Upper G.I. SCOPE.........................

I am all scheduled for an upper G.I. scope next Tuesday on Sweetest Day how sweet, saw doc today he was not happy with my belly issues!!!! says I am the 3rd woman he has seen this week who recently had a hysterectomy and needed either gallbladder surgery or g.i. surgery now! ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cherry, at least you may get to the bottom of this and find a reason for your pain soon. I think it's easier to deal with once you know what's causing it. Hopefully you won't need another surgery. I'll be thinking of you. Let me know the results.
Michelle

Oh, Cherry sweety... you sure know how to have fun don't you! Reading your post makes me SO GLAD that I featured my gallbladder removal as my last year's "Anna's Annual Surgery Event".

All kidding aside, I do like your doctor. He seems to be VERY PROACTIVE and I like the way that you work so closely with him. GOOD FOR YOU!!! I'm hopeful that by doing this y'all will get to the bottom of all of your pains and fix them soon! Please keep us posted as you start to get answers and rule things out.

Well he did mention gallbladder as a culprit too so let me know what i am in for!

Well I'm 4 days post op from a tvh with lap. and I had been having severe tummy trouble for a month prior. Since hyster was scheduled before that we had a hida scan done on the gallbladder and it was in the normal range. But my gyn asked a general surgeon to be there for a look with the lap after she was done. Same thing, gallbladder looked good. So he ran a scope down to look at my stomach and that was where the problem was. I have severely inflamed stomach lining and deudunum. Now I am on Nexium and for the first time in a month I can eat without having severe pain afterwards. Of course I'm still having gas pains and lots of soreness from the hyster. But I am SO happy to have had 2 pro-active docs in the OR with me!

Hopefully it will all go well and they will find a quick and easy cure for you too! I think that gallbladders tend to give out about the same age as our uterus', that's why so many women have them removed at the same time or have issues so close together.

Good luck and let us know what you get for Sweetest day.

I only had one very painful attack ~ which I thought was just THOSE DANG FIBROIDS rearing their ugly heads again. I was pretty used to being in intense pain and doubled over. I already had a doctors appt scheduled for two days later so I waited and told my doctor about it at my appt. BIG MISTAKE! I have learned to work very, very closesly with my doctor because of this of what she did next. First, she PROMPTLY THANKED ME FOR NOT PRACTICING MEDICINE ON MYSELF BECAUSE I AM NOT A DOCTOR. Good point, I had to give her that one. Then she sent me off for a sonogram that showed a gallstone at the opening of the neck of my gallbladder going toward my pancreas. She seemed pretty excited about this and made an appt with the best surgeon in Austin, because if the stone moved and my pancreas got blocked off it could kill me (and I didn't want that to happen). She made me carry the surgeon's business card with me in my purse until I I had my surgery, and told me to tell anyone who asked me that I was going to have this doctor do my surgery.

This is where I think she was trying to prove a lesson to me. She scheduled me for a MRI ~ granted it is a good idea to know as much as you can before surgery... seemed like a very reasonable and proactive thing that I expect from my Doctor. The thing is that she didn't tell me about drinking the THREE TALL GLASSES of liquid concrete stuff (that DOES not taste like pina coladas, ((or chicken)) don't let ANYONE tell you that it does!). I swear it took FOREVER for that stuff to pass through my system afterwards. I DID call the lab and asked them if I needed to take anything to get that concrete stuff out of my system, because it felt like "you could set a fence post in my bottom". They just LAUGHED and LAUGHED and said I would be ok, and nature would take it's course. My Doctor REALLY laughed when I called her on not warning me about having to drink those THREE BIG glasses of liquid concrete for the MRI. I think she was trying to teach me something. Now I call her about everything and she tells me about everything too. She also rewards me with free samples and says I am one of her best patients. I wonder if she tells everyone that...

Anyways... the MRI did not show the gallstone. Apparently the camera took it's picture right on each side of the stone and that is why it did not show up on the MRI. I did a lot of research before my husband and I met with the surgeon. After weighing the options, we decided that I could have my surgery done lapriscopically as day surgery. I really liked this option because I REALLY wanted to avoid any more painfull gallstone attacks, since I only had one attack ~ I could still eat pretty much anything (but had to be a little careful with dairy products ~ but I could definatley still eat them... if I waited this would have most likely changed).

