I almost died on Tuesday

[CriticalGaming]

Man what a week.

Last Friday i started having an episode of abdominal pain, something that happens to me fairly often (every 5weeks or so). But this weekend sucked and didnt go away as usual so i took myself to Urgent Care.

Doctors did an Ultrasound and said i have gallstones. Then they said i needed to be admitted. Which was weird because the moment i walked into the hospital my pain vanished and i felt really good.

Suddenly Sunday night im plugged into the hospital and they need an MRI on my gut. Monday i felt great but strange being in a hospital bed feeling pretty good as the pain hadnt returned. Of course they didnt let me have ANYTHING not even water so i guess you cant have a stomach ache if you aint got nothing there.

Anyway Monday they did the MRI and found i have a big stone stuck at the entrance of my intestine from the gallbladder duct. So now the verdict is two things. First i need a procedure to remove the stuck stone, which would be a camera device stuck down my throat all the way into my guts to cut it out and then put a little device that would hold open the hole for future stones. Then two weeks later i need to get the bladder removed entirely to keep from persistent problems.

Well ive never had surgery so i dunno what to expect but on Tuesday i was gonna have a tube shoved down my throat. They strap you face down on a table and strap a device to your mouth to hold it open.

During this operation i apparently threw up bile into my lungs and drowned myself, stopping breathing and making them cancel the procedure midway through. I turned blue and they apparently had to do a ER thing with a balloon shoving air into me to kick start my lungs and breathing again.

They woke me up from lala land and said, "hey dude you nearly died."

So now i have pneumonia from the bile. Something called Asperation.

Im now at home and due for an appointment to cut the gallbladder out of me entirely.

Good news is that they did get the stuck stone free before i decided to kill myself. But they didnt put in the rubber device called a stint. Which is a good thing because it means i dont have to do the swallowing of the big tube thing again.

What a week.

Did i miss anything exciting?

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Well fuck me, that's scary. Good thing you had an extra life saved up.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Well fuck me, that's scary. Good thing you had an extra life saved up.

I respawned at the bonfire

 

[happyninja42]

Suddenly Sunday night im plugged into the hospital and they need an MRI on my gut. Monday i felt great but strange being in a hospital bed feeling pretty good as the pain hadnt returned. Of course they didnt let me have ANYTHING not even water so i guess you cant have a stomach ache if you aint got nothing there.

It's more likely you had inflamation, so they were trying to bring it down when they were planning surgery. Same thing happened with my wife when her gall bladder revolted and tried to kill her. They put her on an IV, and that was it. It's also to stop moving anything new through your gall bladder, since it was throwing a shit fit. No food, no use for gall bladder, it takes some time off and lets them prep to cut it out.

 

[CriticalGaming]

It's more likely you had inflamation, so they were trying to bring it down when they were planning surgery. Same thing happened with my wife when her gall bladder revolted and tried to kill her. They put her on an IV, and that was it. It's also to stop moving anything new through your gall bladder, since it was throwing a shit fit. No food, no use for gall bladder, it takes some time off and lets them prep to cut it out.

Yeah they didnt cut it out yet. I have to heal from the procedure first. Im sure theyll make me fast of something before the full removal.

Im expected for full removal in a week or two i believe.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I got my gallbladder removed a couple of years ago. The months before the operation were the most pain I've ever suffered in my life.
Same as you, my bile duct was clogged and that was causing tremendous abdominal pain (which at its worst spread to my back, so I couldn't even lie down to get some rest and I only fell asleep out of pain exhaustion). Yellow skin, constant nausea, complete lack of appetite.
They lowered a tube down my throat for an echoendoscopy, luckily everything went fine there. Then I got laparoscopic surgery, in which they drill four holes in you (I don't know why four) and essentially suck out your gallbladder through one of them. It's simple, minor, they don't even cut you open. Took me a couple of weeks to be able to walk properly again, and after that I've never had any problem since. My scars look like little more than mosquito bites.
The only downside was that between prepping and recovering from surgery, I spent about a week in the hospital hooked up to an IV stand.
Anyway, hope you're feeling fine. Sucks about the procedure but it's really minor surgery, you're gonna be fine.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Well, damn. Glad ya didn't die!

