Extreme pain following surgery?

mlciavola

My mother recently had two tumors removed from her abdomen (Stage 2 ovarian cancer), which also involved a colon resection as the tumors were around part of her large intestine and part of her small intestine. She has a vertical incision from about her sternum to her pubic bone, which I'm guessing is pretty standard. She is two weeks post surgery and has begun experiencing tremendous abdominal pain -- on a scale from 1 to 10, she said it's a 20.  The pain literally brought her to her knees this afternoon (and she has a high pain tolerance). Fortunately, she was at the surgeon's office for a follow up visit when it occurred.  He examined her and said everything looked ok -- what she was experiencing was normal for the type of major surgery she had.  He also reminded her that she needs to take her pain pills to stay ahead of the pain, which she had not been doing. (But, my mom claims she didn't need the pain pills for the last week -- this mega pain just hit her with no warning.)

This extreme pain has been coming in waves for most of the day and continuing now into the night. She is literally in tears trying to cope and counting the minutes until her next pain pill (Dilaudid).

Is this type of crippling pain normal?  If so, how long can she expect to experience it?

 

NoTimeForCancer

I would suggest she try the

I would suggest she try the pain medication.  It is given to minimize a situation like this.  I have a high tolerance for pain but took them until I felt I could try going without them and it seemed to work.  Any opioid type pain killer will cause constipation so she will want to watch her diet.  

Metis

Can your mother take

Can your mother take acetaminophen (Tylenol)?  Check with her doctor or pharmacist to see if she can take acetaminophen and Dilaudid together, combining the two may give her better pain relief.

Be very careful when mixing acetaminophen with pain meds, many already contain acetaminophen (Vicodin is hydrocodone and acetaminophen).

bluesmama

Did they scrape her pelvic wall?

Hey there. I had a similar surgery but they also scraped along my left pevlic wall. I woke up with limited leg movement on my left side at first. It appears they damaged some nerves which is a known risk. Nerves sometimes get snipped or compressed while they're freeing tumors or when clamping open your incision during surgery. My pubic bone is painful when there is pressure today. I've also lost some feeling in my left groin area and around my upper left leg. It's been over 6 months since surgery. My left side is also very sore if I walk a long time or do any strenuous exercise. It wasn't until recently I could get up from the seated position without feeling like my abs were ripping apart. And my inner thigh muscles get very sore to the point I have limited movement for a few days after strenuous exercise. It's possible your mother's nerves are also damaged in some way similar to my case. Ironically, it got better soon after every chemo treatment which just means the nerves were getting re-damaged and it would get painful again after a week of every treatment which just means they were healing again. My surgeons says it may take up to a year to heal and he can't guarantee feeling in my groin area will be restored. There may also be scar tissue developing. I would definitely follow up with the surgeon and ask to be seen by a neurologist and at least get a prescription for physical therapy. She's only two weeks post surgery so yes this is normal. Let me tell you the second week after surgery, I tried to walk to the super market two blocks away. It was the most painful walk of my life and I did it with no pain meds. Really bad idea. I was crawling. I think the walk back took me nearly half an hour when it should have taken me a few minutes. Take the pain meds and get ahead of the pain. Otherwise, she'll not want to walk at all and that's actually worse for healing purposes. She must keeping walking every day and should be getting better every day. But take it slowly. I could barely get up the stairs to my apartment when I got home but it did get better every week.

What I'm curious about is whether your mother feels pain after her muscles are engaged. Even when sitting down, I've learned my abs, buttocks, and hips are engaged in some way. Your mom went through really major surgery so she shouldn't expect pain to go away so soon after surgery but the waves of pain sound different. Does it feel like it's coming from the muscles or much deeper? Does she feel it on her skin or does it feel like bruising? Does it hurt to have bowel movements at all? If it's much deeper and she runs a fever, she should get checked immediately. It's possible she may have a complication like infections and scar tissue forming.

Tethys41

Pain

I had 3 bowel resections during my debulking, and yes, her incision is standard.  I was on very heavy duty pain medication for 8 months after my surgery, oxycodone, fentenyl and Tylenol lll.  I think I was the exception, because I have heard that many women can get off of them after a short period of time.  I actually had to take more and more meds as time went on, adding more in because the first drug didn't manage the pain.  I tried a few times to wean off them and the pain came back immediately.  I hate drugs of any kind, but it was clear, I needed to keep the pain under control.  Treatment is hard enough without being in pain.  I think she just needs to bite the bullet and take the meds.  If they aren't strong enough, she needs to tell her doctor she is still having pain and ask for something stronger.  

I hope she gets some relief.