I also wanted to avoid going to an ER at all costs. I would much prefer to schedule surgery ASAP so that I could control the time of the surgery, the place of the surgery and who was going to do my surgery. I wanted MY expert surgeon who specialized in gallbladders as opposed to having an ER doctor who had possibly been on his feet for over 24 hours doing my surgery. I also wanted to have some control over the actual type of surgery ~ and I was SO LUCKY that I could have a lapriscopic day surgery. Just like my hysterectomy, it took us longer to drive to the hospital than the actual operation. I believe that I had four small incisions (one of which was in my navel). They were covered my steri strips. I came home about three hours after my surgery started. I went back to work two and a half weeks after my surgery. Unlike a lot of people I never had problems with nausea or what I could (or could't eat ~ which surprised even my surgeon and my regular doctor), but I think it was because I acted so fast and had it removed as soon as I realized about the stone. My restrictions, and pain were pretty similar to the ones that I have now with a TVH. Gas and bowel movements where a challenge. I tried "the big blue jug" MOM, and I found it to be ANYTHING but gentle. I resorted to Domino's Cheesy Bread... that is what F-I-N-A-L-L-Y worked for me. I was SO relieved! I have had no problems since... well not with my lack of having a gallbladder anyways. The fibroids HAD come back, and that is how I met all of ya'll... so I was right afterall... and so was my doctor.

The thing to remember is that I had not had any prior recent surgery when I had my gallbladder out. And I think I was lucky because I was in the position that I HAD to move fast... my body never adjusted to being deseased, so I think that made my recovery easier... just a big guess on my part... I AM NO DOCTOR!

Cherry, sorry for the long post, but I wanted to give you as many details as I could remember in case they are at all helpful to you or anyone else out there. Please keep us updated!

Hey!

I had an upper GI scheduled before I found out about my Radical TAH/BSO. My stomach absolutely killed me, I WAS the hot pepper queen. Habaneros, no problem, just let me sweat, but this summer I felt so bad that I actually let peppers rot on the vine. I had gone to the tummy dr and he had scheduled my scope for Sept. 20th, the following Wednesday I went to ob/gyn and She scheduled my BIGGIE surgery for 9/13, which was only 6 days away from appt. There was concern that there was cancer there, there has been in other female family members and I suddenly had all the right signs so she hurried up my surgery. I still haven't had the scope, I'm so darned tired from this surgery that I don't have the heart to go see if anything else is wrong. I know I'll have to go, but Nexium has really made a tremendous difference in my life. I haven't tried hot peppers, I really didn't think I needed the throwup reaction right now! But for the most part I can eat what I want. I guess it's lucky though, because since surgery I don't want to eat hardly any thing. I am overweight and haven't complained about the 19 lb weight loss in 4 weeks, but I do intend to let my dr know when I go back.
I hope everything goes great for you. You're tough or you wouldn't be on this site!!

Hi CherryKitty --

I'm 7 months out from TAH/BSO. I had my gallbladder out approx. 2 years ago. What you can expect (from my experience) - -

Nowadays, gallbladder surgery is not treated as huge - as my surgeon jokingly put it, it's one of the more boring, routine surgeries that pays his bills! (Seriously, he also told me that not so long ago, people were hospitalized for weeks for this & told to expect a long at-home recovery, so he did make sure that I understood that it's STILL a surgery). In my case, I was given the option of going home that same evening or staying in the hospital overnight (I stayed).
I was back to work for half-days in 5 days - full days by the next week. Honestly, I was more sore than anticipated from what I'd been told and wish I'd taken the entire week off. Other than that, no problems. I was given vicodin for pain & that's about it.

GOATFARMER & all you other wonderful ladies still debating routine tests for tummy troubles - -

PLEASE, PLEASE have the tests your drs. recommend, even if they are inconvenient to your schedules or seem unnecessary. Since my hyst in Feb. '05, I blew off drs. despite some off/on tummy pains & troubles with some foods. (my primary dr. ALWAYS wants to do tests & I'm Just too busy, u know? )

A few weeks ago, I FINALLY made the time to see him & sure enough, he ordered a CT, saying possible abcess from the hyst or appendix or maybe just an ulcer.

3 weeks ago, I had ANOTHER major surgery - colon resection and I just began chemo last week for Stage II-C colon cancer. We are too valuable to soooo many people, so please take the tests even if they seem dumb or interfere with your schedules, ok? Take care all.

Wow ladies thanx for all the great (DETAILED) information!!!!!!

To Spasmo -
You are very fortunate that your gallstone did not casue damage to your pancreas. I had the same problem but was not so fortunate. a gallstone lodged in front of my pancreatic duct and caused a cyst to form on my pancreas. I spent eight weeks in the hospital, two surgeries later I no longer have my gallbladder, half of my pancreas and my spleen. It has changed my health dramatically. Losing part of my pancreas caused me to become diabetic and losing my spleen I have difficulty fighting off infections. Anyone who has been diagnosed with gallstones I urge you to take it seriously, it may be a simple surgery but one that can drastically change your life. My hyst. was a piece of cake compared to my gallbladder/pancreas surgery. I hope my experience helps others who are thinking that they can put off having their gallbladder out. It can happen to anyone.