On Kevin Rudd and gallbladder operations
July 30th, 2010 by Mark Bahnisch | Published in Politics | 34 Comments
There’s been some discussion on another thread of Kevin Rudd’s hospitalisation for an operation to remove his gall bladder.
I thought I’d remark that I’ve had the same operation – back in 2004 when I was in my early 30s. In my case, there were complications (I developed peritonitis as well), but it was still possible, with a good surgeon, to do it as keyhole surgery. My recovery took at least two weeks after being discharged from hospital, and for the first few days, I could barely get out of bed. I remember it taking me about twenty minutes to walk to the shop just around the block.
So, in my experience, it’s a procedure which can knock you over for quite some time, though obviously the seriousness of the condition, one’s age and general health are other variables affecting recovery time.
I’d be very surprised if he were back on the campaign trail soon.
Incidentally, if his doctors are recommending a Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy, his condition is probably fairly serious. I can testify to the fact that gall stone pain is intense, and it often hits people between 1am and 4am (and usually you’re in extreme pain for 2 to 3 hours). So it can have a big impact on one’s sleep and mood throughout the next day. I seem to recall that Kevin Rudd was hospitalised with gallstones at one point in his Prime Ministership.
The removal of the gall bladder also has health implications for the rest of your life, which aren’t massively problematic, but need managing in terms of diet, though in some instances it can lead to some nasty stuff.
Having been through the thing myself, all my best wishes go out to him!
I think the poor sod’s body is trying to tell him something.
@1 – I think the thing is that he probably didn’t get treatment soon enough. It gets worse and worse if you don’t, usually. That was my problem – always too busy to have it attended to. Stress, and too much caffeine doesn’t help any.
Interesting to think what Latham (pancreatitus) and Rudd (gall bladder) might (painfully) commune with each other. Too many impromptu steak sandwiches perhaps?
I hope he gets well soon.
@3 – Certainly, a bad diet is one of the things that can cause these illnesses! Pancreatitis, btw, can be a secondary consequence of gallstones.
Oh c’mon, can’t we have a little fun – it’s his gall bladder, it stores his bile, it’s been working rather hard recently!
In poor taste considering he’s probably in surgery right now.
Bile aside, my thoughts go out to young Kevie. We’re all mortal and he should take as long as needed to get right. Step up Therese, you could be a stand-in.
Just occured to me that if Therese ran as an independent somewhere she might win.
Imagine the ethical dilemas of the surgical team – keyhole or open him up from sternum to navel? How much gas and pain relief to push…
I hope the Ruddster is OK. I like the guy whatever his failings.
AS embarrassed as i feel to be posting such a link, (up there with astrology, or a shamwow ad to my usual thinking) this dodgy new age profile of gallstone suffers did kinda made me blink ;)
Dont show it to Mr Marr.
“Strong, even caustic, emotions must be properly and correctly stored and withheld until needed. Are the emotions you frequently express too harsh and resentful? Are they too strong? …too free-flowing? Are there too many of them? Reconsider your emotions; be careful they do not harden within you …or react against you. Are your emotions corroding you on the inside? Do your caustic remarks frequently hurt others? …or do others’ comments frequently hurt you? Are you or others too sarcastic? …too scathing and acrimonious? All such emotions should be carefully confined …and directed only where and when absolutely necessary. Do you frequently have a harsh tone in your attitudes? …in your voice? Do you often speak unpleasantly? …or of unpleasant subjects? Is your life basically discordant? …are you disharmonious? Have you been especially severe or abusive with yourself or others?? …heartless or unkind? …vindictive? Are others acting in these ways toward you?
the rest is here…
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:qd65k23dNFMJ:www.wisdomofthebody.net/Body/internal/gall%2520bladder%2B.htm+gallstones+emotions&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au&client=firefox-a
@11 – that’s got the causality the wrong way round, SC!
If you’ve got severe pain from gall stones through the night and lose sleep, then you tend to be grumpy and make caustic remarks, etc.
To be honest, having gone through it myself, I wonder if this was one significant factor in Rudd’s temper and day to day personal relations.
I will regret this in the morning.
Its the red wine.
I concede thats a more likely explanation, but thats not as ironic, is it?
Anyway, i hope he’s on some good drugs.
I hear Gallard pain is excruciating.
Yes, it is! So watch the red wine – too much of that and you’ll get stones! ;)
And, yep, morphine was the highlight of the hospital stay!
