tram flap post op side effects

[vicbates]

My mom who is 65 years old had this procedure 3 weeks ago.  She was standing upright and walking the halls of the hospital 24 hours after surgery (with pain of course) They told her she would experience tightness in her belly but in addition to that she gets this pain where she feels like her stomach is so full it will explode (she has not been eating very much either.) The pain comes and goes. Is this normal.  She is on percocet but she doesn't like to take them because she says thay cause constipation. Could these pains just be gas? Or is this a result from surgery? She still has one drainage tube in her side could it be fluid build up? Also her breast will sometimes get hard then the hardness goes away is that normal?  Could it be a blood clot?  If these pains are normal will they go away I've read horror stories on the internet where patients are still in pain a year later.

[CCF-RN,MSN-rf]

Dear vicbates:  There is wide variability in how people recover from surgery.  From a recovery point of view, it is still early to make any assumptions regarding whether this is normal, especially without the opportunity for evaluation.  It would be best to have your mother check with her plastic surgeon.

[surgeon]

It's really not possible to evaluate early postop symptoms from afar: what you describe might be normal, or it might represent other problems. The only way to find out is for her to address these concerns to her surgeon.