 

[CriticalGaming]

I got my gallbladder removed a couple of years ago. The months before the operation were the most pain I've ever suffered in my life.
Same as you, my bile duct was clogged and that was causing tremendous abdominal pain (which at its worst spread to my back, so I couldn't even lie down to get some rest and I only fell asleep out of pain exhaustion). Yellow skin, constant nausea, complete lack of appetite.
They lowered a tube down my throat for an echoendoscopy, luckily everything went fine there. Then I got laparoscopic surgery, in which they drill four holes in you (I don't know why four) and essentially suck out your gallbladder through one of them. It's simple, minor, they don't even cut you open. Took me a couple of weeks to be able to walk properly again, and after that I've never had any problem since. My scars look like little more than mosquito bites.
The only downside was that between prepping and recovering from surgery, I spent about a week in the hospital hooked up to an IV stand.
Anyway, hope you're feeling fine. Sucks about the procedure but it's really minor surgery, you're gonna be fine.

What is your diet like afterwards. They told me i need to be vegan which im 99% sure is bullshit.

 

[deleted20220709]

DELETED

 

[CriticalGaming]

First off: Glad you're alright and I hope that the pneumonia isn't causing you too much trouble.

Second off: No, it is not. You can get away with the occasional steak or side of bacon but without gall to break down the meat it becomes a real issue for your intestinal system. Too much and you'll have pains, constipations and a bunch of other issues. The good news is you'll love that meat so much more, the bad news is you won't have much of it.

Naw the cough is almost gone now. Just need the sore throat to go away. Another couple days i should be good.

As for the other thing. I get that steak is gonna have to be a rarity. But they did say lean meat like pork, chicken and fish were fine. Which....isnt vegan so...like im a bit confused. Everything i asked them they told me no.

Chez-its? No!
Dr. Pepper? No!
Baked potato? No!

Like wtf dude am i supposed to eat grass now? Is the gallbladder the only thing that separates man from rabbit? Ugh....

 

[deleted20220709]

DELETED

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

What is your diet like afterwards. They told me i need to be vegan which im 99% sure is bullshit.

I think that might depend on what caused the infection in the first place. Our bile ducts got clogged, but you had a gallstone. I never had a gallstone. My bile duct was simply clogged with biliary sludge, which was diagnosed as purely a genetic thing and had nothing to do with my diet. So our post-surgery outlook might differ.

From personal experience, I haven't had a problem since surgery, and find that I don't need to be any more cautious about my diet than if I still had my gallbladder. Don't overdo fats and sugar, eat varied, watch your calories, isolate your meals, get some exercise. Good advice for anybody. I waited a couple of months after surgery before having anything "unhealthy" again and never had a problem. It's hard to describe but with your gallbladder gone your body will let you know when enough is enough long before you feel any discomfort, let alone pain.

For professional reasons no doctor will ever tell you "Go ahead, you're finally ready for chips and beer" after removing your gallbladder. But in my experience it's not life-changing at all. Like you I was worried about the sequels to not having a gallbladder, but I talked to my boss and a friend from school - they had gallstones, like you - and they assured me it's never been a big deal. Frankly I forget I even had the procedure most of the time. It hasn't had any impact in my life.

And for the record, your body still produces bile. All the gallbladder does is store bile in case it can't produce enough in real time to help your digestion. You'd have to be feasting like a DnD barbarian with a death wish for your body to need to tap into your gallbladder reserves. Just be cautious for the first couple of months.

 

[McElroy]

If gastrointestinal surgeons met God, they would ask Him: "Why only one tube?" Though they'd refer to the hepatopancreatic duct.

Have a pleasant recovery.

Then I got laparoscopic surgery, in which they drill four holes in you (I don't know why four)

To cover every angle. It would be awkward if something got loose and fell into somewhere unreachable and they'd have to shake you to get it out, maybe.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

and be prepared for spicy food to upset your stomach.

Oh god, life would not be worth living.

No Thai food? No curry? WHAT'S A MAN SUPPOSED TO EAT?!

 

[Agema]

The gallbladder is basically just a storage area for bile, which helps break down certain foods - particularly fatty ones. Without it, you still have bile, but it just drips constantly into your digestive system. Lacking a large store of bile to be released on demand for fatty foods means impaired breakdown of fats.

