wrong and what are the future plans.

You can ask to make a telephone consultation with the Dr responsible for her care.

I hope everything gets sorted and your relative is feeling better soon.

Thanks all. My partner is next of kin and the only one ringing. He tried all of yesterday to get an update - must have tried 20 times. Mostly no-one answered the phone, or if they did they couldn't find a nurse or anyone who knew what was happening and was told to call back. He was finally able to speak to someone at 7 am today and we got some brief details but this was reading from a screen and she couldn't answer any of our questions. MIL is apparently in some sort of 'assessment bay' rather than a ward. I don't know if this is part of the communication problem. We do understand of course how much pressure staff are under but it's so upsetting. I'm thinking maybe it's worse at weekends? MIL hasn't got a mobile phone.

She'll likely need her gall bladder removed. The gall bladder is useful but not essential. The liver can take over in it's absence. The liver makes bile, which breaks down fats. Bile then moves to the gallbladder which distributes it after eating. Without it, the liver will just distribute bile itself. Removal is usually by keyhole, and is a very common operation.

I know all this because I'm being investigated myself.

Sorry to hear she is unwell. My mum had her gallbladder removed. 7am is a very busy time on any ward, the assessment ward is where patients go first while waiting for a bed on a ward but they are always very busy with lots of different doctors seeing patients. I would try again tonight, there is often a doctor there. I hope she feels better soon. If he has no luck he can ring the hospital and ask to bleep the site manager who can ask a doctor to call.

My mother-in-law has spent a lot of time in hospital recently and there's nothing new until late morning or early afternoon. I've also had gallbladder stones and had an infected gallbladder discovered on removal. If she's well enough they will operate if not there may be other ways to help .

I doubt they'll operate while it is inflamed bearing in mind her age and frailty, they'll treat conservatively with IV antibiotics then remove it electively in the future I'd guess

It really isn't ok that the staff aren't communicating effectively with you, if it carries on ring PALS. It is stressful enough not being able to visit without knowing what's going on. Of course staff are busy but a daily full update should be made time for.

The gall bladder is useful but not essential. The liver can take over in it's absence. The liver makes bile, which breaks down fats. Bile then moves to the gallbladder which distributes it after eating. Roughly, except the liver doesn't actually take over as I understand it. The liver produces a steady trickle of bile, the gall bladder stores it and releases it all together when you've eaten. With no gall bladder, the steady trickle continues to be released, whether you've just eaten or not - the liver doesn't take over the storage function of the gall bladder. So if you seriously overdose on fat at a meal, there may not be enough bile for digestion - though most people find there's no problem with a normal diet.

The pain from gall stones is horrendous. Hopefully she will have an operation to remove it soon. I found lemonade or soda water is a huge pain reliever in the meantime.