Dad just got out of surgery having his gall bladder removed

[manlymatt83]

It was supposed to be a standard procedure, and it was, but it took over twice as long as they thought. When the doctor came out, he said that the gall bladder was very inflamed and damaged and my dad waited too long to get it removed.

He is out of surgery now, doing okay, but the doctor is concerned it may be malignant and wants to get it sent away. He said if it is, its "very very early".

What does this mean? Is there such thing as gall bladder cancer? Is he just being cautious? Is this standard procedure?

And I'd ask the doctor, but I'm 5 hours away - my mom called me "very quickly" to tell me this and had to go, so I'm just wondering.

 

[Legendary]

You can get cancer anywhere, so if he said 'malignant' that might not be the best thing to hear.

 

[dougp]

If it is, it is extremely early and he should be fine.

Quick question, but how did your Dad let it go so long? I had gallstones and had to have mine removed when I was 21 - but how could he deal with passing the stones? Seriously! It's pretty similar to child birth, or at least that's what most women I know who've had them say ... and I passed about 5-6 stones before mine was taken out. And it feels like a heart attack, so that should have freaked him out to begin with.

 

[jandrews]

Doctors never tell you this for some reason, many believe that gallbladder is useless in bodies today but in actuality a lot of people develop IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) from the extra bile in their intestines. I hope your dad doesnt get it, but I would mention it to him just do a google search for gallbladder and IBS.

 

[manlymatt83]

Originally posted by: jandrews
Doctors never tell you this for some reason, many believe that gallbladder is useless in bodies today but in actuality a lot of people develop IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) from the extra bile in their intestines. I hope your dad doesnt get it, but I would mention it to him just do a google search for gallbladder and IBS.

I have IBS. I've had it since I was a kid. I have a VERY bad stomach.

Could this be a genetic thing?

 

[dougp]

Originally posted by: mjuszczak

Originally posted by: jandrews
Doctors never tell you this for some reason, many believe that gallbladder is useless in bodies today but in actuality a lot of people develop IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) from the extra bile in their intestines. I hope your dad doesnt get it, but I would mention it to him just do a google search for gallbladder and IBS.

I have IBS. I've had it since I was a kid. I have a VERY bad stomach.

Could this be a genetic thing?

It's possible ... and technically to the guy above, you don't develop IBS - but it's based on how much bile your body produces. If you don't produce enough bile to break down fats, the fats will go through your body and come out as they went in (outside of normal digestion) ... one of the hardest thing for my body to break down is grease and oils (olive, canola, peanut, etc.) ... it looks exactly the same when I'm done with it. It seriously limits what I can eat, completely sucks.

 

[moshquerade]

they have to send any tissue they remove away for testing i believe so that is standard procedure.

don't get worked up thinking the worst. more times than not the worst doesn't happen.

 

[Paperdoc]

The doctor is just being cautious, and good for him / her. Sure, it's possible to have cancer in a Gall Bladder. But the opinion is, IF it turns out to be cancerous, it is very early in the disease process. With cancer there are two types of concern. The first is that the cancer will grow and cause that organ to malfunction, and also cause pain. The fact that the Gall Bladder has been removed solves that completely. The second concern is that, at some later stage of development, the cancerous tissue will start to break off pieces that are carried away to another site in the body to continue growing as a new cancer. That is the process of metastisis. This process does not normally occur early in cancer development. The pathologist who examines the Gall Bladder can tell BOTH whether there is any cancerous growth in the Gall Bladder, and whether it was mature enough to have started to metastisize. You will get a definite answer from your Dad's doctor. But for now you are assured that, by initial appearance only, it seems very unlikely that the spreading process could have started. And since the Gall Bladder is out, no spreading can occur from now on.

Don't worry, be happy! And best wishes to all your family.