1 week out w/ a question

Just a quick question actually. Since after surgery, I've had numbness in my left thigh.  Just the outside of the thigh, but it sucks to no end.  If I sit on my left hip, it'll get tingly and stuff.  Kinda like that pins and needle feeling. I complained a few times to various nurses that the bed sucked.  I could feel the bars in my back and butt.  I had noticed even laying there that I was having to move around and try to figure out a way to be comfortable. A nurse today even said it could be the way I was on the operating table.  Just pinched a nerve or something. I'm just curious if anyone else has had a issue like this.  It's not painful or fully numb, but it's highly annoying.  Kinda like having notebook paper flying behind you and papercutting you throughout the day.

Don't know??  Hopefully not a blood clot in the leg.  They had those wraps around my legs to prevent those things...Brian

First, congrats on the surgery.  Sounds like a nerve.  Walk as much as you can too see if you can work it out.  My back hurt like hell after the operation but it went away after 3 days.  Good luck. Guy

Thanks for the replies. I do all my walking and had my leg wraps in the hospital.  I really think it was because of the bed, but I thought I had remembered someone talking about it in here.

I had that problem with my surgery 2 months ago.  Actually, I had a major problem in my lower back a few years ago, causing a pinched nerve which periodically flares up.  Laying in the hospital bed for 3 days, which actually wasn't all that bad of a bed, really did it for me.  I don't think my "bum" as the British say was ever so numb -- I felt like I had been given an epidural.  I also thought it might have been causing my inability to urinate, resulting in several catherterizations.  The Dr. thought it probably wasn't related, but I still wonder -- I was truly, really numb.  Could have stuck pins in my rear end and groin, and I wouldn't have felt a thing. Anyway, it DOES go away -- it just takes time, several weeks, maybe up to 3.  Walking and moving is the best treatment, gets things aligned normally and gets the nerves working.

If you've seen videos of WLS surgery (or watched "Big Medicine" on TLC), you'll notice that patients aren't lying flat on the OR table during the surgery; they're in a "reverse Trendelenburg position", meaning head up, feet down.  Of course, you're both asleep and paralyzed, so they have to strap you in securely, and than can cause a nerve pinch in some people. Another possibility is nerve entrapment due to an overhanging pannus, but if you weren't experiencing this preoperatively, it's more likely your position during surgery or the lousy bed afterwards. /Steve

Unfortunately, many OR surgical suites are not set up for the morbidly obese surgical patient.  One of the inservices/educational credits that I had the pleasure to read about in my nursing career, dealt with those exact issues, as well as many others.  In fact, one of the many problems patients have postop is exactly like you described, numbness and tingling.  You have to understand that the obese patient has to be strapped down/tied down/positioned just so on the operating table and in fact many of the operating tables are meant for much smaller patients, not people who are two and three times larger.  Many times, the extra folds of skin get caught between the different pads on the OR table and get pinched/cut/lacerated/bruised.  You would be amazed at what some places do and what happens.  There is a saying that says "just because you can, it doesn't mean you should".  It's all about the almighty dollar and some facilities try to cut corners.  I am in no way saying the facility you had your surgery in caused this to happen.  Is it plausible?  Could it have been caused by your size and the fact that the equipment was inadequate to meet your bodies needs?  Could it be plain old bad luck and it happened to you by chance?  Who knows?  Only you can answer those questions.  Like someone else said, be on the look out for blood clots - definitely don't mess around with those and let your doctor know ASAP in case it is blood clots - better to be safe than sorry.   To other people *****ad your plight on the forum, it is definitely wise to scout out the facilities where you will be operated on.  I did extensive research on my mine to make sure they could handle large obese patients both during the operation and after the operation.  I am using a hospital designated as a Center of Excellence for Bariatric Surgery.  What this means is that the hospital has a special area (both in the OR and postop on the patient floors) that caters to the needs of bariatric patients = oversized beds, wheelchairs, mechanical lifts, bathrooms and most importantly - medical staffing care geared towards bariatric patients - these nurses are sensititve to the special needs of obese patients.  Anyways, this is my food for thought.  Taz