u/Jazzlike_Chard_8501

So I am officially 8 days post op and I'm having a slight issue with my belly button. It started leaking this yellow/brown/pink liquid Thursday night I thought nothing of it cause I know that's normal, but I woke up Friday morning and my dressings were completely soaked in this liquid and it was accompanied by this smell, that is around the normal belly button smell just a bit stronger, I got a shower and took all of my dressings off cleaned out my belly button and I let it air out for a few hours. Luckily I had some water proof dressings from another surgery last year so I put two on my belly button as they are a bit small, it is now Saturday and I've had to take them dressings off and put two new ones on already as they started leaking out of the dressings and soaked my pyjama trousers whilst I was asleep. I'm just wondering if this amount of leaking is normal and the amount of smell that is coming from it? It is not red, it doesn't hurt anymore that it has been from surgery, I don't have a fever and the liquid isn't thick so I'm about 95% sure it isn't infected.

So I am now 5 days post op and I'm just wondering when I can finally take a shower. I swear I'm not disgusting or anything I'm still keeping clean every day, but I'm stuck washing my hair in the sink and other things etc. My nurse told me that I need to wait for my dressings to start coming off before I can shower but they have not budged not even the tiniest but and I am just reading to jump in the shower and enjoy the warm water. So please someone help me and tell me about their experience with showering i beg 😭🙏

So I had my gallbladder out just over 24 hours ago and everything is going great on my end! Yes I am in pain, but it is the usual you've literally just been sliced open pain. One thing no one ever spoke to me about before my surgery is the pain that you get in your right shoulder after surgery. This happens due to the gas that they used during surgery and it is pressing on your nerves and one of them nerves just happens to run up to your shoulder and causes this aching pain. Mine isn't that bad, but it is enough to bother me and cause me pretty bad discomfort so that is one thing I would watch out for.

The first thing I ate after surgery that the hospital gave me was butter and jam on toast and I was excited to eat it you don't understand 😭😭 however be careful when eating straight after surgery because you still have the anesthetic and numbing agent in your body causing your throat muscles to not work properly, this came as a huge shock to me and I almost choked on a bite of toast 😭😭

When I first found out I had gallstone which was about 2-3 months ago I met with my surgeon and he told me I could be waiting up to a year for my surgery. Well about two weeks ago i get a text while I'm a work from the NHS saying I have my pre op assessment for the 17th of June (which is today) so I start to get excited and still expect my surgery to be about in 6 months time. Anyways I get a letter yesterday after I come home from work and put of all the things it could be it was my confirm reservation in a ward for my surgery on the 26th of June!! I have genuinely never been so excited for a surgery and really did not expect to be waiting only and three months for it!!

Hi so I've been dealing with my gallstones since the beginning of March (2026) and only just got it officially diagnosed just about a month ago, I am on the wait list for surgery, but have been told I may be waiting up to 6 months - a year for my surgery, my doctor has told me to follow a fat free diet, and it has been working! I've gone a month following the diet and it has been working until today, I had my first attack since a month ago and it lasted about 3-4 hours which for me isn't too bad as they used to last 12 hours straight throughout the night and basically weekly. I'm just wondering how people have been coping with their fat free diet as it is very restricting and I'm getting mixed messages about what I can or cannot eat. I also have been checking packages like crazy and have been eating things that have less than 5g of fat in and I don't trust meat any more except for fish and lean turkey mince which I still drain the excess fat out of and as I still live in my house with my parents and brother (I'm 19 and had a gastric sleeve in October and that's what caused my gallstones) I feel super guilty about basically changing the entire food shop to work with my new diet and I don't want to cause my parents to spend extra money just for me.