Being unable to break down fats means super-unpleasant, greasy stools (many diet drugs failed trials because they blocked fat absorption and users hated how unpleasant their toilet trips were), and can be broken down by bacteria in the intestines instead, producing large amounts of water and gas - so diarrhoea, bloating. So, that's what you'll get if you eat more fats than your bile-limited body can handle - but I expect a spot of trial and error will find out how much that is.

They might go a bit overboard on the dietary recommendations, but this is partly because a better diet is good for health, and because they know most people will probably cheat a bit anyway, so they may as well build some slack in.

I don't know if you may also be advised to take vitamin supplements as well, as it may impair your body's ability to take in some fat-soluble vitamins.

 

[Saint of M]

So, lean meats, avoid most fast food.

I have no idea how a galbladder feels, but if its anything like kidney stones I have a alight idea. My dad was a radicle amputee (left leg from the hip down) so became pretty accustomed to phantom pain which is the real world equivalent of the gom jabbar. One day he had some kidney stones, and it hurt so bad he couldn't do his usual suck it up and put on a smile. I have also heard women preferring childbirth over kidney stones.

I can only imagine what you had to go through with a gallstone. A quick google search revealed some doozy stones.

 

[happyninja42]

What is your diet like afterwards. They told me i need to be vegan which im 99% sure is bullshit.

It's not bullshit, the less meat/fatty foods you eat when you don't have a gall bladder, the better. If you continue to eat them, you will have very unpleasant shits, and a distinct increase in urgency to go to the bathroom. My wife has this all the time, because she is a stubborn buffoon who still insists on eating food not good for her since she doesn't have a gall bladder. And as someone witnessing/hearing the aftereffects, going vegan would certainly help.

The gallbladder is basically just a storage area for bile, which helps break down certain foods - particularly fatty ones. Without it, you still have bile, but it just drips constantly into your digestive system. Lacking a large store of bile to be released on demand for fatty foods means impaired breakdown of fats.

Being unable to break down fats means super-unpleasant, greasy stools (many diet drugs failed trials because they blocked fat absorption and users hated how unpleasant their toilet trips were), and can be broken down by bacteria in the intestines instead, producing large amounts of water and gas - so diarrhoea, bloating. So, that's what you'll get if you eat more fats than your bile-limited body can handle - but I expect a spot of trial and error will find out how much that is.

They might go a bit overboard on the dietary recommendations, but this is partly because a better diet is good for health, and because they know most people will probably cheat a bit anyway, so they may as well build some slack in.

I don't know if you may also be advised to take vitamin supplements as well, as it may impair your body's ability to take in some fat-soluble vitamins.

Basically this yes.

 

[Agema]

My dad was a radicle amputee (left leg from the hip down) so became pretty accustomed to phantom pain which is the real world equivalent of the gom jabbar.

That's some interesting stuff at a neuroscientific level.

When you have an amputation, it leaves a chunk of your brain that ran the motor and sensory parts of that area with "nothing to do". So what usually happens is the area gets taken over for other functions. This means that the cells there develop new connections for new activity, however nor are they fully disconnected from the old activity either. Consequently, after being wired up for the new function and activated, these cells can also cause sensations through the old. There can also potentially be peripheral sensory nerve dysfunction.

Usually phantom limb sensations will diminish and disappear with time, because the cellular connections in the brain have a "use it or lose it" aspect: ones not utilised tend to gradually weaken and die over time. Of course sometimes it also doesn't go away.

Exceptionally difficult to treat. Regular over-the-counter painkillers or opioids might work, especially if there's a peripheral neuropathy involved. Low dose amitriptyline or anti-epileptic drugs might be more normal.

 

[gorfias]

Maybe you can consider yourself "pre-disastered". You should live for sometime after this.

May your recovery be speedy and comfortable.

 

[CriticalGaming]

If gastrointestinal surgeons met God, they would ask Him: "Why only one tube?" Though they'd refer to the hepatopancreatic duct.

Have a pleasant recovery.


To cover every angle. It would be awkward if something got loose and fell into somewhere unreachable and they'd have to shake you to get it out, maybe.

Lol like a guitar player who dropped a pick into his accoustic and has to shake the fucking thing like crazy to get it out!