Can anyone answer me if it's normal for the hand that had the canula (all tubes in the back of my hand) to be swollen?

I just wondered if anyone elses was swollen and if so for how long..; I don't want to contact the hospital in case they think I'm a hypochondriac.

Many thanks

I would definitely call in

Yes, I believe it is normal. When I came back from the hospital I weighed 14 lb more. The swelling soon went away but it probably took about a week for my arms not to be tender in that area. I thought it is just normal for the soreness and swelling.

Call your Dr. Who cares what they think? You or your insurance company paid them thousands of dollars for this surgery and the surgery includes aftercare. Call them as often as you have questions!

I would agree that you should call your Doctor - good doctors do not mind answering questions, they are more worried that you will not ask and it could be a sign of something dangerous... My surgeon stressed over and over - call!

I had a similiar situation, did you have an IV in that hand? I had so much stuff injected into my hands it wasn't funny. I ended up w/ IV tubes in both hands while I was in surgery, it was left hand while I was awake and being prepped, but apparently they had an issue and changed it to my right hand while I was in surgery.

After surgery, I had some nurses who took thier time with the injections and others who rushed it - this caused some blow outs in the veins. When they finally gave up on my right hand, they took the tape off and it looked like I had a giant baby hand (I have very little fat in outer extremities - so this was majorly obvious). I had fewer injections in the left when they switched back, so had a similiar but less pronounced baby hand.

I am 11 days out of surgery, all the swelling has gone down - but the back of my hands and wrists are still sore.

Good Luck - and please call your doctors office - or if you had surgery elsewhere, at least call you primary care physician and talk to them about it.

-Kevin

Thanks everyone for your comments, the swelling seems to have gone down in the last few hours considerably. I'm not worried about it anymore and remember one of the nurses forcing some pain killers in rapidly and my hand hurting at the time. I can't believe I have no pain in the stomach area, just tenderness.... I was expecting to be in agony. :-D