Please help me about my mum
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Hi Erashid,
My mother just had a left lobectomy on May 12, and is recovering well, but has similar symptoms.
The pain in the right shoulder may be related to the surgery – if they had to cut through her diaphragm (which I can almost guarantee they did with the extensiveness of her surgery), they could have antagonized the phrenic nerve, which connects to the right trapezius muscle. It can cause an extreme amount of pain, but will eventually fade.
The gas can also be related to surgery – if it’s really uncomfortable, maybe your doctor can prescribe a PPI, or you can try something over-the-counter first, like Nexium.
As for the slowness, this is a huge surgery, and will take her some time to recover. My mother’s surgeon said that as long as she walks a little every day, her strength will improve.
Good luck!
Erashid,
I agree with the comments offered by the others. I also want to add that my husband had an extended liver resection with vein/duct reconstruction on 1/12/15 and he had a lot of pain and discomfort for about three and a half months. He reported it to the doctors and they kept an eye on it and advised that most of it was related to sensitive nerve endings in the areas of surgery. He also had shoulder pain and sharp pains occasionally on the side opposite of the surgery, where two drains exited, and in the last few weeks it has almost entirely resolved. I think each patient responds differently. These are very big surgeries of course, and recovery can take some time. Hope your mum continues to recover and is pain free soon.
debbie
Erashid –
My husband had the same surgery. It took him probably 6 months or so to get back to normal. They do a lot of stuff in the belly when they do the surgery so it take a while for everything to become normal again.
The pain in the right should is the same type of pain that can be seen from gall bladder issues. I would suggest limiting fat in her diet and definitely talk about some sort of digestive enzyme to help break things down better. Also something like Gas-X….a simethicone product…..will help break up the gas bubbles and that may help with the pain. You may need to ask at the pharmacy to help find it but that might help.
As for the incision, scar tissue will often itch and can be very dry for a long time after surgery. I would suggest washing with soap and a very mild soap then apply a good moisturizing lotion to the area a couple times a day….something that might have Vitamin E in it.
Hope this helps and keep us posted.KrisV
Erashid,
My husband had two surgeries. He recovered well from the first surgery, but it took him a long time (~6 moths) to recover from the second surgery. I agree with Marion that all of the symptoms related to digestion are probably caused by insufficient enzymes. Supplementing enzyme would be a good idea. Scar itching is expected, but the degree can vary depending on individual differences. However you should ask the doctors about her right shoulder pain.
A couple of questions – is her wound from the surgery healing well? how much liver was resected?
Keeping your mom and you in my thoughts!
Lee
erashid……. A re-routed digestive tract is bound to cause intestinal discomfort especially for those eating foods with a high fat content. You Mum may not produce enough of the enzymes necessary to properly digest food and perhaps digestive enzymes are needed. These supplementary enzymes can be purchased over the counter. Some physician prescribe CREON which contains digestive enzymes that help break down fats, proteins, and carbohydrates.
In regards to itching of the scar: my husband cleaned his scar daily with mild soap and water; itching and pain should be reported to the physician.
The healing process from an invasive surgery such as the one your Mom underwent can take weeks to several months. It is very individual, but as a whole most are able to participate in normal activities within a 6 months time span. Each day should be a slight improvement over the last. Is your Mom moving around; taking walks throughout the day?
Referred shoulder pain may very well be related to the healing of the liver remnant, but as Gavin mentioned, it must be brought to the attention of the physician.
I am glad that you have joined us. The members of this site are very helpful and gladly share their thoughts with you.
Hugs,
MarionHi Erashid,
Welcome to the site. Sorry that you had to find us all here and I am sorry to hear about your mum as well. But glad that you have joined us all as you have come to the best place for support and help and you will get loads of each from all of us here. And please, your English is fine so no apologies needed for that.
I am glad to hear that your mum was able to have surgery and has had it now as so many patients after diagnosis are not able to have the surgery.My dad was not able to have surgery so I can not share any personal experiences from him but I know that others will be along soon to share their experiences with their surgeries. From what you say about how it went and with the test results from April it sounds like it went well apart from the pain that your mum is experiencing just now.
Has your mum spoken with the surgeon or her doctor to see what they say about the pain? Pain is something that should be looked into and if she has not already done so then I would recommend that she speak with them to see what they say about this. The gas problem and burping could be due to a few factors and these are quite common with this cancer. My dad had issues with them as well and it could be down to digestion of food. The pain could be down to quite a few things and it is hard for us to know what is causing this, hopefully others will have some thoughts on that. The itchy scar could just be that it is healing. Does she have itching anywhere else on her body, any yellowing of the eyes or skin etc?
Glad that you have joined us here Erashid. Please keep coming back here and we will help if we can, you are not alone in this now.
My best wishes to you and your mum,
Gavin
My mum is 45 years old and she has been diagnosed İntrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.
Sorry for my poor english.
Her liver was healthy except the tumoric part. The largest tumor was 8 cm and she had 3 little tumors the largest was 1 cm. They were all on the right lobe of the liver. So are oncologist sad that she can have a liver resection. Then we went to a good surgeon who does really good resections and transplants. We had our liver resection the gall bladder and right lobe of the liver is gone now. She had her surgery on 10 february. We had a control on april ct and blood test all the tumor markers and liver enzymes. They were all very good.The problem is she always has pain. She has gas problem, she burps alot but now its a little normal, she gets really itchy araund the scar. And she has right shoulder pain. And she cant stand up still, and still walking slowly. Are these normal? The shoulder pain is scarring me a lot that the tumor is coming back.
3 months past from the surgery but she still has pain. On the scar, right abdomen, over the liver and up to the right shoulder?Are these normal ? How fast did you recover from your surgery ?
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