chilibill Posted March 27, 2005 Share Posted March 27, 2005 In July my friend had part of her left lung removed. To accomplish this, the surgeon had to remove a section of her rib. Since then this area has become increasingly more irritated and painful. Pain management efforts have ceased to be effective and the pain management doctor has referred her back to the surgeon. My friend is worried the surgeon will suggest removing the rib. Have any forum members had experience with this type of pain and have any suggestions about what might treat it effectively. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don M Posted March 27, 2005 Share Posted March 27, 2005 Hi: It could be that her nerves which were cut are "waking up".. Lots of people have problems with this months after surgery. Did she have an epidural at surgery? An anesthiologist told me at my last surgery that many people have post op pain problems develop if they did not use an epidural to block pain during the procedure and during recovery. I hope your friend finds an answer.. and I seriously doubt that the surgeon would want to remove the rest of her rib. I saved my rib. It is in my desk drawer. I had it on a shelf, but my daughter's cat kept on playing with it so I put it away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbays Posted March 27, 2005 Share Posted March 27, 2005 I had a lot of rib pain after my surgery in aug.. Nothing helped the pain until my Onc. suggested Neurontin. It was like night and day after I started taking it. Hope your friend has quich relief. God bless, Barb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowflake Posted March 27, 2005 Share Posted March 27, 2005 Over two years from surgery and I still get intermittent rib pain. It was really horrible beginning about two months after surgery and very gradually got better. If the pain is getting worse, so bad that pain management isn't helping and she is being referred back to the surgeon, I would suggest she follow those orders. Even if they go back in and remove the rib (?), pain that eventually goes away is better than a pain that cannot be managed. Motrin (800 mg) keeps down the pain for me when it starts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Lamb Posted March 27, 2005 Share Posted March 27, 2005 I had lung removed 06/18/03 and still have pains where they broke and spread my ribs.Sometimes pain isn't too bad and other times hurts like heck.As mentioned above it could also have to do with the nerves and muscles that were cut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debi Posted March 27, 2005 Share Posted March 27, 2005 I have posted before about the soreness I still have and mirror the others above me. Sometimes I am okay, other times, the pain is always present and it is just something I deal with. I guess the question would be how bad your friend's pain is. I couldn't wear as much as a sports bra for 6 months and then slowly, it started to improve. Are there times when the pain lessens? It could be the numbness is wearing off and she is feeling more pain. I'm assuming she had a bone scan to make sure there are no fractures, etc? Either way, I'm not a doctor, but I don't think a surgeon would recommend removing a rib (of course I could be wrong, I have been before ). Whatever they do, I hope your friend is feeling better soon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiams Posted March 27, 2005 Share Posted March 27, 2005 I'm one month away from the one year anniversary of my surgery and I still have lingering soreness in my side and in my upper back near my incision. A couple of weeks ago I moved a large television and really aggravated it. I don't like taking pain pills or Ibuprofen so last December I got my Dr. to refer me to a physical therapist. I have been religiously doing exercises to increase the muscle strength in the affected areas and it has made a significant difference. Good luck to your friend, hopefully it will get better. Kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elnodel Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 My husband, Len, is approaching his first year anniversary (late April) of his lobectomy, and is still feeling some rib pain. It was most pronounced after surgery but never completely subsided. We weren't expecting it, so the fact that it did persist was most unsettling. But I wrote in to this forum and heard some of the stories that you see here, which did allay our worst fears. He never took anything major for the pain, going off percocet several weeks post-op and not wanting to have anything like that. But the onc. suggested neurontin several months later, when the pain was still substantial, and he took neurontin for about four months. We never thought it really did anything for his pain. He found the pain gradually subsiding even after he stopped neurontin, then suddenly, during radiation, found it coming back. It's been back and forth ever since, sometimes intense, sometimes almost non-existent. All very strange. It certainly is nowhere as intense as it was in the beginning, and it's something he's learning to live with. Hope things work out for your friend. The exercises that Kevin's doing sound very interesting. Ellen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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