I had mine removed two years ago and my experience was similar. The first time it happened, it felt like just an odd kind of hunger—it seemed like my stomach wa

I had mine removed two years ago and my experience was similar. The first time it happened, it felt like just an odd kind of hunger—it seemed like my stomach was just telling me to feed it. Then I was fine for about four or five years before it would come back periodically over two years or so, getting worse each time. The second time I went to the doctor about it, they did some bloodwork and found that I had an elevated white blood cell count. It was two days after the appointment and they called me up (I was still home sick) and told me to get to the ER immediately. They considered operating that night, but said I'd have a better chance of getting a laparoscopic surgery if I waited for the infection to subside. They injected me with some really good painkillers and eventually sent me on my way. I was on antibiotics for a few weeks before surgery. As it turned out, the stones were still too big, and the whole thing was still a mess, so my surgeon just had to just cut me open. He later told me it was one of the worst gallbladders he'd ever seen. Instead of one night in the hospital, it was five days, and then another few weeks of recovery at home. Overall it was pretty rough but I haven't found that it has affected my ability to digest fat much, if at all.