So you have been having pains in your tummy and have been to see a doctor. Who has told you that you have stones in the gall bladder and it would do you good to have gall bladder removed. And then, obviously you have decided to find out more about this by searching online and have landed on this page. Or maybe you are just curious, plain and simple and in the process of your incessant wanderings on the internet, you have landed on this page.
So without further ado, dear readers, I shall endeavour to explain the procedure to you as simply as possible.
What is the Gall Bladder
It is a small pouch that is located on the inferior surface of the liver, just about where the ribs end on your right hand side. Its prime function is to function as a storage place for bile. Bile is secreted by the liver and is of prime importance in digesting fats that we eat as part of our daily diet.How do Gall Stones Form
Like I mentioned above, the gall bladder stores bile that is secreted from the liver. When you eat a fatty meal, the gall bladder contracts and releases the bile into the small intestine where the bile helps in the digestion of fats. If we eat lots of fatty food, the bile tends to get very concentrated in the gall bladder and forms stones. (A very simplistic way of putting it (but on the other hand, I am not really writing a textbook of surgery now, am I). There are other ways that gall stones can form, but they are rare and generally afflict patients who have hereditary anaemias and other esoteric diseases.Laparoscopic Surgery - A History
In the olden days, all surgery used to done using cuts(incisions) on the body. Post operative pain, prolonged hospital stay, ugly scars were only a few of the complications that resulted from such open surgery. Although the first laparoscopic procedure was done in 1905 in a dog, it was not until the silicon chip had come into its own that the first gall bladder was removed using this technique in 1987 in France. What Actually Happens
The anesthesiologist will put you to sleep using his concoction of drugs. A tube will be inserted into your trachea (windpipe) and you will be connected to an anaesthetic machine. The surgeon will then make three holes (ports) in your abdominal wall and pass three tubes into your tummy. Carbon di oxide will be passed into your abdominal cavity through one of these ports. This helps distend the abdominal cavity and gives the surgeons room for maneuvering. Through one of the ports, a camera is passed and the picture is displayed on a TV monitor using fibre optic technology. The other ports hold surgical instruments which are then used to dissect out the gall bladder under vision.Recovery
You will then be woken up by the anesthesiologist and are then taken to the recovery room where a nurse looks after you until you are fully awake and pain free. Depending on how you coped in surgery, you can either be kept overnight in the hospital and if no complications are anticipated, you can even be discharged home that very day.
