They say I have to have surgery...

[Panthira]

I spent my night in the ER tonight because I had incredible pain in my upper abdomen and back. The baby came with me, and so did DH. I was worried baby was being exposed to germs, but he had to have mama's milk.
They did an ultrasound and found lotsa gall stones, and wanted to remove my gall bladder tonight. I haven't pumped any milk!

I left the ER, high on Vicodin (can you tell? ), and I'm supposed to meet with a surgeon tomorrow. I don't want surgery. I've also been not feeling well for awhile now. In fact, 4 months into my pregnancy I had already had 3 'attacks' way worse than the one tonight, but different feeling, and after research I thought I would go on a low-fat diet and the attacks stopped. I thought it was Pancreatitis. Turns out the Doc tonight says the lowfat diet keeps gall stones from forming as much and women who've just given birth have an increased risk for gall stones due to increased (fluctuating?) estrogen. Let that be a warning to you. Blah.

Anyway, it sucked, but at least It was "only" a gall bladder thing, not something more serious, and I didn't have to go under the knife tonight.
Cheers!

[sarahmck]

An idea for you

Hi, I'm not a December mama, but I came across your post in the New Posts page and wanted to throw something out there for your consideration.

I used to live in Silicon Valley and I had an issue at the end of my pregnancy that caused the OB to want to deliver me early and caused my midwife to stop feeling comfortable delivering me at home. I really wanted to deliver at home and was willing to do anything to get my blood tests back in order such that my OB would sign off on the homebirth. I won't go into all that in order to try not to write a novel here. Anyway, I had several recommendations to see a woman in Mountain View who is a nutritionist and chiropractor. She was able to help me and I did have my baby at home.

Okay, now to the point of my story: I think this woman is really great, and really knows her stuff. There are tons of testimonials on her white board in the waiting room from people who were helped with a huge variety of ailments.

The receptionist there had a huge kidney stone. Apparently it was one of the biggest the doctors at Stanford had ever seen or something like that, and was extremely painful. Apparently, it couldn't be passed. She was scheduled for surgery. I asked her why she wasn't working on it with her employer, the nutritionist. She said that she was, but that the doctors were certain that she would require surgery.

Fast forward to a few weeks later. I was in the office again and the usual receptionist wasn't there. The other one told me that she was recovering from her surgery. She then went on to tell me that the other woman went in for her surgery and reported that she felt better and had little or no pain. They got her ready for the surgery and did an ultrasound to find her kidney stone for the purposes of her incision. They couldn't find it. But of course they wouldn't believe that such a huge one could have just gone away (she hadn't passed it). So they operated anyway. There was no stone.

I realize that yours are gall stones, not kidney stones, but the purpose of that story was just to illustrate something vaguely similar that was accomplished via dietary changes and plant enzymes alone. I saw that you were in the Bay Area and just had to throw it out there. If you really want to avoid surgery, I just recommend that you go see her once and get a second opinion. Her name is Marina Rose (www.marinajrose.com).

Good luck.

[atozmama]

to you. Gallstones are not fun, BTDT. I had my first severe attack while pregnant with my first nearly 8 years ago. Recently I have had problems and mentioned it to my dr at my 6 week pp check. Ulrtrasound showed 3 stones and the walls of the gallbladder were measuring 3, when they should measure 2 or less. I will go for the surgery. My reasoning is after 8 years it hasn't gone away. I don't want to end up with emergency surgery and an abdominal cut. Now it can likely (98%) be done lapriscopically. Diatary fat doesn't seem to affect me as much as highly processed foods-white flour and sugar. Can you get a hospital grade pump for a week or two while you pump for milk suply? and you will need to pump after the surgery to prvent mastitis. Got to run and get kids to school.

Kelly

[Geofizz]

Oh no! I'm so sorry it's getting worse

Talk to the surgen about using pharmacuticals (sp?) with a short half life in your system. Get a list of all medications they'll give you and call a LLL. I have a friend who recently had general anethesia and after talking to her LLL leader (who has a copy of Hale's Medications and Mother's Milk) they decided it was ok to nurse just 6 hours after the procedure.

Let us know how things go. We'll be thinking of you.

[mariposita]

no advice here, but i hope you find relief very, very soon!

[coloradoalice]

Try this first!!!!!!!!

I had the exact same problem after Ian was born. I was in the ER after a few attacks thinking I was going to die. Gall stones and gall bladder problems run in my family, so I decided to try this cleanse.

http://www.curezone.com/cleanse/liver/huldas_recipe.asp

The night I did it I was in the worst pain yet, but within 24 hours I was totally pain free. I didn't do any of the prep stuff he suggests because I was in so much pain, I just did the cleanse. I highly suggest trying it. It's ok to do while nursing, Ian didn't seem to notice anything. PM me if you have questions. They told me I would need surgery too, but I didn't!!!!!!!!!

[aisraeltax]

so sorry you aren't feeling well...hope some of the suggestions here help you to avoid surgery.
s
rach

[judybean]

nak

well, i hope you can avoid surgery, of course!!

i have already had my gallbladder out. after too many trips to the ER with the Very Worst Pain In The World (my goodness... birthing was easy compared to this!) i had mine out after katherine was about two or three months old.

i can't say that i 'recommend' the surgery, but it worked. and it was done lapriscopicly (sp?), so i just have four small scars. the recovery sucked... but i don't think i knew exactly what i was in for... i'd never had surgery ever before.

