Return to riding after gallbladder removal

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Bigger Gear
Posts: 560
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 6:58 pm
Location: Wet coast, Canada

by Bigger Gear

File this one under "I'm not getting any younger, and I can't escape my family genetics either"

Last week I had emergency surgery to remove a gallstone that became lodged in the neck of my gallbladder. Very painful! I had known since July 2017 that I had gallstones and thickening of the gallbladder wall, so in many ways this was inevitable. Plus my father had a gallbladder rupture at age 38 and was lucky to survive. I've been going through the GI wringer for the past 1.5 years to be honest....had a lot of changes in my digestion and habits, at one point ending up being investigated for a small intestine blockage and having a lot of testing. So before the age of 50, I've been scoped up and down, had 2 CTs and an MRI and after all of that the only real conclusion was that I had gallstones, but no one was too worried....both a surgeon and gastroenterologist recommended not operating because I was not having "classic" symptoms. So yeah, I always knew this was a ticking time bomb. I hope removal helps my overall digestive issues but I feel like there is still work to be done on that front. I've been a pretty healthy guy my whole life, raced at the elite/cat 1 level for a long time and even since stopping racing I've still ridden a lot (maybe too much as I've gotten older, who knows?).

The surgery was performed laparoscopically, so I only have 4 small incisions. Recovery so far has been OK, pain has been not too bad so I was able to go off any pain meds pretty much within 48 hours of getting home. My GI tract is going to take a while to adapt, but as I said above I was not functioning well before this. I was having a lot of problems with gas and bloating, and often ran into trouble about 1.5 hours into my rides. My surgeon thinks I should be back to normal in about 2 weeks, yesterday was day 5 and I was able to go for a 6 km walk, albeit at a slightly reduced pace.

Anyway, just wondering if anyone here has been through gallbladder surgery (cholecystectomy if we are being super medical) and how did they find returning to riding?

zmjones
Posts: 182
Joined: Wed Oct 25, 2017 4:55 am
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by zmjones

curious, how heavy is a gall bladder?

by Weenie


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Bigger Gear
Posts: 560
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 6:58 pm
Location: Wet coast, Canada

by Bigger Gear

zmjones wrote:
Tue Jun 05, 2018 10:39 pm
curious, how heavy is a gall bladder?
I hope when I get the pathology report it will indicate this! I did have several stones so I should be a bit lighter.

Crazy fact, the attack probably started the day before in teh afternoon as I already had pain in the region. I thought it was just gas, and that riding might help me move the gas along. So I went out and did 45 km. Then I had dinner and was in the ER by 1:30 in the morning! Classic cyclist justification move, "I think riding might help". :D

zmjones
Posts: 182
Joined: Wed Oct 25, 2017 4:55 am
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by zmjones

Bigger Gear wrote:
Tue Jun 05, 2018 11:11 pm
zmjones wrote:
Tue Jun 05, 2018 10:39 pm
curious, how heavy is a gall bladder?
I hope when I get the pathology report it will indicate this! I did have several stones so I should be a bit lighter.

Crazy fact, the attack probably started the day before in teh afternoon as I already had pain in the region. I thought it was just gas, and that riding might help me move the gas along. So I went out and did 45 km. Then I had dinner and was in the ER by 1:30 in the morning! Classic cyclist justification move, "I think riding might help". :D
hah yea i did that once and ended up in the icu for a week. wamp wamp.

but hey maybe you got the equivalent of moving from aluminium clinchers to carbon tubs. given the expense of medical services this probably isn't great dollars per gram though :P

Bigger Gear
Posts: 560
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 6:58 pm
Location: Wet coast, Canada

by Bigger Gear

I got a copy of the surgical report yesterday, there are 2 titanium clips used to close off the common gallbladder duct after resection. It's Ti which is nice, but those extra grams are offsetting my gains. :D

sib
Posts: 325
Joined: Mon Jun 15, 2015 2:03 am

by sib

Boasson Hagen had his gall bladder removed earlier this year!
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/boasson ... r-surgery/

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Rich_W
Posts: 1957
Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 1:31 pm
Location: LBI / Sarasota

by Rich_W

Bigger Gear wrote:
Wed Jun 06, 2018 4:38 pm
I got a copy of the surgical report yesterday, there are 2 titanium clips used to close off the common gallbladder duct after resection. It's Ti which is nice, but those extra grams are offsetting my gains. :D
I've got those same Ti clips. I had a seeping gall bladder and had it removed a year and a half ago. My belief it resulted from a bad MTB crash back in 2013 and it took several drs quite a long time to realize what was going on. Watch your consumption of fats, and keep your diet high in fruits and veggies.

by Weenie


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