Bitten by the Purple People Eater aka Gallbladder Removal Surgery

May 7, 2026

Warning: The end of this post contains a picture of two of my purple incisions.

Yesterday, I wrote a quick post before drifting off to sleep. I wanted to let my friends in the blogosphere know I was safely home after my gallbladder removal surgery.

Thank you for your support. It was very helpful to me. Many of you had gone through gallbladder surgery or had a spouse who had gone through it. Several told me it was the best decision they had made since they no longer had to deal with the awful pain.

I have never been worried if I needed a surgery before. I have always felt my previous surgeries were something I needed or wanted. This time, I wasn’t originally nervous about needing the surgery since my GI doctor said it needed to be done.

After talking to the surgeon, I felt a lot less confident that the surgery was needed. She was great at explaining the other things that can cause pain. She was great at explaining the surgery and how she did it. She gave the percentage of people who decided not to have surgery. I don’t remember the number now. Maybe 30%?

Her response after telling her I had bad pain under my right rib after eating a chili dog (an indulgence) was, “That’s your gallbladder alright.” stuck with me. After that, her attitude came across as, yes, your gallbladder is causing you pain, so I’d be happy to take it out. Before I mentioned eating the chili dog and having an attack, it felt as if she was unsure if my gallbladder was the problem. I could tell she relaxed about doing the surgery.

I have been on a low-fat diet for years, with the occasional indulgence. Once in a while, that indulgence would lead to a very painful attack. After my heart attack scare, that wasn’t the case. I was in pain almost every day.

Having my gallbladder removed felt like a bigger decision than my previous surgeries. I had two options, leave it in or get it removed. Here are some of the thoughts that went through my mind.

• Do I live with the occasional attacks? This attack just keeps going. Things that never bothered me before are causing pain. If it was an occasional attack, would there be any need to remove the gallbladder? Would I be able to tell if I developed gallstones?

• With the low level of bile ejection, there is a higher chance of gallbladder stones forming from the sludge being left in the gallbladder. If I leave my gallbladder in, will it need to come out later due to gallstones? This could be an emergency.
• There are some scary health risks if I leave my malfunctioning gallbladder in. Infections of various sorts, bile backed up causing bile getting into the bloodstream, necrosis leading to gangrenous cholecystitis, and injury to the following: liver, the pancreas, and bile ducts.
• If I have my gallbladder taken out, will all my symptoms go away? In rare cases, the bile ducts are scarred causing the pain to continue.
• We have great insurance right now. I have no idea what our insurance will look like after June 2027.

These thoughts kept going through my mind while I was deciding to have surgery. Some days, when I wasn’t in pain, I’d think I should cancel surgery, and the next day, I would hurt so much. This back and forth made me nervous about the choice I was making. If I had been in constant pain, the answer would have been much easier. I felt nervous about my decision until the day of surgery.

The day before the surgery, the hospital called to tell me to arrive at 9:00 am. They let Bruce go back with me to wait for the surgery. Usually after arrival means an hour or so of waiting before surgery.

This time, the surgeon stopped by around 10:45 am to let me know she had another surgery before mine and to answer any questions. I wanted to know how the air got out of the body. They try to get as much of the air out before closing up the incisions. She explained that the leftover air is absorbed by cells in the bloodstream. The air doesn’t go to the stomach or any part of the digestive system to get out. The air in the body can cause bloating in the belly and referred pain to the shoulder until it is absorbed.

The anesthesia and pain medication can slow bowel movements causing intestinal gas to accumulate which can cause additional bloating and discomfort.

Th anesthesiologist stopped by about 30 minutes before my surgery. He was the same doctor that I had for my endoscopy and colonoscopy. I told him how I threw up on the way home after the endoscopy and colonoscopy. I let him know I was nauseated almost the entire time I was recovering from the anesthesia. He was very surprised and said that anesthesia was very well tolerated. He decided to give me three anti-nausea drugs. That worked. I didn’t have any nausea or shakiness after surgery.

I remember them rolling me down the hall for surgery. I woke up in the recovery room with Bruce and a nurse there. I was told I could wait as long as I needed before leaving to go home. The nurse went over what to do for recovery and what to watch for. I can remember parts of the conversation, but not all of it.

When I said I was ready to go home, Bruce helped me get dressed. I was surprised that it didn’t hurt very much. Good drugs! I saw the incisions when I got dressed. They have a topical skin adhesive to hold the wounds edges together. The four incisions lineup horizontally with my belly button and have a purple bruise around them. In my drugged state, they looked like teethmarks the purple people eater might have left.

I was so sleepy when I got home. I wrote a quick post and fell asleep.

Bruce set an alarm to give me pain pills every three hours. The pain pills alternate between Tylenol and Ibuprofen. If I have breakthrough pain, I have oxycodone to take as needed.

When the alarm woke us up, Bruce would hand me the pills and a cup of water. I got up each time and walked around the inside of the house before getting back in bed. I was able to fall right back to sleep afterwards.

I had pressure on my lungs. I believe it was the air pushing against some organ that then pushed against the lungs. I also have the referred shoulder pain.

Last night, while sleeping, Bruce tried to snuggle me and started to put his arm over my wounds. Luckily, I woke up enough to stop him from wrapping around me.

In the morning, the pressure on my lungs had disappeared, but I continue to have shoulder pain.

Getting out of bed was not fun this morning. It had been fine last night. I am walking around okay, but over did it by walking to the orchard in the back field. I had breakthrough pain and had to take an oxycodone pill.

I am eating Jello, drinking broth, herbal tea, and lots of water. I am doing this today and tomorrow. On Saturday, I will add oatmeal with applesauce, a baked potato with nothing on it, and plain rice. On Sunday, I’ll switch out the applesauce for a banana, avocado toast, and steamed carrots. I’ll be slowly adding foods back to my diet. I am told to avoid all foods in the cabbage family until four weeks

Gallbladder surgery is a low-risk surgery, if done laparoscopically.