Actually i havent forgotten a long conversation we once had about other aspects of that trippy hospital stay :)
Oh really! :)
Don’t feel embarrassed, sublime cowgirl, I cried a bucket for Kevin and drank a gallon of red over the spill but still thought it was the right thing at the time. Now as I watch ‘them’ – whoever ‘they’ are – do to Julia what they did to him I have had to go back to the red.
No pun intended with that ‘gallon’ of red. If you drink pints of water before you go to bed you won’t have a hangover next day. Sadly reality will be the same but you’ll be able to deal with it. After more than half a century of drowning my sorrows both political and personal with a good Cabernet Merlot I still enjoy rude health.
Yes, Mark, I have often gone to bed ‘stoned’ in the old sense of drunk, and still woken up ‘stone’ cold sober. As well, in spite of being a driven workaholic with low anger threshold I have somehow survived with no gall stones and no ulcer. I’m still as mad as hell about bastards like Abbott and their establishment supporters.
Is this just well-timed elective surgery that means he doesn’t have to front on Monday at the campaign launch?
@19
Monday in two weeks, you mean?
@19 – If you’ve got severe gallstones, Razor, there’s nothing elective about the timing, I can assure you.
Surgery and elections are frequently coincidental.
John Howard had several eyebrowectomies during election campaigns.
I had a chronic dull pain in my right shoulder blade some years ago–I thought I’d pulled a muscle. A naturopath friend of mine suggested it was my gall bladder and told me to take a desertspoon of cold pressed olive oil with a teaspoon of lemon juice just before bed and then to lie on my right side. Seemed simple enough couldn’t hurt It was something of a miracle cure as the dull pain I had been in for a few weeks was ‘cured’ over night. Have recently had similar pain and found that grated beetroot with lemon juice was also hugely beneficial. Main contributing factor in my case was eating just before getting hugely stressed. The usual three contributing factors STRESS, DIET AND LACK OF EXCERCISE. Gall bladder removal is what you want when you’re in agony, at 4 am in Emergency, but if you can avoid it and deal with it before it develops into agony you can help yourself, very very simply.
Mark, as I recall you had some interesting complications, to say the least.
Rudd’s, if straight forward and handled through keyhole surgery, may have a much more rapid recovery period.
It sounds as though Craig Emerson visited him in hospital.
He has had the problem for some time now and it is nothing to do with frigging bad tempers. Except that the pain is intolerable and does take some weeks to recover from the surgery.
#26, was wondering about that, too. Reminiscint of Latham. Wouldn’t it have been better if he’d just fessed up when he first had the problem and had medical treatment earlier, if the pain was contributing to these ill humours attributed to him?
This is a good time for him to sort these things out, tho. The country may yet have need of him sometime down the road.
Mark, glad you recovered from your op – but the health implications you refer to don’t appear to apply to everyone. My good friend had her gallbladder removed five years ago. Occasional social drinker, so alcohol consumption isn’t necessarily a cause. Absolutely no diet/gut/digestion of fat issues since; she able to eat a lot MORE fat than before the operation. She appears to be in better shape on every front. Are longer-term problems likely?
SMH: Rudd ‘recovering well’ from keyhole surgery
Maybe this sheds some new light on the flight attendant episode. I’d be jumpy about what I was eating too. If it was a longstanding problem and he was in denial about it and was hoping it would just go away, anxiety about his diet might have been an issue for ages.
@27 – Adam, I really wouldn’t like to say, because obviously I’m not in a position to give medical advice. I do understand from what I’ve been told that there are potentially some longer term problems, but it’s really best for people to talk to their own medical advisors. I would observe, as I said, that I had complications, including peritonitis, which probably led to some of the stomach/diet issues I have to manage being exacerbated.
@26 –
Paul, it’s easier said than done. A lot of us ignore health warning signs. That can particularly be the case when people are very busy and for one reason or another, reluctant to take time off work. Acute abdominal pain can have other causes, and you need a fair few tests to identify what the problem actually is.
I had a laparoscopic cholecystectomy on Tuesday. I was home on Wednesday. No complications, and no diet or anger issues that I know of, just a bloody great pebble occluding my gall bladder. Today, Saturday, after three days taking it easy, I’m a bit sore but otherwise fine, though I look like I’ve been in a knife fight. I certainly wouldn’t want to be going back to Kev’s schedule on Monday though.
Sounds like Kevin might be out of action for as long as two weeks from what Therese Rein was saying on the telly.
What’s with Alexander Downer’s timing re Rudd? Appalling behaviour!