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I am going to have gallbladder surgery this Friday due to my gallbladder not working properly. I don't have gallstones. I have had the j-pouch for over 11 years. My surgeon said this will be outpatient and hoping for laparascopic. He said he won't know for sure laparascopic until he tries. I have had 5 abdominal surgeries so far. Four were open and one was laparascopic. When I had laparascopic surgery before, I was in for 5 days.

Has anyone had problems after the gallbladder surgery that has the j-pouch? If yes, what kind? Was your surgery laparascopic or open? Was it scheduled outpatient and then turned inpatient?

Thank you for your information.
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Hi Ksr,
I had mine out 18months ago after years of problems with it (chronic galbladder pain, stones etc...). My surgeon is a specialist in laporoscopic procedures here in France and has been inside for a visit to my pouch and for hernia repairs a number of times...so I trusted him implicitly.
I was warned that he would not know what to expect until he got inside...it went well, except for an exceptionally huge galbladder (over 2.2lbs and full of a quart of nasty, infected bile).
He sucked out the bile, deflated the galbladder in doing so, and pulled it out through a tiny hole in my abdomen. Kept me in for 3 nights, just in case, all considering my history. I was taken back in an ambulance 2 days later (my galbladder had been pressing on my right lung and collapsed it partially)...other than the usual laporoscopy gas pain, surgical pain (he took advantage of the visit by fixing a tiny hernia and snipping a few adhesions) etc, It went fine...I was walking around the block by the end of the week and was back to work in 2...
As long as they know what they are doing and what to expect there should be no complications...But we are a complicated bunch with tons of possible internal problems like adhesions and whatnot... so prepare for the worst and hope for the best...It should all be fine.
Don't forget to prepare your home for your homecoming...soups, no shopping for a while, no lifting, pushing or vacuming the house...Baby yourself post op, after all, it is still surgery.
Sharon
I too had a large gallbladder taken out. It was done laproscopically even though I too had multiple abdominal surgeries prior. It would have been outpatient but it blew the night before, ended up in ER, and by the time they pulled it out it was nighttime. This was one of the easiest surgeries I went thru.
Sharon, I'm sorry you had a bad time.
Thanks Ally,
It wasn't so much a bad time as a touch scary...those ambulance drivers do not take the word 'pulminary distress' lightly...they pretty much burned every light, ran up sidewalks and broke all ground speed records for Paris...
At least it all ended well.
As for my poor little (!) galbladder, it is sitting in a jar on my surgeon's desk!
I must admit, as far as surgeries go, it was one of the easiest ones.
sharon
I had my gallbladder taken out last year also due to it not working properly. My surgeon also said they would not know if the laparascopic surgery would work, but it did. I also did outpatient surgery. Everything went fine, no problems. You will still have to take it easy right after surgery, but nothing like going through jpouch surgery. Best of luck to you. You will feel so much better once it is out, it is amazing!!
I had my surgery last Friday, 12/20. It was laparascopic and outpatient. I was in quite a bit of pain the first 48 hours. Today is the first day for me not to take as much pain medicine. I am hurting quite a bit. I don't know if I should be hurting a week after this surgery. Should I still be hurting? No fever, incisions look fine.
I'm not sure about the length of time for pain as I just had my surgery this Tues. Hopefully someone else has an answer for that. I was in a lot of pain Wed but my bowels had shut down, so I think that might have been part of it. Things are working now although all liquid. I don't have much of an appetite. Mine was able to be lapro also. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for you.
I did not have any stones. The hidascan showed my gallbladder at 18%. I was having extreme pain due to the gallbladder. When I would have the attacks, I would also get obstructed. I am going to call the surgeon's office tomorrow to make sure I am doing what I should.
I have had my j-pouch for over 11 years.
Had my gallbladder out in December, 2009. Open abdominal surgery, also had a ton of adhesions that had to be cut through. Pain and an ill feeling lasted about a week fairly severely, then pain diminished but the illness lasted. Ended up back in the hospital for a week due to a concussion & dehydration from being so sick. Never determined if I managed to catch a bad virus on top of everything else, or just had a bad reaction to the surgery. BUT after a month I was significantly better. For about a year or so I'd have a bit of pain if I ate too much fatty items, but now I can eat most things (within reason) and haven't had any problems from that sector in about 3 years. Just be patient and stay hydrated!!!!

Gin
thanks for your reply Scott F. I would think that surgeons experienced in laparoscopic j pouch would be better candidates for laparoscopic cholecystectomy, I ve read in other threads about St Marks (specifically Mr Jenkins) Hospital and Basingstoke being specialist in j pouch.

Would anyone know of any surgeons there that would be good candidates for laparoscopic cholecystectomy?

thanks
Most cholecystectomies are done laparoscopically these days, at least in the US. It's fairly easy to find sugeons with experience in this procedure, and they will have all run into adhesions before. The key is to find a surgeon patient enough to work past the adhesions safely, but wise enough to know when to convert it to an open procedure.

Yes, I recently had Gall Bladder removal laproscopically   ,I have Crohns and J pouch. Surgery and recouperation was very diificult. Disdended ilea caused severe pain ,post surgery. Non stop diareha for 3 Days,,still continuing. Personally, due to Crohns complications, the fewer abdominal surgeries the better, for a person with J pouch and Crohns, unless absolutely required, my Gall Bladder would stay,,

1) Pain post surgery,, violent Crohns flare up..

2) Doctors can not tell you what to expect, post-op ,,due to our unique condition

3) How to stop many Bile Diareha episodes has been not been figured out

good luck

tb

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