Re: What My Doctor Didn't Want Me To Know About Gallbladder Surgery

I had a Laparospcopic Cholecystectomy on April 5, 2002. Immediately after surgery I was in extreme pain. The surgeon admitted me for 23hr observation. The pain worsened and was followed by fever. By the next evening I had developed jaundice (bilirubin was 5.6). It wasn't until 2 days of pain/fever did the surgeon order an ERCP. That test brought the question "Was there a clipped common bile duct". Nothing was done at that time. The surgeon only medicated me to keep me comfortable. On the 4th day of pain and agony, a Cholangiogram was done which revealed my common bile duct was infact clipped. The surgeon then decides that maybe he should re-operate to fix the error in which he made on me. My family said there was NO way they were letting him operate on me again. We had another surgeon come take a look at me and my records and he stated that it was imperitive that a bile duct reconstruction be done by someone experienced with the bile duct and referred me to the Liver Transplant team at a different hospital. The condition in which I was in at that point was life threatening. The new surgeon said that if he didn't do the reconstruction right away, I would end up in a coma in a few hours and have certain death. When he opened my abdomen, 6-7 liter of bile and pus spilled all over the place. I had developed severe peritonitis and a slowly dying liver. He removed 5 surgical clips from my common bile duct. Having the clips on the common bile duct, I now have 2 strictures which need to be stented in order for proper function. I have been going through ERCPs where they stent the bile duct every 2-3 months. Its been almost a year since the nightmare and there is no sure sign that I won't end up needing further surgery or a liver transplant. I would like to know if anyone has gone through this same scenario and what was the healing time like? Were you able to live a normal healthy life or do you still battle with needing medical attention. Also has anyone entered into a lawsuit and if so, what was the outcome? Tweet