Gallstones & surgery

x_Trish_x · 02-15-2006, 06:18 PM

My mom has been in pain for awhile with gallstones. She has finally agreed that enough is enough and is going to have her gallbladder out. She has an appt on Monday with the surgeon and will hopefully be scheduled to get it out on Tuesday or Wednesday. My questions is how long did it take you to get better from the surgery (she's almost 60 but works in a nursing home and is fairly active)? I'm flying in on Mon or Tues to take care of her and need to know about how long to stay to book my return flight. I do have siblings that live within 30 mins of her but they are useless and self involved so I must travel 500 miles (whole other rant about all that) to help her out since my dad is almost 70. Do you think a week would be long enough?

Also, who would I contact at a hospital to see if they had any low income, no insurance, older family programs to reduce the cost of doctors visits and surgery?

Thanks a ton in advance, I really apprectiate it!

cysterof2miracles · 02-15-2006, 08:18 PM

I had surgery back in May and it wasn't a big deal. I did have a little pain for a few days but they gave me meds that made it feel better and I was able to take care of my kids. I would say a week would be plenty.
As far as low cost, I'm not really sure but I think some hospitals have a program that can do a sliding scale. Even if they don't she can just make payments. Even if it's 10 bucks a month they can't do anything. They do like to have big balances paid w/in a year though..at least here.
My office visit was 150. and the surgery ws around 17k. I had the laser. If they have to go in and cut you may need to be there longer as it is a longer recovery time. Most, like 90%, can be done w/laser.
Hope she feels better soon!

ahydock · 02-15-2006, 08:25 PM

I had the laprascopic type of gallbladder surgery. Three tiny cuts and one cut right on the bottom of my belly button. I had the surgery late in the afternoon and left the hospital the next night (a little more than 24 hours). I was in A LOT of pain, so I was basically doped up on pain meds for at least 1 full week. I was back to work after 9 days, but still had to take it easy for another week.

HTH.

Good luck to your mom. Make sure that they will be able to get her in for surgery that fast...I'd hate to see you fly up there and have to wait for them to get her in/

purplewolf · 02-15-2006, 08:59 PM

Well that surgery is a breeze i had the four tiny holes laprascopic surgery I had dull pain but im not one to take pain pills anyway took some ibuprofen and was up doing in things right away my doctor did not want me to sit around he said the best way to heal is to do stuff so I say it is a walk in the park compared to other surgeries Ive had.. Good luck to your Mom she will feel so much better...

x_Trish_x · 02-15-2006, 09:23 PM

17k

...she makes right about that in a year.

I called the hospital and got them to send me a form to fill out to hopefully get some of it covered by charity. She's had insurance that's she paid into for 5+ years and never really needed it. She thought she was being good and responsible by having it. So far she's racked up about 4k between labwork, doctor visits, sonograms, RXs etc. Insurance has paid a whopping $30...that's it. She thought that she was going to have a little more coverage than that but nope, nothing. Such a ripoff. (that's why I said they have no insurance because they basically don't)

They said she may have to stay a day or two since her pancrease and liver are inflamed and she's an insulin dependant diabetic as well.

She's pretty sure they will do the surgery that fast as she's been putting it off for a few months due to worrying about the finacial aspect. I'm not flying out until after her appt on Monday to find out when they will do it.

I feel like I have to be there since they won't fight for their health care the way they need to. My siblings are worthless (mind you they are 10 years older than me and live closer) and somehow can't take time to take care of the very people who gave birth and raised them!....sorry got off topic.

Anyways thanks for the info. A week should hopefully be long enough.

cysterof2miracles · 02-15-2006, 11:01 PM

I am sure they will do the surgery w/in a couple of days of her visit if she is having problems w/her liver and pancreas. I went in a week after symptoms nad my liver enzymes were elevated and he wanted to do it right then but decided to wait until my Mom could get here.
I hope everything works out ok.

purplerose · 02-16-2006, 03:39 AM

I had laproscopic surgery and I recovered really quickly--I was going to the movies the next day. With your mom's age and medical conditions I would expect that it will be more difficult for her though. The incisions should be really small--I didn't even have stitches, I had this glue stuff instead, and I didn't take any pain medication other than what they put in my IV right after the surgery. The worst part of the whole thing was that they kept me on a sugar solution IV and I had to get up to pee every 20-30 minutes. The first couple nights I couldn't sleep because with the laproscopic surgery they put gas in your abdomen to inflate it and the gas got trapped in my shoulder (which is common) and that hurt more than the incisions did. After a few days the gas makes its way out of your body...well, just like other kinds of gas do! Sorry if that's TMI

I expect that they would do it pretty quickly, I had mine less than a week after I was diagnosed with gallstones.