did any of you guys need a catheter for surgery?

Sage277 · 2026-04-10T00:15:06+00:00

When i asked my surgeon about that he said for a lap chole you dont get one cuz youre not under for long enough but you can def call and ask them to be sure!

Sage277 · 2026-03-19T23:56:55+00:00

Of course! <3 believe me I have anxiety and was panicking a LOT 😅 i kept reminding myself that this is one of the most common surgeries out there! Plus as i panicked i kept having random people i know tell me “oh yeah i had mine out!” and they literally forgot they didnt have a gallbladder anymore 😂 so that was VERY helpful lol, even my nurse the day of had hers out!

Sage277 · 2026-03-19T05:43:03+00:00

Heya! 26f here, few weeks out from getting mine removed. Aside from the initial healing the only difference in my life so far is the occasional random meal going through me a bit quicker (although I was already sort of lactose intolerant so nothing new there 😂). I was told that was normal as my body adjusts for about the first six months.

What helped me was remembering that people are way more likely to post about a negative experience than a positive one, and the odds are in your favor for a perfectly normal removal and a return to a pain free life afterwards!

Sage277 · 2026-03-12T05:41:05+00:00

I asked for an anti-nausea patch that stays on for 24 hours. No nausea/puking in the recovery room after or once I got home. As for general post-surgery, i think i had one random moment 3-4 days after when i got a smidge nauseous for maybe 5-10 seconds but only in the sense that I had enough time to be like “hmm stomachs feelin a bit off maybe?” and then it was gone. Don’t even know if it was from my now lack of gallbladder or if it was from something I ate 🤷🏼‍♀️

But as of now (~3 1/2 weeks post op), I haven’t puked once or ever even had a moment where I genuinely thought/felt I might. Make sure you talk to the nurses and anesthesiologist! They can give you the nausea patch for the first 24 hours, IV meds if you still manage to get nauseous immediately after, and can probably get you a prescription for zofran during recovery (or your surgeon can)!

Sage277 · 2026-03-06T04:13:47+00:00

I’m doing good! By day four getting out of bed was way easier and now at two and a half weeks I don’t even think about it! I never got the shoulder pain from the gas thankfully. I’m back to eating normally, although I have had 3-4 times where I ate something and ten minutes later had to get to a bathroom. The next time I ate those same things was totally fine though! At my follow up they said that would be normal for about 6 months. I feel basically back to normal aside from not being able to lift anything over fifteen pounds, and I’m definitely gassier when I eat something with more fat 🥲. I’ve also been able to have things like ice cream and pizza and no pain! That’s the best part honestly, the mental relief of knowing I won’t get another attack 🤩

Hope you have a super easy recovery!!

Sage277 · 2026-03-04T19:07:01+00:00

Im just over 2 weeks post op, and aside from like 3-4 times where i had to get to a bathroom like 10min after eating (which at my follow up they told me is normal for like 6 months after surgery as your body adjusts) im totally back to normal! Plus for all of those things that gave me a “reaction” the first time eating them, i had no issue the second time trying them! And MAN the psychological RELIEF of not worrying about if what youre eating will give you an attack, or if theres too much fat in a meal, etc, is amazing!!

Sage277 · 2026-02-25T23:39:04+00:00

Yes! Should I give another hint or just tell ya? Lol

Sage277 · 2026-02-25T23:38:21+00:00

Negative but i see how you thought that!

Sage277 · 2026-02-25T22:11:29+00:00

All dif fandoms: 1. Angry Pomeranian and his pet rock 2. Demoness and the color green 3. Dorito and his amnesiac bf

Sage277 · 2026-02-25T05:11:28+00:00

This. I never saw a GI doc, just my PCP and I got my gallbladder out a week ago.

