#gallbladder surgery

I was scheduled for an afternoon surgery, and everything went pretty quick, I didn’t have to wait long to go back.

First, except for the surgeon himself who I only saw twice that day, my entire medical team from nurses to anesthesiologist were women, and they were all so sweet and personable and funny. I’m going to be ~that person~ but yeah, I tend to be much more comfortable around female professionals, especially medical. 

My nurses were great, especially when it came to my IV. I have notoriously difficult veins and in the past I’ve had nurses become impatient and just stick me all over. Instead, they took their time and they kept on warming my arms and used a special light to make sure they got the IV in right the first time, and now I have almost no bruising on the injection site. 

Also, a funny moment was when she suck the needle in and I felt something hot and wet run down my hand. I turned and she quickly said “ don’t look!”, and that’s when I noticed a stream of blood running down my hand and onto the floor. I just kind of laughed and said its a good thing I’m not squeamish about blood.

Lots of thorough questioning about my medical history by multiple people, in which almost all of them told me I was such an easy/boring case because I’m healthy and active and don’t have any allergies or anomalies. They took note of me telling them I experience anxiety and have mild asthma, and I was glad they didn’t just brush those two things off. I think one nurse realized when she asked me if I was nervous and I casually said “oh, kind of” and she said “well your heart-rate is 103″ lol 

I hugged my mom and was taken back and had the mask placed on. I remember taking about 3 deep breaths before I fell asleep. When I woke up I was groggy, but didn’t feel too bad. I was able to talk a little even though everything was blurry.

My post-op nurse was also fantastic. I started having some pain after coming-to and she gave me fentanyl  in my IV which helped a lot, as well as some water and ice chips. My mom came back and sat with me while I tried to fully wake up. I was given some crackers and applesauce which was a little difficult to put down, but I needed something in my stomach to take my pain meds. She showed my mom my incisions, I have two very small ones, one on the top right-ish side of my stomach and one on the lower right side, as well as one in my belly button.  The scarring will probably be super minimal if any at all after fully healing. They were also sealed up with a glue that will fall off naturally.

Its super important to get up and walk when you feel able to, I guess its good for recovery of any abdominal surgery and also helps with the gas they pump into you (which I’ll get into in a minute cause oh boy). My mom and the nurse helped me to the bathroom and my mom helped dress me. I started to feel nauseous, and they gave me a bag for the ride home, just in case.  I sat for a minute longer while my mom went to get the car.

They asked if I wanted to walk and I kind of felt embarrassed to say I wanted a wheel chair (it wasn’t a short walk) and the nurse reassured me that was totally fine, and “you just had surgery” lol once again, I come down on myself for something totally human and natural.

Unfortunately this is where the real pain started. Any kind of laparoscopic surgery they pump carbon dioxide into you to puff you up and give them better access to your organs. They remove as much of it as they can, but there’s always some that stays in the body. 

I’ve heard/read it varying between patients, and of course for me I seemed to have a lot of gas left over. The car ride home was hell. My entire stomach and sides hurt every time I breathed, and every little bump in the road made me whimper in pain, i was pretty close to tears. The only fortunate thing was that is lasted about 30-45 minutes at this state, and then I think my meds kicked in by the time I got home.

The gas pain has been the hardest part. It has a tendency to move up toward your right shoulder and just kind of hang out there, and even now on day 2 I still get bouts of shoulder pain, which can get pretty intense at times. Gentle massaging and my heating pad have been a godsend.

Other than that, the abdominal pain is bearable. I can get up and walk when I need to, and today I have some pain around my belly button now that the anesthetic has totally worn off. I don’t have much bruising at all, and I also had a little bit of bruising from the blood pressure cuff on my left arm. 

Not very hungry yet, I’ve had some chicken broth and crackers and that’s about it. The broth made me slightly uncomfortable so Im mostly sticking to the crackers. I have to stay on a low fat, high fiber diet for 4-6 weeks and reintroduce foods slowly. 

OH and I can’t take a bath until my 1 week check up, which suuuccks  because I love taking baths. I’ll just have to put up with showers for now. 

My family is being awesome. I can text my brother and sister when I need something and my mom checks on me, and helps me keep track of when I took my pain meds. I’m glad I’m not doing this alone. 

Jason has also been keeping tabs on me from NY. He was texting with my mom during surgery and didn’t want to call me too much yesterday because he wanted me to rest.  He keeps telling me to dream of all the Vegas buffet food I’ll be able to eat on vacation now, haha.

So, overall, not too bad. The gas pain is definitely not  fun but its subsiding. I have to kind of sit up on my back to sleep which is a pain, but i’m usually so tired and out of it on vicodin I fall asleep eventually.