Has anyone had complications during Gallbladder surgery? Was told Dr. cut a blood vessel & I bled alot (?)?

Question

I had laparoscopic gallbladder surgery this past Friday, 9/01/06. After the surgery the surgeon talked to my husband and told him my gallbladder was in bad shape and had probably been bad for a while and had just started giving me trouble. He also told him there was a complication. He had a hard time getting the gallbladder out and had to cut it out instead of the normal scraping it out..he said he accidently cut a blood vessel and I bled alot during surgery. I haven't been able to talk to the dr who did this yet but was wondering if anyone has had this experience or knows of someone who has?? Should I be worried? I have had so much pain, if my pain meds wear off at all I'm hurting pretty bad. When I started coming to in recovery I was hurting so bad I though I had woke up during surgery..but had been out of surgery for a cpl of hrs. I was begging for pain meds. the nurse said she couldn't give me anymore she had already given me 3 shots of demoral and a percocet pill. normal?

Answer 1

Sounds like you need a 2nd opinion....in a hurry. Go to the ER or another doctor now.

Answer 2

Laparoscopic surgery is still surgery. The incisions are smaller, but the procedures are not different from open technique. The pain is lessened by making smaller body wall incisions, but only that part can be lessened. Organ pain is still the same.

Inflammed gallbladders, like any body part that gets inflammed, are red and swollen. Consequently they bleed when you touch them, and the arteries and veins attached to them are enlarged. Viewed from the magnification of the laparoscope, those large vessels can appear enormous and when they accidently pop open during a procedure, the bleeding can look significant even when it's not. People who lose significant amounts of blood during outpatient surgery are changed to inpatient status and are admitted overnight. That you were discharged means that the bleeding was more of an annoyance to him than a danger to you. He probably mentioned it more to explain why it took longer than expected than to relate a danger situation.

Should you be worried? ... no... are you already? YES! Unfortunately, anxiety potentiates pain, and that part is only making things worse. Relate your symptoms and concerns to your surgeon, and get some reassurance.

Answer 3

yes, sometimes this happens during surgery...laproscopic is much safer than the old way, but cutting a vein happens as it's like a mini torch so to speak. it's not that big of a deal because they look for this each time they do the surgery and whether or not this had happened, gallbladder surgery is almost as worse than a c-section (i've had two c-sections and my gallbladder removed and I'd of rather had another c-section!)

Everyone responds different to surgery. I thought gallbladder surgery with the laparoscopic method would be a piece of cake!
NOT. I think i hurt worse longer than having the c-section!

My question to you is if you have been tested for liver disease because many of us who had a diseases gallbladder/stones also had liver disease.

I had two...I had HCV (cured with antiviral chemotherapy) and I still have NASH. (fatty liver)

Have they done an antibody test for HCV? This is the question I would ask the doctor.

Answer 4

I have seen quite a few lap chole's (gallbladders) and they usually bleed somewhat. Some will bleed quite a bit. It is really nothing to worry about unless you have rapid pulse, pale coloring, low blood pressure, etc. If the doc let you go home, I'm sure you are fine from the bleeding standpoint. The pain can take a while to go away. Best advice, if you sense something serious might be wrong (even if you can't say what), go to your doc. (Not just call; he can do a physical and check your vitals at a visit.)

Answer 5

I had a laproscopic gall bladder surgery also a few years ago.
I also had some sort of complication but when I went back to the surgeon for a checkup, he didn't seem to remember any complication, even though he was the one who mentioned it in the first place.
My only great pain was immediately after the surgery - it hurt to breathe. I think they gave me som more pain medication in the IV before sending me to my room.
He gave me a prescription for some Vicodin to take home with me. But other than being real sore I wasn't in any great pain - and I consider myself a pain wuss.
I didn't much like having to measure the drainage from my catheter every day tho.

Answer 6

I just had my gallblader taken out on August 10. I feel so much better. No soarness or IBS anymore. I hope you didn't have an inexperinced doctor or one on drugs. It seems very rare for a doctor to be so careless. Maybe you have a good lawsuit.