Doctor will not return my call

[anne17]

I had surgery three weeks ago.  At my 2 week post op checkup the doctor said there was no reason I should still be experiencing pain (in spite of the fact that I am in bad pain) and took me off Lortabs and put me on a non-narcotic pain med.  I called back and said the new med did nothing and I was in terrible pain (in tears).  Hours later - after they were closed - the nurse called back and said to try doubling the medicine and if that did not help - go to the ER and get re-evaluated.  Instead I went to my family doctor.  He put me back on the Lortabs and told me to go back to the surgeon.  He also referred me to another specialist to be re-evaluated.

I called the surgeon's office and asked for an appointment.  The receptionist had me hold and came back and said the nurse needed to talk to the surgeon about when to see me and the nurse would call me back.  That was three days ago - she never returned my call.  I take this as a "no, I don't want to see you again".

The other specialist is starting me over on tests.  To be honest, I did not really want to go back to the surgeon any way.  But I'm wondering if there are not some ethics involved here?

[melissaky]

Oh my gosh Ann I am so sorry you are being treated this way by your surgeon .I had my hysterectomy in 1997 and my surgeon was very good about treating my pain .I cannot imagine what you are going through .As someone here said a hysterecctomy is a very emotional and physical upheveal to your body and mind .You should be handled with care like you deserve . Thank goodness you have your GI Dr on your side .I feel just terrible for you .This is not right and I don't see how there could not be some ethical problem .These kind of things just infuriates me .I wish you all the best Ann and I hope you get better real soon .I will keep you in my prayers .Take care honey
Melissa

[anne17]

After I saw the GI doc (my long time friend), the nurse in the GYN office called me - and I am 99% sure it was because my GI doc called and told them they needed to call me back!   She gave me an appointment - and the nurse was overly super nice - but the doctor was totally cold and only said "what are you doing here?" and did not even examine me.

The GI doc ordered a CT scan and it came back with a couple of problems that might be related to the surgery (a hernia where the instrument went in, swelling there and one other place in that area).  He put me on an antibiotic and said he tried to call the GYN to see if this would be consistent with the level of pain I am experiencing - but he could not get through.  So now we are waiting to see if the antibiotic helps.

[Tuckamore]

I apologize to my tardy response. You were treated horribly. I do think there are some ethics involved here....and your surgeon appears to be lacking his!

I am wondering if the surgeon ever returned you call. Have you discovered why you are still in so much pain?

In my opinion many surgeons are a different breed of physicians. They like the "fix it" much like a mechanic likes to repair a car or an welder likes to mend parts. Many seem to be lacking bedside manor. When they think their repair is done, so are they.

Please let us know how you are doing. I'm interested to hear what you have learned and hope that you pain is being controlled.

Peace,
~Tuck

[houseofgirls]

Oh hun, I am so sorry you were treated this way!  I haven't had a hysterectomy (yet) since my dr feels that is a last resort for me due to all of my previous surgeries.  However, I do know what it is like having pelvic pain every single day, and having to keep getting more tests done with very few answers.  A hysterectomy is often times a very emotional experience on top of it being a major surgery.  It just breaks my heart that your surgeon treated you the way she did.  I'm not sure what planet she lives on, but the recovery time is often much longer than a mere 2 weeks!

I just want you to know that I am here if you need to talk to someone.  I am happy that you have your other doctors treating you at this time.  I know how important it is to have the support from your medical team.

Please keep us updated on what you find out.  Hope you begin to feel better really soon!

[anne17]

I had a hysterectomy.  I did have a two week post-op appointment and that is when she said I should not be having any more pain.  She gave me some non-narcotic pain med that did absolutely nothing.  I was on 7.5 mg Hydrocodone every 4 hours when I went in.  When I called back they just said go to the ER.

The family doctor put me back on the 7.5 Hydrocodone and sent me to a gastroenterologist possibly for a colonoscopy since the other possible causes for the pain should have been seen during the hysterectomy.

The gastroenterologist sent me for a CT scan.  That showed some possible problems related to the hysterectomy and the last I heard he was having a problem contacting the surgeon too.   He wanted to talk to her about whether the problems they found could be causing the degree of pain I am in. The gastroenterologist is a long time friend - even gave me his cell phone number - and promised to see it through.

[Sarajmt]

I'm glad that Jaded brought this up.  I don't understand why you didn't have a follow up appointment.  I've had lots of surgery but have always had a followup.  Why this wasn't done is beyond me and does tend to border on medical neglect.

[namnam46]

Hi anne,

I want to welcome you to the Pain management Forum and let you know that we are glad that you have found this Forum.  I need you to understand that there are NO Doctors on this Forum. We are ALL CP (Chronic Pain) Patients that share with each other our OWN experiences and expertise that we have gained through our own CP conditions.

It makse me sad to see someone NOT get the support that you deserve from your Doctor after your Surgery.  No matter what you Surgeon should return your calls.

Would you please share with us what TYPE of Surgery that you had?  ALSO - what STRENGTH of Lortabs were you on?

That COULD make a difference in why your Doctor decided that you didn't need any pain pills after ONLY 2 weeks.  The problem with that decision is that no matter WHAT type of surgery it was - whether Major OR Minor - EACH patient experiences pain at a DIFFERENT level and just because your Doctor has DECIDED that you don't NEED the Lortabs anymore that DOESN'T mean that you DON'T.  It's terribly unprofessional of him to ASSUME that you DON'T have any pain anymore.

I'm so very sorry that you are having to go through this!!  You DEFINITELY need to see a DIFFERENT surgeon to be re-assessed to see where your surgery stands. You need to know WHY your pain is still so severe.  

PLEASE let us know what type of surgery you had as well as what you find out from a 2nd Opinion.

BEST of Luck...........Sherry

[JadedSweetheart]

I haven't had surgery, but I have had doctor's offices not call me back.  I always end up calling them the next day or day after that.  I have also read on here that quite a few people have had surgeons not address their post-op pain.
My husband had multiple surgeries and was given nothing for pain afterwards.  Although that was before I met him because I wouldn't stand for that.
It sounds like the new specialist is good.  I think that you may need a post-op appt, though, and I am surprised the surgeon who did the surgery would not already have made an appt for you.

[Sarajmt]

Are you running any fever?  He should be seeing you if for no other reason to rule out infection.  Right after surgery, a slight fever is to be expected.  But this amount of pain after surgery isn't right.  I've never had a surgeon not see me because of a problem after the surgery.  And yes, I believe there is an ethics problem here.

[flower12345]

I can't believe that doctors do this! He performed surgery on you, for goodness sake. I am so sorry that I don't have any advice, as I have never dealt with this before, but I'm sure that others will be on to help.

I

[houseofgirls]

I'm not sure what type of surgery you had, but I just want to tell you how sorry I am that you are being treated that way.  I have NEVER had a surgeon do that to me.  My surgeon/s have always treated my pain as long as I needed them to, even if that pain lasted past a month!  I'm not sure that there is much you can do at this point.  Obviously I would never go back to that surgeon if I were you.  

If he refuses to see you, and you are still in pain I think you should ask your PCP to refer you to a pain management clinic to help you with the rest of your post op pain.  I don't know much about it, but the pain clinic I may go to states on their website that they do treat acute post op pain as well as chronic pain.  

Unfortunately, there are surgeons out there who just do not know how to manage pain after surgery.  They think that just because they have performed a surgery, that whatever it is they did "fixed" everything and all should be back to normal.  They don't understand that sometimes it takes a while to completely heal, or worse, sometimes the problem isn't even fixed.  

You could also try seeing a new surgeon for a second opinion.

I hope you start to heal soon and feel better!