Long-Term Pain

Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 9:57 pm Post subject: Long-Term Pain

I've already heard from some of you on the Facebook groups, but I also wanted to ask here if any of you are more than a year past your VATS pleurectomy and still have pain. Mine is MUSCULAR and at the bottom of my ribs/diaphragm area. There is constant pain there and it is exacerbated by:

- sneezing
- blowing my nose
- serving a volleyball overhead
- bouncing when I do a brisk walk
- can no longer do a sit-up

Also, it kind of feels like the inside bottom of my ribs are bruised to the touch.

My pulmo said he's never seen someone have pain this long after surgery. I can live with it, but I couldn't if it happened on the other side, too. My last CT scan did show an adhesion at the base of the lung, which is where I am complaining of the pain. I just find it hard to believe, in all the years my pulmo has been practicing, that he's never seen this before.

Any thoughts are appreciated!

Thanks,
Mackie
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41F, VATS w/mechanical pleurodesis and parietal/visceral pleurectomy-Sept. '08

New Member Joined: 21 May 2009 Posts: 6

Hi Mackie, so sorry you still have pain one year after surgery, that is tough! I don't know if it's unusual like your pulmonologist says. I too asked my surgeon about long term pain, and if anyone was taking painkillers after six months, and he said no. I don't really feel much pain now, I did at first but it got better not too long after my pleurectomy, until after about maybe three or four months I wasn't noticing anything.

Maybe your adhesions are causing pain. I've read that abdominal adhesions cause pain in some people.

I know what you mean about the inside bottom of your ribs feeling bruised.