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Gall Bladder Disease and Children: Not as Unlikely as We Used to Think

Bladder, Gall Bladder

When our youngest some was 12, (about four years ago) he awoke one night writhing in pain, and doubled up unable to speak and barely able to breathe. Our older son alerted me as the two shared a room. Albert said that Jake was rolling back and forth and moaning. When I got to there Jake could not communicate what was wrong. He could only gasp ‘my stomach hurts’. I had him go to the bathroom but he was doubled up so tightly that he couldn’t move or sit down.

I’ve seen often at work and with my own children that a gas cramp can cause a pretty serious stomach pain. Younger children will often think that something is going to pop in their stomach. But Jake was getting to the age where he had felt different pains; he was getting old enough to know serious from something that would pass. Since the pain wasn’t letting up and we had already had two appendectomies I decided to go to the emergency room. My husband works the night shift and so I had to make a middle of the night trip to the hospital alone.

When we got to the hospital, Jake had begun to feel a little better. The staff ran a white blood cell count (elevated white blood count is a precursor for appendicitis). This was normal. They ran a CT scan and x-rayed his stomach. What showed up was an enlarged gall bladder. The staff was surprised because Jake was very young to be diagnosed with gall bladder disease; in fact, he was the youngest gall bladder patient that several of the physicians had ever seen.

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We were sent home but given a referral to a pediatric gastro-intestinal surgeon at Devos Children’s Center in Grand Rapids Michigan. Apparently because the pain had subsided, it was concluded that a gall stone (a mineral deposit that builds up in the gall bladder and forms solid pea-sized masses) had passed through his system, thus causing the pain. He could have emergency surgery to remove the gall bladder (the usual protocol) but the physician on call felt it would be better to wait and let a pediatric surgeon remove the gall bladder. Although they don’t know for sure, doctors generally remove the gall bladder, especially since the surgery is much easier now. To keep the gall bladder means that at any time a stone could try to pass. When this happens it can kill a person.

Within a month the doctor completed the surgery. It required a one-night hospital stay. The surgeon was able to remove it with laser surgery and Jake had only four tiny little incisions to insert the tools and remove the gall bladder. The doctor took images of Jake’s gall bladder; it looked like a bag crammed full of marbles it was so chock full of stones. The doctor reassured us that it was the right choice to get the gall bladder out; that it would have been only a short time and another one of the stones would pass.

So if your child has frequent stomach aches, don’t overlook or pooh-pooh them. Have her seen by a physician. Young children can get hernias, appendicitis and even gall bladder disease. Jake was no where near the youngest patient that our pediatric surgeon had ever removed a gall bladder from. It can happen. Also, this is another reason to avoid the fast food and junk food. Jake’s case was not linked to this; his was more hereditary. But many times poor diet can be the cause.

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Jake bounced back in far less time than we expected. He has had no repercussions except that he cannot eat a rich or fatty meal without needing to go to the bathroom immediately afterward. The gall bladder stores extra bile for the digestion of fat. Without the gall bladder to keep reserve stores, the liver must attend to it all. So if a large amount of fat is consumed most is flushed right out. This is especially true for fast foods. So his only side effect is that he really can’t eat much fat. Not a real problem. He has also lost quite a lot of baby fat and slimmed down. But all our children have a period of chubbiness followed by a significant weight loss in early adolescence. I don’t know how much weight he would have lost normally and how much is attributable to the removal of the gall bladder.

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