u/DC_Frame

TLDR: LapChole cancelled last week, potentially going to be offered a new date soon, but have a holiday coming up... would you have a LapChole 10-18 days before you go away? Or leave it till when you return? The holiday is a cruise... with lots of good foods that I wouldn't be able to enjoy if I still had the little fleshy bomb inside me, but surgery before we go would potentially mean I can't enjoy the holiday/activities as much.

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Full post: I posted a week or so ago after my LapChole got cancelled (surgery date was 9th May) as I was walking to theatre based on blood tests that I had done in A&E on 11th April (I was there because of a 6-hour GB attack, that went on for another 3ish hours - 9 in total). My pre-op was on 9th April, and those bloods were fine, but my A&E bloods showed I could potentially have passed a stone into my bile duct, so my surgeon couldn't (in good conscience) do the surgery without having an MRCP (which I had done today) to assess the location of my stones.

Here's where I need opinions... I go on holiday (a Norway & Iceland cruise) on 15th June - no flying - driving to the cruise port, and then getting on a ship (so no need to worry about flights causing DVT or anything... will have regular stops in the car to move around, and the drive to the port is about 5 hours from home).

The surgery I had planned for 9th May was cutting it kinda close to the holiday date in terms of recovery, but I was fairly happy with a 4+ week window to recover the majority of the way. Now that I'm waiting again (albeit as a 'private' patient, so won't be waiting long), there's a chance that the surgery could either happen before we go on holiday (potentially within the next 10-14 days) or after we get back off holiday (30th June onward).

I was really looking forward to not having to worry (too much) about potential gallbladder attacks and abdominal pain, being able to eat things (within reason) without the constant threat of 10/10 excruciating pain - I feel like 70% of a cruise is about the food, so having this ticking time bomb inside me meaning that I can't enjoy that 70%... it's a bit of a bummer, which is why I'd still ideally like it removed before I go away... HOWEVER... we go away in exactly 4 weeks... the earliest my surgery is going to happen is 10 days from now, which leaves us AT MOST 18 days for recovery before we go away... is that even enough to have a decent recovery and be able to enjoy a semi-active holiday?

If I get offered a surgery date within the 10 days before we go away - that would be an instant no, and I'll suffer whatever food-related consequences happen while I'm away... but it's that little grey window... the window between 27th May and the 4th June... if I get offered a surgery between those dates, I have no clue what I would do. There's pros and cons for both. So I'm opening it up to you guys... what would you do? For those that have had your surgeries, how did your recovery go... do you feel you could have gone on holiday 10-18 days after your surgery?

Background: 34F, 1st attack Dec25, 2nd attack Feb26, 3rd attack Apr26. At the 3rd attack, I attended A&E/ED because of the pain, they did bloods and gave me IV meds to help with the pain. I'd been in A&E for 6 hours, and would have had to wait another 4 to see a doctor, at 6 hours in A&E (plus the 6 hours at home I'd spent in pain beforehand), my pain subsided, and I didn't feel the need to stay in A&E wasting everyone's time, including mine, so I self-discharged.

Today, I was scheduled for a Lap Chole. Admission time was 8am (UK time) and scheduled surgery time was 8:30. At 8:10 the anesthetist came to do his checks... no problems. At 8:15 the surgeon comes to do his checks... no problems. At 8:20 the nurse comes to do her checks... no problems. At 8:25, I start my walk down to theatre... and I see the surgeon walking towards my room, and he asks if he can "have a quick chat"... already I'm thinking... this is odd.

Surgeon: "Were you in A&E in April?"

Me: "Yes, for a gallbladder attack, but it subsided after I had pain relief, so I self-discharged"

Surgeon: "Right... well... your bloods were abnormal... ALL your bloods were abnormal. It looks as if you might have passed a stone into your bile duct".

Me: "Oh?"

Surgeon: "Yes... I can't in good conscience do your surgery today without an up to date MRI scan to see if the stones have moved, so unfortunately we're going to need to cancel."

I'm no stranger to cancelled surgeries... this would have been my 18th anesthetic. But this one hits different... I feel like I'm not supposed to be upset about it because it would have been unsafe to have the surgery today.

It seems because I "walked out" of A&E (that was literally the diagnosis on my A&E notes: "patient walked out") that no one followed up on my blood results.

I guess I'm back to waiting.