Intolerable Stomach Pain Leads to Immediate Gallbladder Removal

Celeste had been dealing with increasing abdominal and stomach pain over the years. Finally, the pain became so severe she needed to schedule a doctor's visit to find out what was wrong. Little did she know she would have her gallbladder removed in just a few hours. Her day went like this:

7AM – Wake up feeling sick
8:30AM – Primary care visit revealing blocked cystic duct
9AM – Quickly referred to Columbia Surgical Associates, arrived sick and throwing up
10:30AM – Prepped and ready for same-day surgery
12PM – Successfully finished with removal surgery  
2PM – *Checking company email post gallbladder removal surgery
   *We recommend prior to surgery, to avoid making major decisions immediately after surgery in reference to emails.

Prior to Having Gallbladder Removed

For 3 years Celeste had moderate intermittent pain in her stomach. One day after a couple pieces of fried chicken the pain in her abdomen became severe and her nausea was overwhelming. She scheduled a visit with her primary care physician the next day and an ultrasound showed her cystic duct was clogged. Her primary physician called Columbia Surgical Associates to schedule an initial consultation, she was offered an appointment to see Dr. Suppes, general surgeon at Columbia Surgical Associates at 9:30am.

Celeste arrived in the lobby at 9am throwing up and feeling the full effects of her obstructed gallbladder. Kelly Barnes, Celeste's nurse, took her back to an exam room to treat her for nausea immediately. By 10:30 she was prepped and ready for a same-day gallbladder removal surgery with Dr. Suppes. Celeste's husband was ready with the car by noon to take her home after a successful surgery. The most amazing part is Celeste was checking her work emails by 2pm the same day of her surgery.

"Celeste just looked miserable when I saw her in clinic and my first thought was we need to try to get this done as soon as possible for her. The [CSA Surgical] Center was extremely cooperative and helped us get it done that day." said Dr. Suppes as she recounted her visit with Celeste; and thanks to Dr. Suppes, after just a few hours she was back to her everyday routine feeling great with barely even an incision to show for the surgery.

The CSA Promise

This story of Celeste's experience is representative of how hard we will work to accommodate your specific situation and surgical needs. We understand how miserable you can feel with a diseased gallbladder. Our gold standard is for every patient to be offered a surgical date for gallbladder removal within 5 business days, often less, from your surgical consultation with one of our surgeons.

It is typically not the case that a patient would want to have surgery the very same day as their consultation, as they would like to have time to make arrangements. However, for extraordinary circumstances and as the schedule allows, we will gladly do same day procedures to ensure our patients are on the road to recovery as quickly as possible. Keep in mind it's not always possible that we can do same-day consultations and surgeries, but we will always work to be flexible in scheduling and go the extra mile to ensure top notch level patient care.  

The embedded culture at CSA and CSA Surgical Center is and has always been "take care of the patient." So instinctively when a situation such as this presents, everyone in the patient care chain is driven to adjust plans and remove barriers to meet the level of care a patient requires with the #1 priority being minimal to no impact for other scheduled patients. "We work together with the motivation that binds us all ... take care of the patient, every patient." Lisa Leathers, director of Nursing at CSA Surgical Center.

Celeste's story of gallbladder pain wasn't out of the ordinary, but having a group of skilled surgeons and nurses ready to preform her same-day surgery was. Our goal is to have many more success stories like Celeste's and ensure the highest quality care during the entire process from consultation all the way to follow up visits.

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If you think you might be suffering from gall bladder disease the first order of business is to make an appointment with your doctor to discuss your symptoms.

If your primary care physician thinks you might benefit from having your gall bladder removed, he will refer to you see a general surgeon who specializes in this type of surgery. We will work to provide you with a prompt appointment and schedule your surgery as soon as possible.

To find out more about Gallbladder Removal services offered at CSA Surgical Center in Columbia, Missouri please call Columbia Surgical Associates at 573-443-8773 and schedule an appointment.

*We recommend prior to surgery, to avoid making major decisions immediately after surgery in reference to emails.