Hi everyone well i had my surgery today and everything went well except for the MACK truck that hit me in the operating room. :cry Right in the gut!!! What im wondering is i have bad pain right at the bottom of my sternum. Feels like i need to burp really bad but i cant seem to. Feels like i have walked a mile but no luck on easing the pain.

I have drank Water, had a little broth so i could take my pain medicine but that is all i have had.

Could someone tell me what i may be able to do to ease the pain.

I have also taken gas-x dissolve strips

Thanks

Hi everyone well i had my surgery today and everything went well except for the MACK truck that hit me in the operating room. :cry Right in the gut!!! What im wondering is i have bad pain right at the bottom of my sternum. Feels like i need to burp really bad but i cant seem to. Feels like i have walked a mile but no luck on easing the pain.

I have drank Water, had a little broth so i could take my pain medicine but that is all i have had.

Could someone tell me what i may be able to do to ease the pain.

I have also taken gas-x dissolve strips

Thanks

Cavegirl

You are normal - I said when I woke up from surgery it felt like an elephant had kicked me in the stomach and still had his foot on me...

and i thought WTF have you done - this hurts... I am not a nice person when I am in pain... Just ask my family & the nurses....:mad:

My doc required and overnight stay in the hospital - which i am very glad of - cuz i was still getting pain shots that night -

It sounds like you let your pain get to advanced before you took your meds (Pills???) i had liquid vicoden which I still have cuz never needed after I got home.

Take some more of your meds - Crush your pill - take it with some pudding or Jello - The first day is the hardest - you will feel a little better by tomorrow - by day 3 i was feeling pretty good - walked a little bend over when i first got up but was find.

The gas pain was in my shoulder and it can hurt just as bad as the surgery - but the gas x strips helped me - other suggested heating pad.

If your meds are touching your pain - the call your doctor - maybe he can call you in something stronger..

Just know that each day it does get better :confused:

Indio Girl,

Thanks for that, I am now on my heating pad and taking more gas x I hope maybe tonight it gets a little better by tomorrow morning cuz this is miserable, but you're it will only get better from here

Thanks Again

I actually took the regular gas-x 3 times a day after I ate something. And for the most part, the gas was not that bad. You might try it and see.

My doctor used something called on-Q which is like a soaker hose that was threaded to each incision with a local anesthetic. I had no pain in the abdomen until it came out and today I had major pain in the abdomen. Not sure if it is gas (that's what it feels like) so I took my gas-x again. Also my fever went up from 98.3 to 98.6 to 99.4 to 100.0 and that really worried me. But an hour or so later, it is back to 98.3. Go figure. Has anyone had any fever issues?

Sorry about your pain. I had horrible pain nothing I did helped But mine was GAS it was all over mostly in my shoulders/ sadly to say it took about 1 week and 3 days to go away..I never expected gas pain to feel like that.

Walk, walk, WALK!! That along with the gas-X should help a lot. You can't walk too much!!

Thank you all soooo much for the advice we are now at day day 2 and it is getting better, I did find that the MAALOX helped alot better than the gas x strips it curbed the pain within about 30 minutes and with walking, heat pad, and maalox it is really helping alot. Thanks again for your help. I was beginning to wonder if I had made a mistake. No one told me it was going to hurt so bad. I would say on a scale of 1 - 10 for a while i was at 14. IT WAS BAD. But it is better now.

Thank you all soooo much for the advice we are now at day day 2 and it is getting better, I did find that the MAALOX helped alot better than the gas x strips it curbed the pain within about 30 minutes and with walking, heat pad, and maalox it is really helping alot. Thanks again for your help. I was beginning to wonder if I had made a mistake. No one told me it was going to hurt so bad. I would say on a scale of 1 - 10 for a while i was at 14. IT WAS BAD. But it is better now.

Cavegirl - I know that I have been on threads where someone asked "Does it (surgery) hurt" and someone answers No -- I tell them my Elephant analogy - for me it did hurt and I only really questioned my decision that 1st day when I first woke up back in my room - i was in pain - thirsty & hot.. My DIL say i was using the "F" word alot (which I don't remember) but it's just like having a baby - the memory of the pain fades -

Hang in there!! It gets better. I agree with the walking recommendation. Walking, heating pag and gas-x mostly did it for me...

I did have to re-visit the pain meds on day 4 when the gas pain became unbearable but it does go away.

Mine morphed into more annoying levels of pain in my back and shoulder after day 4. But it never reached the doubling over in tears level it did on my fourth day.

I must have been lucky, I had no pain at all. Just a little discomfort on getting up, rolling on side. And that funny shoulder ache - just a dull annoying sensation - not pain.

Was up and walking around 2 hours post op and went home that same day about 8 hours post op.

Was on oral codeine and paracetamol for about 3 days to keep any pain from happening, and then weened off it (I think your equivelant in the US is Tylenol 3?)

I too had the sensation that I wanted to burp, but couldn't, which went away on about day 4.

What is Gas X ? Is it for that pain that the air in the abdominal cavity causes (like the shoulder ache) or is it for gas - as in wind/flatulance/burping?

Everyone's advice is great and it all works I tried everything. Peppermint tea helps with the gas as well and the pain under your sternum could be from the manipulation of your diaphragm or from your port site or both. I used an ice pack on and off for about 15 min. at a time and that helped alot. Good luck to you trust me in a few days you'll feel like a million bucks.

The gas pains were the absolute worst part for me. I had them terribly immediately post-op. They kept me overnight cuz my insurance made them...and I'm so glad about that. The chest pain was crushing. They send me for x-ray thinking maybe something was wrong with my band, but they found a gas bubble in my lower stomach the size of a football! Well...no wonder I was miserable. Sleep and lots of meds the nurse gave me to move my bowels is the only thing that helped. Today I am 3 days post-op and I'm feeling really good. I get the bad chest pains right before I'm about to burp or hiccup, but it goes away immediately upon doing one or the other. Eating, walking and going to the bathroom a lot seem to help. I'm thoroughly addicted to my Gas-X chewables. They are my best friends right now.

I had that on-Q thing, too. I'm not sure if it helped or not. It was kind a odd and al ittle intrusive. I had a small rise in temperature - up to 100.0 but it came down as fast as it went up and I have been fine since.

mamajava,

I noticed you had your surgery in Michigan are you from there? I'm from Michigan and had my band done in Pt. Huron

I am one day post-op and gas is killing me. I've done the peppermint tea but am headed to the store for gas x and maylox. I've been walking but it sill hurts. I just wanted to thank you for all of the advice. It sue helps and I do not feel so alone.