[preciousjeni]

Good luck! I had this surgery earlier this year. I found out about my gallstones after eating dinner at my friend's house. After I left her house, my boyfriend (now ex) and I were going to Walmart of all places. While walking through the store, I had horrific stomach pain to the point where I had to kneel down before I fell. It took me by surprise! My ex-man helped me up and we walked outside. Right there outside of Walmart I vomited by spaghetti dinner! HORRIBLE does not describe it. So, I went home thinking it was food poisoning but the pain never stopped nor subsided.

We went to the emergency room because I thought something was about to burst in my abdomen (turns out I wasn't far off!) and they did an ultrasound. Yep, it was gallstones.

I had laproscopic surgery, where through two small and two extra small incisions the entire procedure was done. Afterwards, I couldn't eat well because I was afraid to! LOL! I also had some abdominal discomfort for a few days and incision site pain for a couple weeks. Nothing too bad. I was driving four days after surgery!

My biggest problem is that I get vicious diarrhea if I eat fatty or high protein foods. And, I can't ever determine how much I can eat! One day, I'll eat a peanut butter sandwich and just have stomach grumbles. Another day, that sandwich will put me on the potty for hours. Ok...that's really graphic and nasty! Suffice it to say, I've learned NOT to eat those foods!

BTW, my doctor says that the gallstones - the vast majority of which are simply cholesterol and bile salts - formed after I lost a bunch of weight because my body had to process so much fat. And, what's in fat? Cholesterol! That's how it all happened. I was 25 at the time of surgery.

Word to the wise: Be careful about those natural remedies. They "work" but not in the way you'd want them to. Usually the remedies call for drinking olive oil. This will encourage a gall bladder attack! Not only that, but if the attack is severe enough, your gallbladder could expel a gallstone. And, usually gallstones are way too big to pass through so they get stuck...That's not just minor surgery!