Anyone experience a late leak?

Hey Everyone, 

I'm wondering if there are any of you out there who discovered a leak weeks after your surgery? I am 9 weeks post op and for the past few weeks, I have had some pain on my left side, in my back behind my ribcage. It felt like muscular pain at first and there is a pretty big knot in there.  What worries me is that I am still experiencing this pain. Could this be a sign of a leak? I have no other symptoms besides the back pain. I was a self pay patient and had surgery in MX, so my resources are rather limited. I'm not sure who I would even go see to get this checked out. Thoughts from any of you that have experienced this? 

Thanks!

If you had a leak you would be VERY sick.  You would likely develop a fever from sepsis.  It would not present like muscle pain or "knots".  9 weeks is still early out from surgery.  You are still healing. I had tweaks and twinges of pain for months after surgery. If your pain is not severe, I wouldn't worry about it.

Thanks. I'm trying not to be paranoid... I was just concerned because the pain is kind of unusual and I've read a lot of conflicting  information on the issue. Thanks for your input!

almost all leaks happen in the first 3 weeks according to my surgeon

I did have a leak early on (5-6 days out), my best advise is to get a thermometer and take your temperature.  A fever is a classic sign and your pain would be sever.  My fever spiked and there was no doubt about the pain, it was extremely intense ( not just a discomfort) and it radiated up into my chest to my left shoulder.  Possibly you family doctor could shed some light.  Good luck.

Ellie

Could be a hernia?  This is from webmd.com:

"In an incisional hernia, the intestine pushes through the abdominal wall at the site of previous abdominal surgery. This type is most common in elderly or overweight people who are inactive after abdominal surgery."

Could be your gallbladder.  Could be a kidney stone.  If it's not ER-level pain, I'd go to my PCP for a radiology prescription.  

Check that side and see if the incision is a little bigger.  My surgeon said you may have pain on that side because that is where they take out the excess stomach they remove.  I had soreness on that side for a long time.

More likely gallbladder or just an internal location where they moved the equipment around and something got pulled.  Can you contact the surgeon in MX and ask?  Many of them do follow-up via email/phone/text.  I'd at least ask them the question and see what they recommend.

The gall bladder is on the right side so "probably" not that but could be referred pain. More likely kidney pain in which case could be infection or a stone so see you PCP for diagnosis. We really aren't that good at it.