C-Section Recovery

[joyous_sf]

Hi!  I had a c-section on January 17th, 2009.  It is now April 4th, 2009.  11 weeks post op.  I have been experiecing constant pain since the surgery, and it has been getting worse and worse.  I went to the doctor two weeks after the surgery and one stitch that was pushing out was removed, and Doc said all looked good and the pain was normal.  I returned to the Doc six weeks later as suggested with the pain not getting any better.  Doc said that everything felt and looked normal throughout the pelvic/vaginal exam (which hurt severly), but started me on antibiotics in case of infection, and scheduled an ultrasound to look for any abnormalites. Ultrasound was super painful, but found nothing.  Culture came back one week later and I was prescribed a different antibiotic for a bacterial infection.  After the prescribed ten days (today) I am still having severe pain around the incision and up the left side, and to me it seems swollen.  I return to the Doc on Monday, but am scared they are going to continue to tell me that its just an infection and prescribe more pills.  I am unable to do anything anymore but sit around.  My baby is getting big fast, and I am even having trouble just holding her these days.  I want to get better and would like anyone with any advice or similar experiences to PLEASE email me or respond!!!  THANK YOU ALL IN ADVANCE FOR ANY RESPONSES!!

[Tuckamore]

Hi Joyous,

I am not sure you are on the best forum for you symptoms. There are the Gynecology and Women's Health Forums that may be better suited to your background. That said please know that you are very welcome here.

What my experience tells me is that infections can be very, very painful. I would be concerned if you are still fighting an infection that has been brewing and not cured since January. If on Monday you are told you still have an infection in my opinion it either has not been treated with the drug of choice and/or the ATB therapy has not been aggressive enough to kill the bacteria. You may require some IV ATB therapy.

I suggest that if you do not get your questions answered it is time to seek a second opinion asap. Post-op infections are nothing to be dismissed and can become serious. You should not be in this much pain. You should be enjoying your new beautiful baby.

Good luck to you. Please let us know how you are doing. I will be watching with interest for your updates. Take Care, Tuck

[bamamom02]

First congratulations on your baby girl!  I have 2 little girls at home and they are wonderful.

Are you having any drainage around your incision?  If so what does it look like?  Is there a lot of redness?

The culture that was done-was it a vaginal or of your c-section incision?  I did have a friend that had a lot of pain and it was discovered she had a pocket of infected fluid:  it had to be drained and she required dressing changes for a while to help it heal.  But since you've had an ultrasound, something like that *should* have shown up.

I would tell your ob/gyn that you are having problems holding your doctor due to the pain.  It might be that you need to go further-do you have a family medicine doctor or an internist you could let look at your incision?  If you start running a fever or have severe pain, go to the ER.

I'm so sorry you are having to deal with this on top of having a new baby at home. (((hugs)))