Gall Bladder Surgery

Hippo's Hope · 04-20-2006, 09:54 PM

Has anyone here had their gall bladder removed at the same time as LAP-BAND^® surgery? Would appreciate any input on this subject. Thanks.

A1ikou · 04-21-2006, 04:41 AM

I had my gallbladder out at the same time. It needed doing (28 stones giving me some grief!). To e honest the discomfort from the gallbladder side was what annoyed me more than the band. I had to have a drainage bag (they said for 3 days but ended up being a week) and this was annoying too. Nothing was majorly painful and I took pain meds only one day. After the drainage bag was removed it was plain sailing. If your gallbladder needs to be removed having two things done at the same time just seems logical to me. Why go through a second surgery when there is no need?

Hippo's Hope · 04-21-2006, 11:11 AM

Alison,
Thanks for responding. For some reason it reassures me to know someone else has done this same combination. Did your surgeon use the same incisions for both procedures or did you have a separate incision for the cholecystectomy? Did you stay overnight in the hospital? I am having my surgery done out of town with a pre-surgery consult only 5 days before my actual surgery so until I get a chance to sit down with my doctor at the consult I am kind of clueless about a lot of the details.

I agree with you that I would much rather have both things done at the same time and avoid going back under anesthesia later when I already know I have the gall bladder problem.

Wishing you well on your way down! :)

Hope

P.S. How long ago did you have your surgery?

A1ikou · 04-21-2006, 02:23 PM

I had surgery five weeks ago. I had one extra incision for the gallbladder (tiny) and a hole for the drainage bag. Rest were same as band. They didn't do surgery until mid afternoon so I stayed one night and came home the next day. Trapped air on my chest was the worst part of whole thing. Apart from that I just felt uncomfortable for a week but would have done anyway, had I only done one surgery.