Still Having Pain on Left Side
Hi I had my surgery on the 13th and since last Friday, I have had a constant,
sharp pain near the botton of the left side of my rib cage. As I mentioned
in my last post, I went to the ER, and they found a kidney infection. Well,
I’m glad that they found that and it’s being addressed, but both my surgeon and
I think that that is unrelated to the pain; the pain is too high to be caused
by my kidneys. My surgeon thinks it’s muscular inflammation, and is taking a
“wait and see” approach; she is not overly worried because I have no other
symptoms, e.g., fever, swelling, etc. and I am able to keep food and water down.
And it’s not near any of my incisions.
But I am nearing the end of my rope. I have been in continuous pain since
Friday; last night I could barely sleep at all, the Vicodin wasn’t even helping.
If it’s muscular, I find it strange that it would surface two weeks post-op
out of the blue. Just wondering if anyone else experienced something like
this? I am supposed to leave for vacation and am hesitant to do that until this
gets at least marginally better. I will be really screwed if it gets worse
and I’m in the wilds of Washington. I’m tempted to go back down to San Diego
and ask for every test known to man until they figure this out!
Any advice, and all healing thoughts, appreciated. 
Thanks.
Cheryl
April 30th, 2006 at 3:46 pm
I didn’t but many of the women in my support group have, because our
surgeon uses a rib-spreader to hold the abdomen open during surgery and one
of the corners of the rib-spreader winds up in the place you
describe. We’ve found that moist heat helps, especially sleeping — there
are actually pads you can get in the drugstore that you can place on the
area, they’re sold for backaches and they adhere to the skin.
Best of luck to you!
Janie
open RNY 4/28/03
387/348/140
“I have been through alcohol, marriage, and network television. If you
wanna kill me you’re gonna need some kryptonite.” (Aaron Sorkin, from
‘Sports Night’)