Gall Bladder Surgery . What was your recovery time?

[Sundaymorningfiveninteen]

Morning, I have a date for surgery . It’s in less than 3 weeks. My industry gets quite busy around Christmas. I have a lot of clients to be cancelled and unlikely I will get them all rebooked before Christmas. My job is not beauty / hair related , something people like to get “ticked off” before Christmas, it won’t ruin the festivities if they don’t get it done .
Op is a Thursday. I sit down all day, I have an assistant on hand all of the time. I’m fit and well generally. Could I potentially be back at work on the Monday after 3 good days of rest.
I have to self isolate 3 days before the operation which is why I’m trying to minimise the time off afterwards. I see 15 to 17 clients a day so that’s a lot of people to cancel , I’m trying to minimise the disruption . Also, no work, no pay as I’m self employed but I do have savings, just rather not use them if possible.
So Tell me your post op recovery experience good or bad.

@MoverCat

If it makes you feel better I was back at work after 4 weeks
I could have struggled in after 3, but got attacked by a swarm of wasps and ended up in A &E
I'm always astounded when people say they were back to normal after a few days. I could barely get dressed for 3 days, couldn't put a bra on, my son had to help with shoes. I also couldn't eat more than soup and toast for over a week, so had little energy. After my first proper meal I was so violently I'll I couldn't eat for another two.
There are so many variables, how sick you were before, how you react to GA, whether you had any complications from surgery, how quickly your wounds heal.
You might get lucky with a quick recovery.

My planned keyhole surgery was switched to open surgery after attempting keyhole (monster stone + infected gallbladder). I spend five days in hospital, off work for six weeks followed by several weeks of phased return. There was no indication that open surgery would be necessary (about 5% of surgeries are open). Just something to be aware of.

@Fluffy40, I waited 10 months for mine, that was pre Covid and the normal waiting time at my hospital

I was walking around with a pillow pressed against me for a good couple of weeks. It's a bit optimistic to think you might be back at work 3 days in. I went back after 3 weeks and nearly passed out.

You're not supposed to drive until you can do an emergency stop.

@A580Hojas

I work from home on my own and sit down to do my job. I felt able to go back after about 5 days of recovery, none of which was spent in bed.

Same here, though getting up and sitting down was a bit painful for a couple more weeks. One of my incisions was quite large for keyhole - they almost had to convert to an open op so I think it was larger than normal, and took a bit longer to heal.

Thanks@Ted27. Luckily I’m not in pain and buscopan works very well.

[quote Ted27]@MoverCat

If it makes you feel better I was back at work after 4 weeks
I could have struggled in after 3, but got attacked by a swarm of wasps and ended up in A &E
I'm always astounded when people say they were back to normal after a few days. I could barely get dressed for 3 days, couldn't put a bra on, my son had to help with shoes. I also couldn't eat more than soup and toast for over a week, so had little energy. After my first proper meal I was so violently I'll I couldn't eat for another two.
There are so many variables, how sick you were before, how you react to GA, whether you had any complications from surgery, how quickly your wounds heal.
You might get lucky with a quick recovery.[/quote]

Same! No way I could have bent down to put shoes on, DP was helping me walk to the toilet for the first few days like an old granny!

Mind you, I now look back fondly on those days of recovery Lying in bed watching films, having food brought up to bed for me on a tray, lots of drugs. I wouldn't mind another non-life threatening operation now just for the time in bed.

So in a nutshell you'll have no idea what's what until you've gone through it OP. Good luck. Buggers much better out than in when it's acting up.

@HalfShrunkMoreToGo

Ooooo were we not supposed to drive? Because I wasn't told that and I was driving 3 days after surgery. Had to go free my car from the hospital car park because I'd driven myself to A&E then got transferred by ambulance to another hospital.

I was told not to drive until my stitches were sufficiently healed that I could do an emergency stop.

