After a couple of years of off and on abdominal pain and after appealing to several different doctors we discovered 5 weeks ago my 15 year old daughter has gall stones. After the inital diagnosis I was so relieved to have a name to the condition I left the surgery having asked no questions about what we do now. Two days later I took Molly again to see another doctor because she had turned yellow and was still throwing up bile and in considerable pain. Feeling somehat of an expert I suggested that one of the stones might have become trapped in the bile duct. We were sent that day to the local hospital with a letter from the doctor to speed an appointment with a surgeon. The same questions were asked and answered...again I retold the story which started with Molly being rushed by ambulance to the same hospital only 5 days prior. Again I suggested that the stone was stuck...we waited...and waited and eventually Molly was admitted to a ward. For a reason I still not discovered Molly was admitted to an adult ward. Not only that it was a cancer ward. As the surgeon was not avaliable to carry out the ERCP (instrument inserted under local anesthetic down the throat to remove stones from the duct which were causing the pain and inflamation) so she stayed until the Monday when the procedure took place in the afternoon. They took out three stones leaving possibly a further 4 or 5 in the gall bladder.
I won't list the sequence of events but summerise.
Consultants and the nutritionalist at the hospital both told Molly that she could eat whatever she wants. I found this a reckless comment to make to a bonny teenage girl without the presence of a parent. I took it upon myself to only allow her a very low fat diet as all the information avaliable and the obvious science determined that eating high fat foods would cause the gall bladder to contract and therefore potentially push another stone inot the duct.
Molly is a little over weight yes but her diet is pretty healthy. Fast food is an exception not the rule. She has been tested and her cholesterol is low. She doesn't drink enough water or eat enough vegetables and she does suffer constipation.
Her operation for her gall bladder to be removed is scheduled for tomorrow. Her surgeon will investigate and I'm guessing look for pollups which could be a sign of cancer.
It could be simply that a disease some years ago caused the production of the stones. Information avaliable seems inconclusive. Advise is contradictory even in the same hospital. Has anyone got any further information or similar experience please? Thank you.