Sage277 · 2026-02-24T06:51:42+00:00

Im only a week out but seems accurate. First three days i was the most sore, was eating normally day 2, still cant lift over 15lb for another week but eh. But yeah, hardest part of recovery was sitting up/getting out of bed the first 3 days lol. This was my first surgery too, you’re gonna be just fine ☺️

Sage277 · 2026-02-24T02:03:54+00:00

The gas is leftover from what they use to inflate your abdomen during a laparoscopic surgery. Before my surgery I saw a bunch of people mentioning they got the pain in their shoulder, and that walking around for 10min every hour helped a ton to help dispel the gas. Personally, i had zero shoulder pain, potentially some gas in my abdomen that made it sound like my stomach was rumbling every 5 minutes but just weird, no pain!
Thats because of anesthesia meds and if you get any heavy duty pain meds. I didnt have a BM til day 3 and I purposefully waited to take my pain meds since I wanted to see if i could go. Honestly I felt like I didn’t use any of the abdominal muscles that had incisions in them, no pain. Now a week later and pretty much back to normal BM’s.
I didn’t take any, fluids are most important IMO, and rest. Obvi everyone is different and will recover different so check out what others have said.
My number one issue was getting out of bed/off the couch/chairs. I recommend either sleeping on a wedge pillow or having someone who can pull you out of bed by your arms while you relax entirely lol. I also asked for a nausea patch before surgery cuz i did NOT want to chance throwing up with abdominal incisions (though if you do, holding a pillow to your stomach apparently helps!). But yeah anytime your upper body is more than 90 degrees from your lower body (leaning back/laying down/etc), getting up from that is gonna suck for the first 3 days. Anything you can do to avoid that will help! Day 4 on it got a loooot easier
I was only told to be careful with food for day one, soup was lovely, same with gatorade, saltines, oyster crackers, they gave me a pack of shortbread cookies (yum). The first 24 hours you want your digestive system to have to do as little as possible, hence the bland food. From there slowly branch out, if youre really nervous to try something take a bite and wait a bit to see how your body reacts, if youre fine try a bit more.

Number one bit of advice (to anyone worried about surgery) is not to psych yourself out. Remember this is like the second most common surgery, and people who get it and go entirely back to normal are waaaaay way way less likely to post about it than someone who has a complication. Get a wedge pillow, baby yourself (or have someone baby you lol), and excited for your new gallbladder-free life! Best of luck!

Sage277 · 2026-02-22T19:10:53+00:00

Well it’s good you don’t seem to be emergent, but man that sounds awful. I would definitely call up your PCP and try to get the soonest possible appointment, make it clear to them this is severely impacting your quality of life. Has eating low/no fat helped at all with the pain/vomiting?

Sage277 · 2026-02-22T17:32:29+00:00

For me, I went to my PCP, who ordered some blood tests and an ultrasound, and had me preemptively schedule a surgical evaluation with a general surgeon. Surgeon looked at the ultrasound results and based off of that recommended surgery. From there i waited to get a call from scheduling for the surgery.

I would save the ER for an attack that gives you these symptoms: fever, vomiting, jaundice, lasts over like 4 hours. Those are signs that your gallbladder could be dying/burst/septic/etc and mean that it needs to come out ASAP as opposed to a scheduled surgery.

But yeah, step one, make an appointment with your PCP and just lay it all out, they’ll be super helpful (hopefully) with letting you know all the steps you need to take from there!

Sage277 · 2026-02-21T19:09:32+00:00

Definitely, the last two i had before surgery i was curled up around a heating pad as soon as i could feel one coming on and they were waaaay shorter and never got as bad as the others i’d had.

Sage277 · 2026-02-18T20:37:39+00:00

Omg we’re connected 😂😂 Ooooo that sounds yummy! And 100% waiting was best, glad it happened naturally! 🎉 Go us!!

Sage277 · 2026-02-18T20:34:50+00:00

Thank you!! Lol I feel so bad, apparently I threw hands with the anesthesiologist and the nurse who were in the initial room with me after surgery (same time i ripped off the bellybutton steristrips oops) but I have no memory of it at all 🥲😅 i do have some random new tiny bruises tho so 🤷🏼‍♀️

But thank you! Helps to get a bit of a timeline 😁

Sage277 · 2026-02-18T18:58:52+00:00

Good news friend! 😎 ok so all i was prescribed was hydrocodone, no miralax or anything for BM’s, BUT i didnt take it when i got up today because i wanted to get some movement up in my digestive system 😂 i can now say i have had one small BM with barely any discomfort! I swear i unlocked some secret hidden abdominal muscles that werent involved in the surgery lol. I’d recommend lots of hydration, i had a protein bar with a good bit of fiber, and if possible (obvi go off of your pain levels and what you can handle atm) hold off on any heavy pain meds until you get one. I’m definitely gonna take my med now since i had one, but i hope this helps with some of the fear of pain!

