Preparing for Gallbladder Surgery
Your doctor will tell you what you need to do to prepare for gallbladder surgery however the most common preparation tasks are as follows:
The Week Before Gallbladder Surgery
- Refrain from taking certain medications such as aspirin or other blood-thinning drugs one week prior to your surgery date. Your doctor will tell you which medications are safe to take before the surgery however be sure to ask, especially if you are taking medicine for diabetes, seizures, high blood pressure, heart, or kidney problems. It’s very important that you provide the surgeon and the hospital staff with the entire list of medications you’re taking, when they’re taken, and their dosage.
- Speak with the anesthesiologist, your doctor, and/or the hospital medical staff about the type of anesthesia that will be used. This consultation session will occur either a few days before the gallbladder surgery or immediately before the surgical procedure. At that time it is very important that you tell the medical staff about any allergies you have and inform them of any previous problems you’ve had with anesthesia or pain medications given to you during previous hospital stays.
- If you are taking pain medication for gallstone pain ask your doctor if you can continue taking these drugs in the event that you have a gallstone attack prior to surgery.
- Refrain from eating fatty, rich, or spicy foods prior to the surgery as these type of foods tend to trigger gallstone attacks.
The Day Before Gallbladder Surgery
- Refrain from eating food after 12:00 midnight the night before your gallbladder surgery. This restriction applies to coffee, gum, water, cough drops, and mints.
- Do not eat rich, spicy, or fatty foods.
- Your doctor will probably instruct you to take an enema starting the day or evening before the surgery to remove as much food from your stomach and intestinal areas as possible. If you’ve had a bad reaction to a certain type of enema it’s important that you inform your doctor so they can recommend a different brand or type of laxative.
The Day of Gallbladder Surgery
- If your doctor allows you to take your medications the morning of the surgery be sure to only take it with a sip of water.
- If you have a cold, fever, sore throat, or any type of infection it is very important that you alert the medical staff of your condition.
- You may be given antibacterial soap or cleanser by the doctor’s staff. Wash your stomach and abdominal area with the cleanser as instructed, usually the night before and the morning of the surgery. These antibacterial cleansers help reduce bacteria on the surface of the skin. Follow the instructions that accompany the cleanser and be sure to dry the area thoroughly. Since some of these cleansers contain iodine it’s important to tell the doctor if you have an allergy to this antiseptic.
- Wear loose-fitting, comfortable clothing to the hospital. If you wear pants try to wear ones with a loose elastic waistband that will fit over the bandages.
- Do not wear makeup, perfume, any type of body oils, or nail polish to the hospital. Remove all jewelry, dentures, eyeglasses, and contact lenses prior to the surgery.
- You may want to bring a pillow and leave it in your car to make the ride home more comfortable.
Following the guidelines above and the ones provided by your doctor will improve the quality of your hospital stay.
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I am slated to have my gallbladder removed in 2 weeks. I am very apprehensive about this being that I have never had any type of surgery before and have never been put under any kind of sedation or anesthesia. To the best of my knowledge, I have NKDA.
I believe the procedure is going to be done laproscopically. Do I have much or anything to worry about?
My employer also had a concern about my recovery time. I am a funeral director/mortician and the extent of my manual labor obviously has to do with occasionally moving deceased individuals. There isn’t really a lot of “lifting” involved. In lack of a better term, I guess there is a lot of “sliding” deceased persons that occurs (i.e.-bed to stretcher, stretcher to prep table, etc.) About how long would it be before I could fully resume these tasks?
SR:
As far as you being worried, I can only share my experience. It was a breeze. My gallbladder was removed laparoscopically one morning and I was home that afternoon. Again, that’s my experience – yours may differ.
As for your recovery time, this also varies from person to person. You should definitely discuss this matter with your doctor. Your doctor can tell you when it’s okay for you to return to work.
Here’s wishing you the best of luck with your upcoming procedure!
