Post op day 4 and pain
since right after surgery I have had this pain to the upper left abd . It is constant and worsens with intake. At times without any warning it feels like a knife jabbing my insides. I have told the surgeon about it and they though maybe I am just sensitive to the pain in that area. When they pulled out my JP drain yesterday for discharge home, the feeling was 10x worse and thought maybe the drain was causing the issue as it was placed under the stomach. But seeing as I still have the pain it seems that is not the case. I know this is the area they worked on most and where they cut the stomach etc. It is not incisional pain either. So has anyone else ever had this? I can't lean on that side, it hurts if I press it and when swallowing fluids and taking a deep breath. I am passing gas well. My vital signs have been perfect.
I was sent home on blood thinners for I am a high risk for blood clots as I have had pulmonary embolism before.
If you have had this please let me know. If it remains unchanged by tomorrow , I will stress again to my surgeon this pain issue. Hoping this is just common
on 2/21/16 2:24 pm
4 days post op it could still be from the gas they pump into you for the laproscopic surgery. That said I had pain like that for months after my surgery. After the first couple of weeks it started to get better day by day. I also became aware that at some point after feeling the stabbing pain I would burp. So I figured air/gas was getting stuck somewhere. No medical issues were found to account for it. Also getting up from sitting and moving around seemed to help. I wish you luck and that your pain passes soon.
I had a similar pain on the right side mostly, but occasionally on the left. I talked to my surgeon about it because it would come on without reason as far as I could tell. He asked me some very specific questions about what I was doing right before I felt the pain (it was like suddenly someone stabbed me from the inside!). Turns out I was moving in such a way that was pulling on the internal stitches he had put in the abdominal wall. I became more conscious of my movements and I soon realized the pain was associated with movement. Also, I could not lie on either side for a few weeks. I think I was able to lie on the left side before the right side.
I had stabbing pains on my left side for weeks. It felt like someone was poking me with a knife in there, but after a few weeks it tapered off and then eventually left all together. Your body has been pretty beat up by surgery, it does some weird thing to recover but that was all it was for me, recovery. I rested as much as possible, made sure I drank enough and walked as much as I could handle. It is temporary and nothing unusual.
Judith, 46, surgery date 12/3/15
SW: 317 CW: 210 GW: 180