“Bile leak story
I am 53 yrs old. About 4 1/2 years ago I had gallbladder surgery. I was sent home the next day and told everything was fine. About 4 days later all of a sudden I was in excutiating pain. My daughter rushed me to the hopital. They kept me there for 4 days and said they could find nothing wrong with me. I told the doctor that he couldnt send me home in this condition. I was extremely sick. He had even told one of the nurses that he thought I was faking it just to get pain meds. He said I should go home but I had the right to go to another hospital. So my daughter took me to the next town 30 miles away to the hospital. There they immediately knew what was wrong. I had a huge bile leak. I was told I was septic and if I had gone home I would have died. They did emergency surgery and removed almost 1 1/2 liters of bile. They placed a stent in the bile duct (which they later had to remove) and they placed a drain tube in my abdomen that drained into a bag. I had that for months. I was so sick that my urine was black and my stool was white. A sign that my liver had shut down. My right lung had collapsed. And bile had burned my organs. I stayed a number of days in the hopital and then went home. I was so sick that I was oblivious to visitors. I was in bed literally for 6 months. I didnt have the strength to watch TV or read for months. I didnt eat for a month. My 2 daughters quit school and their jobs to take care of me. Home health came in daily. I lost my restaurant business. I can work now but I sit at a desk. I have permanent damage to my right lung. I cant yawn or sneeze or breath deeply. It hurts all the time. I have developed an irregular heart beat that I take meds for. My heart doctor says that it is related to the bad lung. I also have developed inflammation of the sternum and ribs. Also in relation to the damaged lung. I have been told that cat scans show that my lung looks like it is filled with thick cobwebs. I tried to find a lawyer to take my case and couldnt. They said that if it was a visible injury like a leg or arm they would but you cant see a lung. One lawyer told me to come see him. I drove 5 hours just to have him tell me that everyone has aches and pains and to get over it. It has been the most frustrating experience of my life. I will never have surgery again unless I am dying. I am so sorry for all of you and hope that you regain your health and happiness.”