Have been to see surgeon, they are going to take the gb out, will be in 6-8wks, he said thats the urgent waiting list. Had to go back and have my pre-op done two days later, which took much longer than surgeon appt! So am now waiting for a letter with my op date, I truly cant wait to have it out, have been told that there is a 5% risk of having to be opened up. When thay scanned my gb the doc said that it is chocker block with stones, he said at least 50!!! So wanted to ask what the opinion of all you lovely sufferes!, whether any of you had this many stones when they removed your gb and how it was done?? The surgeon wouldnt discuss the amount of stones he just said again that they will remove my gb by keyhole and the risk of open is 5%. I am just worried because the doc who scanned me seemed shocked when he was looking at my gb, what do you think should I prepare for open surgery? Sorry for length of post, just want to be prepared because of my children and my dog is expecting her first litter of pups in a week, dont you just love the timing!!!!
hoop i hope you get your letter in plenty of time to make arrangements for your children.
open conversions happen very occasionally - and i think it is natural to worry that this could happen to you!! it would be best to try and make arrangements for your children if you can in advance as you may not feel up to doing much even if you have had lap surgery - if you feel up to it you can always change arrangements. where an operation is converted from lap to open it is done because it would be unsafe to continue in the laproscopic route.
an open op is really not that bad - i had one due to adheasons and the fact that my gallbladder showed signs of gangreen, the surgeon could not see round the mess to safely remove it without making a large open incision .. i went in for day surgery and ended up staying 5 days. my only worry was having an open op and not knowing anything about it untill afterwards - i discused this with the surgeon before the op who laughed and said he did do open ops but had never had to convert during a lapro proceedure and was not about to start now - famous last words.
doctors have to make you aware of all the possibilties now - if 5% of all lap cholys have to change to open proceedures thet is 95% that dont .. relax it will be fine and if they do have to convert they will have their reasons (it will hardly be convienient for them) and it will be for your own good.
try not to get too stressed and good luck with your op, and i hope all goes well with the puppies!!
vix
Try not to worry. They have to have you sign for any situation so as to cover themselves and to make you aware of all options. I had well over 30 stones and they found others imbedded in the gallbladder but mine was done keyhole. You will feel much better after the op.
The keyhole Op isnt bad at all,, virtually all of my GB was a single stone (they had to pull it out of my Liver as it had become embedded),, 50 is quite a lot though and small ones are the worst for pain because of all the rattling around they do :?