[Panthira]

Thank you all for your suggestions, empathy, and thoughts.
I really do think I have to have the surgery. I've been having a problem with my stomach for a long time, and sometimes you just know when it's time to give it up. I tried the cleanses and diets and they work as long as I stay totally on track, but my gall bladder is full of rocks and I'm told they won't go away (their big). I told my 2 yr old, something in Mommy is broken, and that's truely how it feels.

It kind of sucks though - the doctor put me on a vegan diet with very low fat content from now until the months after the surgery. I'll probably go under the knife in the next month. The good part about this is I'm dropping weight like crazy. I'm hungry all the time and eat, but nothing is satisfying.

Judybean - Uh... you got me worried about the recovery. I thought it was supposed to be easy. Can you tell me your experience?

[judybean]

Well, I think I'm just a wuss. Because a lady I used to work with also had hers out -- just a month or so after me, actually -- and she did great.

I think the thing I struggled most with was the not-using-your-abdominals bit.

I never realized how much you use your abs for .. so on the first day after surgery, after getting home all I wanted to do was lay down, but I couldn't get there. I sat on the edge of the bed, started to try to lay down (using my obliques of course! that's the way you're told to do things afterwards... only using your side muscles -- nothing up front!) and I Just. Couldn't. Do. It. But I think I was more afraid of the pain, than actually hurting from the pain, if that makes any sense. Kind of like any of the times I've had blood drawn. It doesn't actually 'hurt', but I get queasy just thinking about it ... and any 'hurt' that occurs is usually just my fears... hm... gosh, I hope that makes sense (it's been a long, sleep-deprived week).

So... of course I finally was able to lay down though and the difference every day in my recovery was amazing. It was so awesome to see how quickly my body could heal, seemingly overnight.

So really, it was mostly the first two days following the surgery that were rough on me.

Oh... and waking up after surgery was so completely bizarre. I'd never been put out like that before (since I'd never had any surgery before)... so, to have my last memory one of nurses faces above me, then slowly coming out of a fog and being in a completely different room (dh was there, thank goodness) and having NO recollection of anything... and not knowing how much time had passed, what day it was, what time it was, etc... it was the weirdest feeling in the world. It didn't take too long to come to grips with my 'reality' ... but, it was sure bizarre for a bit!

Anything else you'd like to know? I'm sure I left out parts and if I remember some tomorrow, I'll try to add them.

[erniebobernie]

I had my gallbladder out in 11/04. I wasn't nursing at the time but boy I sure remember the pain! I spent time in the ER in excrutiating pain as well. Ended up having laporoscopic surg. Hope everything works out well.

[Panthira]

I figure the surgery has GOT to be easier than recovering from a c-section. I had surgery several years ago where I was knocked out and I think that scares me more than the pain. They had a hard time waking me up and I hated not knowing where I was or how long I was out.

I wish there was an alternative to this surgery for me! It's amazing how many people are missing their gallbladders.

[atozmama]

Originally Posted by Panthira

I really do think I have to have the surgery. I've been having a problem with my stomach for a long time, and sometimes you just know when it's time to give it up. I tried the cleanses and diets and they work as long as I stay totally on track, but my gall bladder is full of rocks and I'm told they won't go away (their big). I told my 2 yr old, something in Mommy is broken, and that's truely how it feels.

That is how I feel-it is time to give up and get the gall bladder out. The stones can go away. 8 years ago when I had my first severe attack, a 2cm stone was seen the next day on the US. Now I had 3 smaller stones. I am haveing more and more pain though. I to have a hard time avoiding foods I know will be hard to handle. I feel if I put it off any longer I will end up with emergency surgury and an abdominal cut. My surgery is scheduled for Mar 13 and I am having a breastpump (paid for by insurance becasue of separation of mother and infant) delivered Monday so I can put milk in the freezer and pump the day of the surgery to prevent mastitis and plugged ducts.

Judy thanks for the info on recovery. All I have come across was glowing reports on how easy recovery is with laproscopic surgury.

[judybean]

Originally Posted by atozmama

Judy thanks for the info on recovery. All I have come across was glowing reports on how easy recovery is with laproscopic surgury.

That's all I had ever heard of too. So, maybe I *am* just a wimp, but it sure was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be (heck, natural birth was way, way, way better!). I guess because "they're only an inch wide, and there's only four of them.. how bad could it be?" ... or at least that was *my* line of thinking.

Oh, and that darned breathing thing. I don't know what in the world it was called, but I had to breathe really deeply and blow hard into this thing that measured the pressure and volume of my breaths (or something like that). I believe the idea behind it was preventing pneumonia by using your lungs? Gosh.. I was a bit out of it... I *think* that's what it was and honestly, I didn't want to take deep breaths. At all. And I hated the nurse that kept making me do it. I wanted to rest. I wanted to recover. Yes, I knew it was for my own good but I didn't *want* to do it. Nor did I want to pee. Yes. I could hold it for three days if needed (at least that's what I thought about... but they didn't let me ).

But it was worth it. To me, anyway.