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I had my Gallbladder out laparoscopically just over 2 weeks ago, and wish I hadn’t worried as much as I did beforehand. Scans had shown many stones in my Gallbladder, and was referred to a specialist by my doctor even though my pain was infrequent.
Luckily my health insurance covered it so I was able to have it privately done at a time that suited me. The surgeon booked it for a few weeks after I saw him.
I was most worried about waking up from the general anaesthetic and digestion of meals afterwards. I have had panic attacks in the past so thought I might wake up and have one post surgery.
I didn’t even notice when they put me to sleep (weird but don’t remember being put to sleep), and when i woke up I knew where I was and felt fine.
I was taken back to my room soon after and given a cup of tea and a few cookies to eat. At the time I thought to myself…cookies?!?! I thought I wouldn’t be able to eat any ‘bad’ food for a while.
No nausea, or sore throat from oxygen tubes, and my pain at surgery site was only a 1/10. Getting period pain the week before had been a lot worse than that. I was given only Panadol with Ibuprofen for pain, and took it for a few days even though I didn’t have much pain or discomfort.
I had one night stay at the hospital then the weekend off. Back at work 3 days after the surgery and the first day i finished 2 hours early. From the Tuesday I was back fulltime.
So far I have been able to eat as normal. I’ve been careful with not eating too much fatty and fried food and haven’t reacted to anything as of yet. They gave me yoghurt with breakfast the next morning after surgery at the hospital, so generally dairy is tolerated well by people who have their Gallbladder out.
My scars are small (only one that is a cm long is noticable), and as the largest cut was done inside my belly button you can’t see it at all.
Just letting you know my story in case anyone else is worried about upcoming surgery
Thank you so much for posting your experience in such great detail.
I have surgery tomorrow morning and I have been driving myself crazy all day thinking of all the scary possibilities I may encounter. Your post has made me relax quite a bit.
Fingers crossed, hoping my surgery will be a breeze like yours!!
Analiz:
Here’s hoping your surgery went well!
Thank you for sharing. I am due to have my procedure done in a couple of days and I just keep finding myself in a world of worry. Reading your story has taken the edge off.So thanks…Tania
Tania:
You’re so welcome. Let us know how your procedure comes out.
I am having surgery this coming Friday.I have anxiety as well and cannot stop worrying.Came across this website and your comments and feeling a little better.Wish me luck!
Joanne:
Good luck! Let us know how it turns out!
I’m getting mine out monday and i was worried about all the same as you were. Thanks for this post. That made me feel tons better.
Good luck Deborah!
I am having the surgery done due to a 3% ejection rate. Due to my work schedule, I will not be able to have it done for another 4 weeks. My family, friends, and my boss are all concerned about my waiting that long.. Can anyone provide any insight?
I am having my consultation appt with a surgeon tomorrow. Thank you all for the information and easing my mind. I have never been sedated or had surgery myself and I will admit, I’ve been a little nervous about it. After the gallbladder attacks I have had recently, I am ready for it to be gone and move on!
Getting my gallbladder taken out in a week and a half. your comments comfort me as well i am concerned with going back to work within a week since i am a hairstylist and do alot of standing and moving. but it cant be any worse than working through the pain right now! even though all with probly go well i am still nervous being my first time in surgery
I am having my consultation with my surgeon on March 6th. I have a question for Everyone on here Please. Does your upper back hurt? Mine hurts a lot. I even had to start taking pain med called tramadol.just wondering if its related. I am also very nervous about not only surgery but the being put under part and infection possibilities. Good Luck everyone. I really wish you the best outcome.
Upper back pain on right side below the scapula is normal as this is directly behind the gallbladder.
I live in the Bahamas where we only have one major hospital so i had to wait 8 months for my surgery. The pain is so terrible its hard to sleep to eat everything. I cant wait to have this durgery done but at the sametime im scared, not the recovery part the getting put to sleep part. Im really nervous is their any advice.