Post Gallbladder issue

[Mr. Ouchandstuff]

Had the GB removed three months ago after a long bout with a pretty bad pain in my mid left side. I know it's the wrong place but that's what it was. GB was removed and the pain went away. Still have gray stools or yellow diarrhea daily and two weeks ago the pain came back and it's in the same spot and getting more intense and I'm putting on wieght but it only shows in my abdomen. Liver enzymes are elevated and have been for over a year.

CT scan shows a small sack of fluid where my gb used to be. Doc said I have to go see the surgeon again. What could the fluid be, bile? Where did it come from if the gb is gone? Is this going to require surgery again? Is this something that is inpatient or outpatient?

[Unregistered]

Anyone? The pain kept me up last night and my doctot put me on ultram today and it's working good. Hurt just enough so I couldn't sleep.

[Unregistered]

I'm experiencing pain on my left side upper abdominal area and its getting worse and i'm starting to think it may be gallbladder related from a few posts about the wrong side pain on the forum. How long did it take you to get the gallbladder diagnoses?

As for the pain my mom still has pains sometimes where her gallbladder used to be. Its weird what the body can do by radiating pain somewhere else and actually ending up with a fluid filled sac where something used to be. I wish i could help and sorry i was of no help

[Unregistered]

Took about two weeks to figure it out. They ended up doing an ultrasound of the liver because of some other problem I was having and I got lucky and it looked odd. Did some sort of scan after that a few days later that took an hour where they watched the fluid go into the gb and just stay there, none of it left. It kinda hurt.

After that scan I was in the OR a few days later. Out of the hospital in two days and back to work in 5 weeks. Took a while to discover it because the pain was on the wrong side and even the surgeon said on our first meeting, before the hour long scan, he didn't think it was my gb causing the pain. He took it out after the second scan results and the pain was gone. The wounds hurt but that left side pain was completely gone.

It's back now though and they found that sac of fluid on the CT. I guess it'll need drained and then fixed so whatever's leaking quits leaking. I'm just trying to find out here if it's an inpatient thing or not. Kind of want to get a heads up for work. There isn't a lot of info on that sac thing requiring any hospital stay or not. Just says it'll need drained and fixed.

But have her get her gallbladder checked. Her liver too because mine is kinda screwed up too. For what it's worth though the only thing that gallbladder surgery fixed in my case was the pain went away. Still had the billary problems after and still do, pale stool, yellow diarrhea, etc. Kind of a bust for me since the pain is back now too after a few month reprieve and I sprung a leak somewhere somehow.

Good luck with your situation though.

[Unregistered]

Oh I got confused between your mother and your problem. Good luck with your situation, make sure you have them check your gallbladder. My liver enzymes were/are high too, might want to get those checked.

Before they found the gallbladder problem the surgeon said left side abdominal pain is usually a intestine problem. That led to a wonderful camera on a stick up the wazoo and another one down the throat to look around. Doctor assured me it was a different camera... No intestine problems.

Good luck

[Unregistered]

They drained some dark brown/green gunk from my spot where my gallbladder was. Won't know for two days what it is they said but they put me on two antibiotics. Is that color significant of anything?

[JCottleMD]

Okay, this response pertains specifically to the original posting;This is most likely a leak at the stump of the cystic duct, which will require the placement of a stint, which can be performed endoscopically. Alternatively, it could less likely represent inflammation from what we term a dropped stone. If the gall bladder had significant calculi, then it's possible one or more was dropped during removal. It's not entirely uncommon, particularly if laparoscopy was performed. The inflammation results from the stone(s) as a foreign body.

What we want to be sure of is that the recent "weight" you describe at the abdominal region is not ascites, which is fluid developing in the peritoneum.

I would agree with your primary care physician that the surgical site needs to be revisited promptly. This would not be a condition to be evaluated within the normal appointment schedule and efforts should be taken to identify and remedy the problem, the reason being that circumstances like this can go from bad to worse fairly quickly.

Best regards,

J Cottle, MD

[Unregistered]

I'm sorry you're having trouble post surgery. I agree about the stint, but its also possible you have a stone stuck in your bile duct that they didn't see during surgery. I had a stone stuck for months, my liver enzymes were crazy high...all the doctors thought I had liver disease. But my surgeon caught the stuck stone during the laproscopic gb removal...The next day my gastroenterologist did an endoscopy and got the last stone in my bile duct (i hope its the last stone!!) Have you seen a gastroenterologist? good luck!!

[Unregistered]

I forgot to use the name I made the first post with. It's me though and the brownish greenish gunk they drew out with a needle but it was a big fat reservoir instead of the normal sized you'd expect. It was huge, could have pumped up a bike tire with it.

Like I said they won't know until tomorrow I guess what the fluid was. He called another doctor in to look at it and they were speaking back and forth but I was too out of it to remember what they said. Only the first one said something like "That's what I thought too." He said it was 50/50 if they'd have to put in a drain for the next three weeks.

I had an CT and it just showed the fluid. They didn't say anything about stones. Is it normal to have a leak like you were speaking about, three months after the surgery? Is a dark brown/green looking fluid bile or is bile a different color and this color is significant of something else? He gave me two antibiotics and a pain medicine. My gut hurts pretty bad, much more so than when the gallbladder went bad. Does that mean anything to you, doctor?

One more thing... If the doctor has to put in a drain, he said it was a bulb drain(?) is that going to be an outpatient thing too and any idea how long till I can work again? My job requires and is such that I have to fight on average a few times a month.

Thanks to everyone with their suggestions.

[Mr. Ouchandstuff]

Oh, and they showed me the fluid on the CT and it isn't big enough to be my weight gain problem. I'm just getting fat and out of shape from being off from the gym for three months... lol.

Wife and I had a good laugh about that. Unless that is, the fluid is some sort of hitherto unknown substance that is so dense it alters gravity in the small area it takes up... maybe it's a black hole in my gut. Maybe not