Gallbladder surgery... Liver mets chances?

hearmeroar

Hi! 3 year stage 2a ER/pr+ survivor. I have gallbladder surgery coming and I am feeling paranoid about changes in that area making me more susceptible to liver mets. Can anyone calm my fears? Did you have gallbladder surgery after stage 2 bc and are you still totally heathy??? Thank you!!!

Moderators

Hi hearmeroar, congrats on your 3 years!

Sorry to hear about your upcoming surgery. We don't have much advice but wanted to say hi and let you know we're thinking of you. We're sure many will be stopping by shortly with their experiences with this very common surgery after a breast cancer diagnosis, and we hope this will help calm your fears!

Please keep us posted on how your surgery goes!

--The Mods

toomuch

Hearmeroar - I didn't have surgery but I had some gall bladder problems over a year ago with delayed emptying, spasm and pain. I had an ultrasound which showed no stones and a HIDA scan that showed very delayed emptying. I too was worried about mets to the area. My GI doc wanted me to see a surgeon but I did some research on my own. It turned out that it was a side effect from the PPI that I was on for reflux. Stopped the med and my symptoms went away. I had a repeat HIDA scan that showed normal function. I'm just putting that out there because sometimes our docs don't think about unusual causes of problems and I was very happy to bypass the need for surgery.

CinD

Hearmeroar, I had my gallbladder removed over a year ago. At that time, it was five years since I was treated for stage 2B breast cancer. As of my last appointment with my oncologist just last week, everything seems good. My mammogram was clear and my tumor marker test (CA27-29) was low, in fact, the lowest it has ever been. As far as I know, I am healthy. My doctor is happy and so am I.

When I first began having pain in my upper right quadrant, I was scared of liver mets too. I finally went to the doctor who sent me for an ultrasound. I was never so happy as when the tech told me she found some big gallstones. We got to laughing about it because it is rare for a patient to be thrilled when finding out she has a gallbladder problem. A doctor at the imaging center called my family doctor right away to say I needed my gallbladder out quickly.

They sent the removed gallbladder to pathology, and there were no other problems found.

I'm assuming you had an ultrasound or CT scan? If so, that should detect any other problems besides the gallbladder. I took a copy of my ultrasound report to my oncologist to let him know that area had been scanned and he was happy to see everything was good.

I know the gallbladder is in the same area as the liver, but that doesn't mean that having surgery in that general area will cause cancer to move to the liver. I don't think anyone really knows why cancer decides it wants to travel to the liver. Please try to think of your gallbladder problem as only that -- a gallbladder problem. Other parts of the body have problems and we have to realize that it's not always going to be cancer related. I know, easy to say but harder to do.

I hope I've calmed your fears some. Good luck with the surgery.

hearmeroar

cinD - you have no idea how helpful your reply is. God Bless you