THE NORMAL GALLBLADDER
Your gallbladder is a small, pear-shaped organ tucked under your liver in the upper-right part of your abdomen. In addition to storing a small portion of the bile produced by your liver, a normal gallbladder concentrates bile for later use by removing water. Then, when you eat fatty foods, your gallbladder squeezes bile through ducts into your small intestine to help you digest your food.
GALLBLADDER ANATOMY
Who thinks about their gallbladder and what it does? Hardly anyone, unless their gallbladder is causing problems. Your gallbladder stores bile, a fluid produced by your liver that breaks down fats in the foods you eat and aids your digestion. Usually, bile moves smoothly from your gallbladder into your digestive system. But if gallstones form, the flow of bile may be blocked, resulting in pain and, possibly, serious complications.
GALLSTONES: (The Most Common Gallbladder Problem)
When the amounts of bile and other fluids inside the gallbladder become unbalanced, some of the chemicals solidify and form gallstones (a kind of sediment). If the stones stay in the gallbladder, they may not cause major problems. If the stones move and block ducts, bile can back up, creating symptoms and leading to infections and diseases of the gallbladder, liver, or pancreas.
YOUR SURGICAL EXPERIENCE
With laparoscopic cholecystectomy, generally only short hospital stay is needed. Your surgery is performed through several small incisions. The laparoscope is inserted through one incision. It shines light inside your body and is attached to a camera. Your doctor inserts specially designed instruments through other incisions and removes your gallbladder through a small incision in your navel. The entire surgery usually takes from one to three hours.
BEFORE SURGERY
Don’t take aspirin or other blood-thinning medications for one week before surgery. Your general health will be checked with routine blood and other tests before you enter the hospital or outpatient surgery center, or on the day of surgery. An anesthesiologist or nurse anesthetist may meet with you to discuss the type of anesthetic that will be used to keep you free of pain throughout surgery. Don’t eat or drink anything after midnight the night before surgery, so your stomach is empty when you’re given the anesthetic.
DURING LAPAROSCOPIC SURGERY
First, you’re given an anesthetic and medications through an IV (intravenous tube). Your abdomen is inflated with carbon dioxide (CO2) – a harmless gas – to allow your doctor to see and move easily inside your body. The CO2 is removed at the end of surgery.
CHOLANGIOGRAM
During surgery, a cholangiogram (a special type of x-ray) may be taken of your bile duct. If the x-ray reveals stones in the duct, they may be removed at this time or during a later surgical procedure.
OPEN SURGERY
If your doctor feels it isn’t safe to continue a laparosopic cholecystectomy once it has begun, your gallbladder is removed through a larger incision in your abdomen (open surgery).
RECOVERING AFTER SURGERY
Most people go home the morning after laparoscopic surgery and recover in less than a week. Because no muscles are cut and only small incisions are made, you are likely to experience less postoperative pain than from open surgery. When your incisions heal, the scars may be nearly invisible. Once your gallbladder has been removed, bile will flow, as it always has, from our liver to your small intestine. The only difference is that a small amount of bile won’t be stored.
IN THE HOSPITAL
In the hospital, you’ll find small bandages covering your incisions. The tube that was inserted in our vein to give you fluids and nourishment may stay in place overnight. You may have some discomfort in your right shoulder from the carbon dioxide used during surgery. This is temporary and will go away by itself. Within a few hours after your surgery, you may be drinking liquids, and may be able to eat a light meal later that evening if you wish.
SPEEDING RECOVERY
Because you’ve had an anesthetic, your nurses will ask you frequently to cough and breath deeply to keep your lungs clear. You’ll be asked to take short walks several hours after surgery to keep your blood circulating smoothly through your body, which helps prevent blood clots from forming.
AT HOME
When you return home, there are several ways you can help yourself recover quickly and comfortably. Take your temperature often during the first couple of days to be sure you don’t have a fever. Don’t do any heavy lifting or vigorous exercising. Follow your doctor’s advice concerning showering, driving, and returning to work. You can usually return to normal activities in three to five days. Be aware that pain medications can cause temporary changes in bowel habits.
EATING NORMALLY AGAIN
You may experience some gas pains and other discomfort while your digestive system returns to normal. During this short period of adjustment, eat whatever was easy to digest before your gallbladder surgery.
FOLLOWING UP
During the first week to ten days after surgery, your doctor will meet with you to check on your progress and answer your questions. Additional appointments will be scheduled as needed.
CALL YOUR DOCTOR IF...
Be sure to call your doctor if you have any side effects you didn’t expect. These include:
- Fever (over 101 degrees) or chills
- An incision that drains for longer than a day
- Increasing pain or redness at an incision
