Exploratory surgery on Monday - URQ pain

Finally after two and a half months I am going to have exploratory surgery on Monday to see what's going on with my insides.  I am so glad. After being pushed around and having test after test done with "normal" results I am going to get some resolution. Well I hope so anyway.

I am thinking that there's a few things that may be going on.  Internal hernia, gallbladder disease and hiatal hernia?? These are just guesses at this point since I have lots of symptoms such as:
Constant upper right ab and back pain sometimes severe - hurts to the touch
Nausea
Constipation
Bloating / Gas
Loss of appetite
Fatigue / Dizziness
Strange tummy noises
Pressure at the base of the sternum - breast bone area

I hope to be pain free again soon.  I am ready to live my life and get back in the game.

For those of you that have had these surgeries can you give me an idea of what to expect? Any and all responses are appreciated.

Thank you,
April

A lot of the symptoms sounds like gallbladder to me.
I had mine out in 1987. Sometimes stones and such don't show up on normal testing.
Good luck and hope you get to the bottom of your problems.
Removing it was a piece of cake, by the way.

Kim

I can relate to your frustration April.  I am going thru similar issues which started in Feb 08.  I just had exp lap about 10 days ago because all tests were negative but pain increasing in frequency /intensity.  Mine was all left sided though.  Turns out my old stomach was not draining properly and causing all of the symptoms.  They put in a drain and all of the sx resolved however they don't know why the stomach isn't draining and no solution yet to fix it.  I have another procedure in 2 weeks to scope thru the tube to see if there is ulcer, stricture, etc in the remnant stomach.  Yours does sound like gall bladder since it's right sided.  Hope they find an answer soon for you.  It is frustrating to "know" something is wrong but to not have anything show on the tests.  You start to feel like you are crazy since they can't find anything wrong.  In terms of the lap the recovery was relatively easy....if I didn't have the drainage tube I could have gone back to work in a week.  Unfortunately the tube prevents me because it is quite painful.  Please keep in touch and let us know what they find and good luck on Monday!

I had an internal hernia which caused symptoms similar to yours. I ended up with a comlete small bowel obstruction from an internal hernia, 12 days after an exploratory procerdure where the doc had repaired one internal hernia. With the bowel obstruction, I had the same pain as before the exp surgery, only much more intense with vomiting starting almost immediately after the pain had begun. Before, I would get a little nausea, but no vomiting. I am a nurse and thought the pain seemed like classic gall bladder pain, but had a negative sonogram and HIDA scan. The pain changed a few hrs after getting to the ER and started moving across my upper abdomen and then down to my lower abdomen. After about 14 hrs of being in pain and getting Fentanyl and Zofran(for nausea) a CT finally showed I had an obstruction and I went to surgery shortly after that.
The abdomen and its pains can be very challenging to diagnose....good luck with your surgery and I hope it cures your problems!

Good luck on the exploratory surgery and hope you are feeling better after. Hopefully it will end your issues without much pain for you. How did you get your surgeon to finally decide to do the exploratory surgery. My doctor doesnt seem to think I need however, I have the same issues you have, plus stomach pains/aches every day however my gi doc has referred me to pain management where they will be doing a nerve block. Good luck and keep us posted to your outcome.

 
So, what happened?  Are you OK?

Hi everyone,

I wanted to update and let you all know that I had my gallbladder removed and an internal hernia repair. Other than being a bit sore still everything is pretty normal. For all of you going through this, I wish you the best.  Please feel free to contact me if you'd like to chat about these issues.

Take care,
April

 

Glad to hear you are doing better!

Hi there...I've been following your thread...I'm glad you're doing somewhat better?  So how are you feeling these days?

Hiya!

What a difference a few weeks make. I am so much better. I feel like a normal human again! Thank heavens. I was having sharp pain off and on for a couple of weeks after the surgery and that kinda concerned me.  After speaking with my surgeon he reassured me that it would just take time and not to worry about it. He was right and I am relieved. Now it's smooth sailing. I am very fortunate.

I hope all is well with you also.

Sincerely,
April