I woke up this morning with a pain in my left side. Sort of like a stitch in my side. I came down with a cold and was coughing really bad on Friday night, but it is better. Still coughing some, but it is definitely better. Not sure what to think about the pain in my left side. Could this be gas pain? Do I need to call the doctor? Thanks for any advice.

Forget to say - I am 18 days post op.

I woke up this morning with a pain in my left side. Sort of like a stitch in my side. I came down with a cold and was coughing really bad on Friday night, but it is better. Still coughing some, but it is definitely better. Not sure what to think about the pain in my left side. Could this be gas pain? Do I need to call the doctor? Thanks for any advice.

I'd call if it does not let up. I doubt it's serious. At least for me, the only real pain since leaving the hospital has been the hard coughs as a part of clearing my lungs. (They were a bit congested.) It might just be the result of so much coughing with getting a cold.

I specifically asked my doctor if I should be concerned at all that coughing or sneezing could cause any harm and said no. With allergy season as I recover, I wanted to be sure.

Your doctor and his staff work for you. It might be a 1 minute call that will let you stop being concerned.

I got this yesterday. I called the surgeon-on-call and here are the things he asked me:

Any fever spike (a mile fever OK he says)?

Any racing heart, shortness of breathe/rapid breathing?

Severe nausea or intolerance of food (in my case Protein drinks)?

To which I replied nope, nope, nope and he said it was muscular. It's like a muscle spasm that comes and goes in the side, not right by any incisions. He says it happens sometimes, we're favoring that side a little because of the one big incision, even though we don't realize it, and we strain that muscle.

Icy hot or similar, a heating pad, Extra Strength Tylenol and it should get better over a couple days.

If you have any of the symptoms above, please call your doctor.

i had the exact same thing and I chalked it up to what Virginia said...we arent walking or sitting normally yet as we are still healing.

Thanks for your help. It sounds logical, especially since I have been coughing this weekend. I also wondered if it could be constipation pain.