Gall Bladder Attack- What you should know

Cholecystitis (Gall bladder attack) is often sudden, without warning and needs your immediate attention.
Common symptoms include referred pain to the back, chest, abdomen.
Differential diagnosis includes heart attack, aortic aneurysm, obstructed bowel, and thrombosis.
Your first reaction is to self diagnose and explain away your pain to something else. Thanks natural but you are also wasting valuable time.
Just because you had a recent check-up with no signs of gall bladder disease is meaningless. In my case I had a complete check-up with labs done just three days prior. All were fine. The Emergency Room also ran lab tests when I was admitted which also showed normal.

The moment you think that you may have an unexplained pain in the chest, back, or abdomen you should start some pre-planning.
1)Decide what hospital you want to go to, 2) How you are going to get there and 3) Whom you will request for a surgeon.

So how do you know if you really have a problem? Good question but easy answer: Let pain be your guide. The pain will continuously increase with much relief from pain meds.
This can happen within a narrow window of time...maybe thirty minutes or so. You just can't stop a freight train with an aspirin.

The hospital will use MRI, or Cat scan to confirm diagnosis. Once confirmed they will suggest surgery with their "on-call" surgeon.
AT THIS POINT YOU NEED TO MAKE A DECISION- You can use their surgeon or you also have the right to request your own. YOU PROBABLY WON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO AT THIS POINT.
ASK FOR A REFERRAL TO THE SURGEON THAT HAS THE FEWEST PATIENT RE-VISITS. THEN ASK FOR THAT SURGEON TO BE CONTACTED AS A PATIENT REQUEST.
(IF THE ER DOCTOR TRIES TO CONVINCE YOU THAT THEIR ON-CALL SURGEON DOES A FINE JOB ON THESE MATTERS YOU MAY NEED TO REQUEST CONSULTATION WITH YOUR CASE WORKER OR HOSPITAL OMBUDSMAN TO GET THEIR INFORMATION OF SURGEON/PATIENT RE-VISITS. YOUR ACTUAL OPERATION IS STILL GOING TO BE HOURS AWAY ANYWAY BECAUSE OF THE LENGTHY LOGGING IN PROCESS)

The reason is that very often the gall bladder may not be a clear cut textbook example and requires a greater skill level than what the 'on-call' surgeon may have.
In my case (and others) the gall bladder was inflamed, distended, and infected. It was not going to fit through the incision at the belly button for removal. My surgeon had the experience to use a special instrument to actually suck out the contents to reduce the size of the bladder which could then be removed laparoscopically.

A surgeon not skilled in these methods will opt for the traditional full 'slice and dice' method which is much more invasion and presents more problems and longer recovery time and leaves a very long scar from your lower abdomen halfway up your chest.

You can expect to be in the hospital between two and five days depending.
You will leave with a drain tube sutured in your chest. You will collect and measure how much drainage you get each day. Don't be alarmed at the fact that a fair amount of serum will leak around your bandages. Just part of the mess to deal with each day.

After the second day at home you can take a full shower without bandages.
After a week you will return to the surgeon's office where the drain tube will be removed.
After the second week your incisions are pretty well healed.