Glad you only had mild pancreatisis. I bet it did not feel like it but that is good news as it carries less longer term risks than the more severe form. Mine landed me in HDU with surgeons wanting me moved to ICU.
First and foremost- NO ALCOHOL in ANY form included any added to recipes for flavour. Secondly- AVOID all saturated fats and keep your daily fat intake down to 20g spread well out across an entire 24 hour period. This will go some way to prevent a grouchy gall bladder from irritating a grumpy pancreas. There are some good recipes in the downloadable Chronic Pancreatis Diet that will help till you can have the cause removed.
Avoid large meals. In honesty its best to stick to six well spaced out nutritious snacks with plenty of protein but very little fat. Watch the sugars in the ‘fat free’ options if your pancreas is still grumpy.
Make Jelly- all the jelly. Jelly will be your friend. Make it so its a little thinner than the pack recommends. Keep it simple and avoid adding fruit. It’s easy to digest, fat free and will help with hydration.
Drink plenty of water on its own. Pancreatis can set off an inflammation response that can leave you feeling dehydrated. Staying comfortably hydrated will help.
Expect to feel absolutely and completely wiped. A rough rule of thumb from others I now know who have had the same thing: Mild acute pancreatis takes between 2-4 weeks to begin to feel more yourself. Moderately severe with transient or partial organ failure takes between 2-4 months whilst severe [ICU and critical] can take 6-12 months. I now know why the surgeons sent me home after surgery with instructions for box sets on Netflix and rest. IF your working from home resist the temptation to try and head back too soon. The mix of being absolutely run down and tendency to fall asleep will affect your ability to work.
IF you suspect you have pancreatis again, begin to turn yellow or are in acute billary pain go straight to A&E. It’s not worth the real risk to your health to ignore such warning signs.
From experience the post-op pain was one heck of a lot less than the pain I was in before surgery. If you can hit surgery without an inflamed pancreas it takes a couple of weeks or so. If you have the surgery after a severe form of pancreatis it takes about two months as your recovering from two for the price of one.
Avoid the temptation to switch straight back to eating normally. Stick with the very low fat diet for the first two weeks. IF your bile duct has been blocked by stones you may find the constant drip of bile has a laxative effect after surgery. It should slowly resolve as your digestive tract gets used to the new normal. IF you try eating a large meal or fatty food too soon you will know about it. Stick to toddler sized meals till you feel more yourself.
IF you are well you may have this down by keyhole surgery as a day case. IF like me you are unwell when you have this down you may need to stay in hospital and wait for test results that your well enough to go home. I managed to get away with keyhole [just] but had a much larger incision done to remove the gallbladder as it was anything but happy. Take something to do in hospital whilst you wait for surgery and something to wear to go home that will not rub the small incisions too much. They do place small surgical dressings to cover them and you will be given instructions on how to look after your incisions before you go home.
Hopefully once the gallbladder is removed the rest of your gut will begin to get back on track over the coming few weeks.
Hope all goes well, that you are a candidate for keyhole and that you are lucky and bounce back fairly quickly.