easy child had emergency surgery and I'm a nervous wreck

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
Last Friday night easy child began having severe abdominal pain and a fever. I thought he might have been coming down with the stomach flu, so I gave him and Ibuprofen and he fell asleep. He woke up the next morning in even worse pain, so I took him to the ER. After discovering he had a temp of 103.5, they ran tests and found he had gallbladder disease. His gallbladder was removed later that night. The surgeon who performed the surgery said his gallbladder looked terrible. He really couldn't provide a good answer as to why an otherwise healthy 13 year old boy would develop such a severe infection.

easy child ended up staying in the hospital for 3 and a half days due to a fever that wouldn't go away. I am grateful the hospital allowed me to spend the night with him. I was a nervous wreck the whole time, but mangaged to stay brave for easy child's sake. He was finally released from the hospital on Tuesday of last week. We had our follow up appointment with his pediatrician on Friday. His doctor is baffled at how he could have developed gallbladder disease, which he is saying is incredibly rare in a teenage boy. easy child seems to be doing fine, other than on again/off again pain in his abdomen. I'm the one who's a wreck.

I know I shouldn't have done this, but today when I got to work I researched gallbladder disease and surgery and found a bunch of complications that can happen. Now I'm worried sick that something bad is going to happen to easy child. Bile leakage is a common complication of gallbladder surgery, and can be fatal. I wish I had never looked it up online cause now I'm freaking out. Today is easy child's first day back to school. As soon as I pick him up I am going to check him for fever. I thought he felt warm this morning but my boyfriend told me he felt perfectly cool to the touch. Since the surgery I am finding myself obsessing over easy child's health and safety. I am in a constant state of paranoia that something bad is gonna happen to him. If you could all keep us in your thoughts and prayers I'd certainly appreciate it. I am overly paranoid and miserable right now.
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
I'm sorry. That must be really scary. But as long as you stay on top of it all, keep taking his temp, and monitor his food input (he should be on a strict diet of NO fats or fried foods), he should be okay. And is he on antibiotics? I would think that would be a good idea.
I would think that he should go in for blood tests every few months, too, to make sure he doesn't have anything else out of whack.
Try not to let him see you stressing. He will heal better and more quickly if he is calm. :)
{{hugs}}
 

ConcernedSC

New Member
Wow, that is all very terrifying! You have my sympathy, as I tend to stress a lot like you. For what its worth, I seem to know a lot of adults that had their gallbladders removed, the youngest being 20, and was my stepdaughter. In my 40's now, it seems quite a lot of people end up losing them- its strange.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Complications after gall bladder surgery are nearly unheard of..........unless you found a really crappy surgeon. It is a routine surgery and easy child is a young otherwise healthy boy.

As to why the gall bladder disease? Who knows? One possibility is a lot of fried fatty foods in the diet which makes the gall bladder secrete more bile than normal to help digest it. But I had mine out at 22 and I was not a person who was big on fried foods, I'm still not. So there you go.

Post surgery.......... He needs to watch those fried foods, fatty foods because he can get a rip roaring case of diarrhea and it's hard on his digestive tract. Doesn't mean he can't eat them, just not much of them and not very often.

I thought you were going to say his appendix. by the way I hope doctor was smart enough to remove that while he was at it.

((hugs))
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Oh, those internet sites!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrr. Honey, you are reading THE VERY WORST scenarios. In reality, gallbladder surgery is routine and surgeons are very used to doing it. Please don't worry. But, of course, if you have anxiety disorder, like me, you will worry until it is all right (and it WILL be all right!).

Hugs and hoping easy child feels better very soon. And mom too!!
 

tiredmommy

Well-Known Member
CB~ I know it's difficult but you have to avoid borrowing trouble in this case. Monitor his incision site (Is it an angry red? Itchy? Oozing? Smell funny?), check for fever, monitor his demeanor (Does he seem off?) and get his new diet right (emphasize how poor eating will make him feel!). Make sure he is taking his prescribed medications correctly and follow up with his doctors. Don't turn to a medical internet site if you think something isn't right, call his doctor.
 

recoveringenabler

Well-Known Member
Staff member
That is scary CB, but he is okay now. Those fear thoughts can run us ragged and internet research only makes it worse. The others have given you really good advice, listen to them and remember that you can control your thoughts.......push the fear thoughts away and concentrate on your gratitude that your easy child is doing so well. Gratitude is very helpful when our minds push out those fear thoughts.........perhaps begin a gratitude journal and when the fear thoughts come back, write in the journal.

Wishing you peace of mind CB.......hang in there.........
 
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DDD

Well-Known Member
I'm so sorry to read about his crisis BUT very relieved to hear that he is doing aok now. From family experience, sigh, I suggest that you not display your ongoing concern. We had a family member who spent years expecting a relapse etc. and it was a negative influence on teen life. Hugs to you! DDD
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
I'm so glad that he's doing well now and the crisis has passed. I know it does no good at all to tell you to try not to worry so much. I was the one who was almost hysterical when my own kids got tubes in their ears or their tonsils out!

One thing I learned the hard way though - "Dr. Google" is NOT your friend! Reading about all the very rare possible complications or the "worst case scenarios" will do nothing but scare you silly when there is really no reason to be.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
Thank you all for your kind words. easy child just finished his last antibiotic on Sunday morning, which makes me a little nervous about a possible lingering infection. Tomorrow is our follow up appointment with the GI specialist. I'm trying not to worry too much about it. I'm just hoping they say easy child came out okay. They did bloodwork at the hospital, and the doctor never did give us the results. If something were wrong, I'm assuming they would have told us while we were in there, at least I hope. I don't know how much time has to pass for me to feel safe about easy child's health. I just started Lexapro on Saturday to help with the anxiety, but it takes about a month to start working, if it even works at all. It's pretty much the only antidepressant I haven't tried yet. I'm hoping this is my miracle pill. Till then I'm doing some book reading to try and help alleviate my fears. That and my tension tamer tea. It's about all I can do for now.
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Glad that things are looking up, and that you take in easy child for a follow-up. I'm sure it will be fine.
Let us know how the Lexapro works. I'm so sorry for the medication merry-go-round. It stinks.
Reading is a great idea! Sometimes people post reading threads in the watercooler here. It would be great to see you post there.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
We saw the gastroenterologist yesterday, and he is just as baffled as the rest of the doctors as to why he had gallstones at his age. He is doing blood work to see if we can find out the cause of it all. I forget what he's testing for, but it's five different things. I am trying not to worry excessively that something is seriously wrong with my son. Good news is I feel a little less anxious since starting the Lexapro last Saturday. The anxiety is still here but not as bad. I am going to try and keep my mind as busy as possible and not fear the worst outcome. Easier said than done, I know, but it's what I'm gonna do for now.
 

Californiablonde

Well-Known Member
I'm back to being a nervous wreck. Last night easy child skipped dinner because he said he didn't feel like eating. He didn't have any pain, but also he had no appetite. I took his temp and it was 99.3. I went to bed very nervous. He woke up extra early this morning to play his video games before school, and had a little pain that lasted a few mintues then went away. I took his temp and he had no fever. We went to Mcdonald's before school and he had pancakes. He took them with him to school, so I'm not sure if he ever did eat them. I am watching easy child like a hawk. I am paranoid of any fevers or any little pain he may have. It worries me that his temp was 99.3 yesterday, even though this morning it was normal. I am hoping nothing goes wrong over the weekend. Right now I'm sitting at work anxiously awaiting to leave so I can pick him up from school and find out how he's doing.
 
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