Gallstone surgery - keyhole experiences please!!!

[Oliviaaaaaaaa]

Hello all.

I have keyhole surgery on Sunday this weekend to remove my gallbladder.
im staying in over night and honestly I have no idea what to expect.. well, I have a rough idea but no real experiences if that makes sense?
does anyone mind sharing their experience with me?
What shall I bring with me?
how will I really feel after?
how did it effect you after in terms of eating and drinking alcohol etc?
how long until you felt okay?

Will I be able to just rest up at home after and be okay making myself some food etc or do I need support? Like how out of sorts am I actually going to be?!

how much pain was you all in after? And if so, where? Level of 1-10?

I know everyone is different but just hearing some experiences would be helpful please!!

Hi,

Whilst I’ve not had this procedure, everyone is effected by an procedure, be kind to yourself. It may take a while after the g.a for life to be normal.

have ready meals or batch made meals to go to pop in the oven or microwave saving time when you are out of hospital.

I was encouraged on leaving hospital to spend a couple of months having supermarket deliveries of the entire weekly shop and resting was my friend.

best wishes to you x

I'm not going to lie, recovering was harder than a c-section for me. But I was chucked out of hospital at 11pm, with an hour and a half drive home which was agony. Stock up on painkillers, I had to have paracetamol and codeine.

It's not great, but not having a gallstone attack afterwards is a massive relief.

Definitely have some easy to eat meals in the fridge or freezer. I ate a lot of jacket potatoes afterwards!

You are lucky to get an overnight stay! I remember how mean I thought they were when I had to go home on the day.

My tips:

Bring as little as possible but definitely a phone charger
Avoid any codeine based pain killers and stock up on laxatives. The first poo is so painful.
A firm pillow held to your tummy is the best painkiller
Yes you will need someone to look after you for a few days. Get out of bed as much as possible but you won't feel like cooking. My DM kicked me out of bed on about day 4 and made me go for a walk.
All being well you should be back to normal in 2 weeks. By about day 10 the only pain I had was from my stitches.
Diet is different for everyone but for me, and most people I know, we ate a normal diet straightaway and only have issues with indigestion after eating something with a lot of double cream eg trifle.

I've had 15 major operations. Having my gallbladder out was a breeze compared to most of them. I had day surgery, home that afternoon. I spent the next day resting, had some pain, mostly in my shoulder from the gas, but it wasn't a big deal. The day after I was pottering around the house and felt great, even though I was a little sore. Some pain and soreness is absolutely to be expected, obviously, but it's very manageable in my experience. The surgery and recovery was wonderful compared to the gallbladder pain and attacks I had.

I had keyhole surgery for appendicitis, so I know it’s not quite the same. But things I learned about keyhole surgery:

• it can still be pretty painful afterwards. They fill your abdomen full of gas so they can see what they are doing. Not all of the gas escapes during the op, so it can take a few days for the remaining gas pockets to dissipate, and in the meantime they will trigger pain, not not only in your stomach, but often referred pain to your shoulder - which hurt more than the appendicitis!
• lying on your side with a pillow to your stomach will help.
• you will feel as though you have been stabbed. This is because you have, usually in three places.
• take ask the pain relief they will give you, but yes, avoid opiate-based stuff or you will get horribly constipated.

Hope it all goes well for you!

I had keyhole for gallbladder and it was fine. It was recovering from the anaesthetic that took a week or so but no real pain and I went on holiday with 5 small children a couple of weeks later. No problems with food, I could eat anything.

God the gas pain was excruciating, especially when it hit my shoulders.
I had a family member staying for a couple of days to look after me. They were actually a pretty shit nurse but it was very helpful to have someone help me to sit up and down. I was fine sitting, standing or lying down but the transitions were quite painful for a few days. If you have to be by yourself prep as much as possible so you have meals you literally just need to grab a fork for. I made a coffee a few days in and could lift the kettle but really felt the strain on my abdomen.
I was feeling fairly ok after about a week but it was another week before I felt properly back to normal. The holes are all tiny but because there are four of them and across your tummy any movement involving your core is affected for a bit.

I was back to normal right away, no pain, very easy. I was only given twilight anesthesia. I'm surprised reading the other responses, but I suppose it's like anything else, it depends on the individual, age, circumstances, etc.

I had keyhole to remove fallopian tube (ectopic). Not the same but still keyhole.
I was out day after. I felt ok..but, i tried to get up and around and doing too much 2 days after op..went shopping! Etc..big mistake. I thought i was a hard lass but it made me quite ill. Id say rest up at home for few days before going out...but move about at home as much as you can...no heavy duty shizz. The pain was minimal in comparison to what outcome would have been if hadnt had op. Positivity ♥️

Personally, I declined the pain medication they offered. It can make you horribly constipated, and I learned that through bitter experience from having so many surgeries. I find constipation far worse than the pain from surgery.

I was supposed to come out the same day but they struggled a bit to get mine out so I had to stay in overnight. I was certainly tender for at least a week and then just generally achey for another week or two. Didn’t have the ‘inflated’ issues others speak of. I was able to totally rest up for these first two weeks and felt I really needed to. I didn’t have to chase after small children or go to work which helped. I certainly wasn’t back to full working order for about a month.

One thing that did surprise me was the horrendous bruising around my belly button - the deepest purple and vivid yellow about the size of a large saucer! It was something to behold but my GP said it was nothing to worry about. I now eat what I like and haven’t had to avoid fatty foods. So, thankfully, all straightforward for me. Very best of luck to you - hope it goes well 🙂

I had keyhole last year, stayed in overnight at my request. That was not at all restful as a nurse woke me every few hours to take temp, blood pressure etc.

Pain level was very low. I was sent home with 5 days of meds but took less than a quarter of it. I was told to take it if I started feeling pain coming on as once it sets in it can be hard to shift. Otherwise I would probably have taken even less. There were moments of discomfort. Moving from a lying to a sitting position was the worse and took some experimentation as to the best method once I was out of hospital with no grab rail on the bed.

I felt very vulnerable when walking around as I did not realise how much you use abdominal muscles to steady yourself. They advise you to walk as much as possible and I was back in the gym on day 2 just to use the treadmill. Pavement walking was just hopeless as people got in the way and made me have to stop or change direction suddenly. That hurt.

Eating was fine though I did not have much appetite until the day after and I kept meals small, frequent and light for a couple of days just to be on the safe side.

Take slip on shoes to hospital - bending down to do up shoes is not fun. Also take loose fitting clothes as you will feel a bit tender and swollen.

I don't know if you have had a GA before but it can make you feel really nauseous afterwards. If it does, tell the nurse at once because they can give you drugs to help with that. Nobody wants to be vomiting straight after abdominal surgery.

Hope it all goes well.

It's unusual to need an overnight stay, tbh. You will barely notice anything, it is all so straightforward. You just need a day or two to recover from the lovely, lovely GA. Ask doc about driving - they used to say you shouldn't for a couple of weeks, because of emergency stop risk, but I think that advice might have changed.
Wounds are teeny tiny, but take a few steri strips just in case one pops.
Not sure about alcohol - I stayed off it for a while, as I was an emergency case, with other diagnoses. But probably no issue after an elective.
It's a very effective op, and you will feel a million times better when the gallbladder is out.

Oh, and zero pain afterwards - the whole point is to take the medication regularly and before you feel any pain. Just follow doctors' advice - they know what they're talking about.