Abdominal pain 5+ months after surgery

[alanpvegas]

Sorry, another question.  (Mom stage 3 ovca, dx 8/06).  She had full hysderectomy, partial colon and partial lymph nodes removed and i think the spleen removed also.  Anyways we are months from surgery but she still has the same pain in the same location.  She has to be on schedule with 3mg of dilaudid every 3 hours just to try and control the pain.  Is this normal?  Does it ever end?  It's emotionally hard to see my mom in this pain and she is teriffied of it.  I'm not sure what else to do about it.  It took a big fight just to get her 'on schedule', before that she was crying in pain all the time because she had to call for it and it took the nurses forever to get it to her.

[Helmar]

Hello... if you stop and think about it, your Mum has had a HUGE operation, so it takes quite a while to get over the twinges and pain. Even though her scars on the outside could be looking much better, it always takes a lot longer to heal on the inside, and there will be a lot of scar tissue there, so yes.. she will have pain off and on for a while, but it will eventually get better. This is 'part and parcel' of having a lot of our insides taken out. In my case I also had bowel involvement, but 3 years down the track and I have absolutely no pain or discomfort at all. I have a great appetite and lead a very active life....walking a lot too. We all go through these times, as it more fear of the unknown I think, but with the experience of it, and now it's history to me, I don't worry at all about anything. Wasted energy really, as what one worries about, may not even happen.
Wishing you Mum all the best for soon to be, a pain-free time.
Best wishes..Helmar...

[JulieAM]

In my opinion, if she is having severe and persistent pain in one location, her doctors should try to get to the bottom of it.  If they are not, perhaps she needs to seek a second opinion about it.  There are many things it could be other than cancer, scar tissue, adhesions, a damaged nerve, whatever, that could possibly be treated.  I do not myself have ovarian cancer but my aunt was diagnosed at stage IV and had several operations and never needed narcotics for more than a few weeks after her surgeries.  I hope she is able to get some relief soon, I think you are right to be concerned about this.