I had my gallbladder out 10 years ago. The procedure and recovery was not that bad. I had to spend the night in the hospital and I had a drain tube in, and when the doctor pulled the drain tube out it was painful but it was fast. I also had the laproscopic procedure so I have 3 small scars on my abdomen. The day after surgery I had to go back to the er with vomiting and had a mild case of pancreatitis. If I had it to do over I wouldn't have jumped into having the surgery. I had gall stones and there are natural remedies that can disolve the stones. I don't know if that really works but it would have been worth a try. The chronic diarrhea that goes with having a cholecystectomy is pretty bad. I have also had several attacks of elevated liver enzymes since then that is probably related to having the surgery. The common bile duct can be damaged suring surgery and it causes future problems (that is what they suspect happened to me), but it is rare. I would just make sure that the surgery is completely necessary before you do it because I think the surgery is performed un-necessarily too often. But if you are having problems you definetly need to have it removed because that can also cause alot of problems. I had only one attack (but it was a bad one) and I went to the doctor and found out I had gall stones, and I had the surgery. I was in nursing school at the time and I could not afford to miss any more days due to gall bladder attacks. I just wish I had tried the natural gall stone disolving stuff. Good luck to you. There are risks for complications in any procedure and the laproscopic cholecystectomy is probably one the least riskiest surgery you could have. You will be fine, just make sure you stay near a bathroom for about an hour after you eat, everytime you eat-especially if it is something greasy and fatty...