Had mine done 2 years ago. Single parent so I was back home and making tea for the kids by the evening. Up and driving the next day. Bit of pain but handled by paracetamol

It took me about 24 hours to comfortably start walking around etc. Don’t think I could have worked until about 5 days but if I over exerted myself I felt very sick for about 2 weeks. I also found it difficult to carry heavy-ish things for about a week, but that might have something to do with my 20 pound cat pouncing on my stomach as soon as I lied down once I got home! With you having a sit down job I’d give yourself 5-7 days rest.

@MoverCat I really loved the lady with the pain meds trolley in the hospital in the days before the op. I've lived a very dull life, never done any drugs and other than a few wild years as a teen I really don't drink. The lady basically rolled up every few hours and said ok I have oramorph, codeine, paracetamol, ibuprofen...... what do you want? Hmmmmm I think I'll try a little oramorph and codeine please and see if that gets rid of the searing agony!

[quote HalfShrunkMoreToGo]@MoverCat I really loved the lady with the pain meds trolley in the hospital in the days before the op. I've lived a very dull life, never done any drugs and other than a few wild years as a teen I really don't drink. The lady basically rolled up every few hours and said ok I have oramorph, codeine, paracetamol, ibuprofen...... what do you want? Hmmmmm I think I'll try a little oramorph and codeine please and see if that gets rid of the searing agony![/quote]

Oramorph is marvellous isn't it!!

I had mine removed 3 weeks ago . I took paracetamol and codeine for 2 days as instructed. No wind pain at all . Had the operation on Wednesday and able to work, office based by Monday.

I think I was back at work after about a week, still feeling delicate though. As a pp said, it was transitioning from standing to sitting and vice versa that was a killer as the wounds are small but across your abdomen.
Freelancer to freelancer, consider that there's a good chance it could get cancelled, esp if covid gets worse over the winter. My first one was the day before which was so frustrating. It really messed with work as I'd been struggling to find short contracts around it and then at the 11th our it turned out I didn't need to. I have no solution to offer, I'm afraid, but worth factoring in to plans.

Those who were 'business as usual ' I"d be interested to know what instructions you were given by the hospital and GP and if you followed them.
I was first on the list so in theatre by 8, discharged from the ward at 4 with a sick note for 2 weeks.Told not to drive until stitches out, questioned whether there was going to be another adult in the house for at least 24 hours because of possible side effects of GA, not to lift anything heavy for 6 weeks

I slept most of the op day then was up & about the next, I could’ve gone back to work after three but I was signed off so I went back after a week I think. I was told not to sit all day but to keep moving to help recovery. I also didn’t know about not driving.

I don't remember the exact instructions re. work, driving or lifting.

All I know is that gall bladder surgery was nowhere near as hard a recovery as my 2 x c-sections, the second of which I had a toddler to look after as well as a newborn.

I've had different surgeries, hip resurfacing, c-section and gallbladder by keyhole. The latter was by far the most painful post operatively. I felt like I'd been kicked in the abdomen by a horse. I would very much doubt you will be up and about by 3 days. Give yourself a proper fortnight.

Agree with others about the gas pain. Drink peppermint tea to try and ease. I really struggled with constipation too so make sure you have laxatives on hand. Just be very careful not to over do it. Although it is keyhole, one of my incisions was quite a bit nigger than expected (Maybe an inch wide?), and I did too much and it got infected, setting my recovery back

I found the recovery very quick, albeit with no choice. My surgery was at 10am, I was discharged at 8pm and straight home doing night feeds with my 6 week old twins. The next day was back to being a new mum to two newborns.

Forgot to add this was on top of a 6 week old c section scar and another cut where my scar had to be drained because of infection.

I was fully recovered in about 3 weeks.
I did have to go back in the day following surgery in extreme pain though, not sure if that set me back a little.

Sorry just realised I made that sound a bit scary, I don't think that's common at all, I think I was maybe just discharged a bit early and prob should have stayed overnight.

I can remember that my first trip out following the op was to John Lewis to buy myself a kindle. It was ten days after my op and I found it a really hard trip as I couldn't stand up straight as it was too uncomfortable with my stitches!