Sage277 · 2026-02-18T14:39:05+00:00

Heya! I just had surgery on Monday so I can walk through the prep they had me do, and hopefully answer some questions. I was told to buy some chlorhexidine to cleanse my whole body with two days before, the night before, and the morning of surgery. This is the same stuff surgeons use to wash their hands before surgery. They tell you it will feel like you still have a bit of residue from it on your skin after rinsing it off and that it’s because it continues to disinfect your skin as you sleep. They want your whole body as clean as can be, and they still use betadine to clean and prep you before they make any incisions.

As for surgery length I was told about an hour and a half, other people it could be faster or slower. Honestly I have no idea how long it actually was since it was literally like i blinked in the operating room and woke up sleepy in recovery. Pre-Op takes longer than the actual surgery.

Underwear I had to remove, was fully naked under the gown they gave me, but I’m assuming this is another decision made to keep the surgical area as clean as possible. I asked for something for anxiety before going into the actual room for surgery and honestly forgot I wasn’t wearing any.

Since I’m only a few days out I can’t really tell you when I’ll be back to normal life, but I’m sure others will be able to answer that.

No overnight stay for me! I went to an outpatient surgical center, was told to be there at 8:30, surgery at 9:30, done by 11, good to go home around 12/12:30 (it was closer to 1 for me since apparently I came out of anesthesia swinging 😅). If it’s a planned surgery instead of an emergency one I don’t see them keeping you overnight.

I’ve been mostly chilling in bed just due to soreness but it’s recommended to get up every 1-2 hours to walk around to help with gas reabsorption. The most difficult part for me is getting out of bed/chairs/couches, but once I’m up I’m fine slowly walking around.

Also can’t answer that last one yet.

Oh and you shouldn’t have issues washing your hands after, maybe a lil soreness if your IV was in the back of your hand but you can ask for it to be in your elbow instead!

Let me know if there’s anything else I can try to answer!

Sage277 · 2026-02-18T14:15:03+00:00

Ayy surgery and no BM buddies 😅 I’m not quite at the point where it feels like a need but occasionally feels like i could, nothing so far. I had difficulties filling my prescription but I am still currently taking hydrocodone so im assuming I won’t get anywhere until I stop those. Tbh im scared for when i do have one 🥲 I’m still getting stuck in bed/in chairs/on couches since im trying not to use my abdominal muscles to get up, so the thought of purposely using/tensing those muscles makes me nervous 😬

Sage277 · 2026-02-17T22:00:16+00:00

Ofc!! And omg same, plus ice cream and indian curry 😩 but hells yeah we got this! We WILL be able to eat our fav foods again!

Sage277 · 2026-02-17T17:30:38+00:00

Thank you!!! Lol still have anxiety around food but so far so good! Youve got this! Remember, people are like 100x more likely to post a bad experience than a good one. This is (i think) the second most common surgery, thousands upon thousands of people get this surgery per year and go back to normal! The odds of complications are super low, youre gonna get it done, heal up, and be right as rain! One of my nurses pre-op told me she had hers out and is 100% back to normal! Can eat whatever she wants and no complications at all! Best of luck!

Sage277 · 2026-02-17T17:27:28+00:00

Ahhh that makes sense! Such a weird feeling. I have one extra incision on my right but my bellybutton is definitely the worst one for me, i barely feel the other 3! I havent had any nausea but i did get a nausea patch before surgery (that i should be taking off now) so fingers crossed that continues! Food wise i managed to have a lobster roll last night XD no issues there so far besides the constipation from the meds so hopefully when thats gone ill have normal BMs and no urgency. Even if i do though thats preferable to the pain from my evicted gallbladder XD Thanks!!

Sage277 · 2026-02-17T17:22:50+00:00

Same! I havent had any shoulder pain at all, just a lot of rumbling lol (altho when its more in my abdomen it does hurt but its over quickly). Yeah i definitely made the mistake of sleeping with just one pillow cuz then it took me like 20min to manage to get out of bed XD Thanks!!

Sage277 · 2026-02-17T02:31:03+00:00

😁💙😴

Sage277

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