Pain

[Michelle D]

I'm almost two weeks post op. My pain hasn't improved in the past week. Right now I'm having under my left arm rib pain. The pains move around, when should I start feeling a significant improvement? I thought I'd start feeling better each day as with most things but it's like a new pain every day.

 

[AgilityDog]

Michelle, I was in ICU for 11 days after surgery. I think I spent a total of 19 days in the hospital. Most of that time I had pain, and for a good while afterwards, everytime the meds wore off.
But everyone is different.
You should speak to your doctor as soon as possible. Maybe you need a different med. (yeah, it's Saturday night. not so easy to call the doctor, is it?)
Back rubs help, and take your pain medicine on time, even if you are not hurting. It's hard to catch up once the pain gets ahead of you.
Of course, some pains can mean fluid buiding up around the heart which needs drained, or needs steroids to clear up.

If it gets worse, your doctor should have someone on call, but you won't get any Rx filled until tomorrow some time.

 

[Michelle D]

I did a web visit with my doctor. I'm also going to go in for a visit Monday.

 

[ejc61]

I agree with A-dog. I had those moving pains. I was told I had pleural effusion of some sort. I had that on and off for a month. Good that you are seeing your surgeon. They'll make you take Advil or Alleve, but I didn't find that effective. You may get a steroid pack to reduce fluid if that's the case. If it is a fluid issue, it's supposed to clear up eventually according to the surgeon. I had it on and off for a month in various degrees and then went away. Pains would be either in the chest, ribs, upper back, lower back. Never the same place twice it seemed.

 

[Michelle D]

I'm just seeing my family practitioner. My surgeon is in Cleveland, I'm in Florida. My cardiologist is on vacation. Mine move around too. Last night it went from my sternum to my ribs to my back. I woke up and my back was incredibly stiff. I'm hoping I can get my vicodin refilled. I tried stepping down to advil and felt like I was ran over by a bus.

 

[Lynlw]

I'm just seeing my family practitioner. My surgeon is in Cleveland, I'm in Florida. My cardiologist is on vacation. Mine move around too. Last night it went from my sternum to my ribs to my back. I woke up and my back was incredibly stiff. I'm hoping I can get my vicodin refilled. I tried stepping down to advil and felt like I was ran over by a bus.

Your still about 2 weeks or less post op right? I'm pretty sure still having pain the first couple weeks is pretty normal. Is the pain getting worse or staying the same? From my experience with Justin's surgeries and different complications, the pain got worse /sharp when he had a problem like fluid or infection, but it was "sore" for the first few weeks when he didn't have problems

The Muscle pain like the back stiffness, is from how they have your body stretched on the table, and for the most part you need someone to massage it (nt professional, just a family member rubbing the sore muscles help) and other things that usually help sore muscle, good posture is really important, its easy to "hunch over" right after OHS and that makes the back muscles worse), small stretch movements or heat, like a heating pad or even standing in the shower with the warm water on your back _if your shwer has the adjestable head with different patterns that really helps.

 

[AgilityDog]

When you see your GP, do mention the possibility of plural effusion, with that moving pain.

And darlin, at 2 weeks out, even if there's no plural effusion, advil or aleve AIN'T GONNA CUT IT.

Vicodin, Oxycontin (if you can stand it, I cant) or Darvocet are required for 3-4 weeks for the aches, though you can gradually taper down.

Good luck, give us a report tomorrow.

 

[Michelle D]

They only gave me a weeks worth of vicodin and my gp has a no narcotics policy so hopefully since I just had my heart cut open she'll make an exception otherwise I'll have to go to a walk in clinic which would be a shame. I shouldn't have to go doc shopping when I'm obviously in need. I ran out yesterday but I had leftovers from the dentist. I'll mention the plural efficacy (sp?).

 

[Luana]

Could be pleural effusion or pericardial effusion, pleural effusion if fluid in the tissues around the lung and pericardial effusion is fluid in the pericardium, the sac surrounding your heart.

A no-narcotics policy after such a big surgery sounds kind of dumb to me, but what do I know. Managing your pain well helps you heal. If your GP won't help you, I would say call surgeon at CC and ask about another Rx to help with pain.

 

[Michelle D]

I read about plural effusion and I don't know if it's that because it feels more like my bones like my spine, ribs, and sternum. I'll go to my gp tomorrow for an X-ray if she's available.

 

[swim mom]

I had a lot of muscle pain for a long time. I think that was the pain that caused me the most problems. I totally understand your frustration. I too thought I would feel better each day and I was and still am to a degree frustrated with the speed of my recovery!!