A week and a bit after my op and I still get random aches – all completely normal from what I’m told. I have had the good fortune to talk to a couple of different doctors and nurses independently of each other and all of them have said the same thing which gives me confidence in what is being said. Its mainly my back, ribs and right shoulder that have blessed me with a muscular ache, which comes and goes. The back ache I can understand: the body is using the abdominal muscles as little as it can as they have been damaged; that being the case other muscle groups are being over-used to compensate for them. I understand this. The ribs and shoulder I gather is due to the carbon dioxide used when they tried to do the operation via keyhole surgery. I knew that they would put a camera in to see if that was an option, but that they were expecting to do a full incision. For anyone not in the know (I’ve only just discovered this myself) They pump a bit of carbon dioxide into you to kinda blow you up, and give them space to work. The pressure of this carbon dioxide makes you burp for a while after and can give you said aches. All normal stuff from what I have been told. So what I thought were just random aches in random body parts actually has reason behind it, which is a comfort to know.
Before I found out these reasons, one of the funny little thoughts on the apparent randomness was that my body has a really bad secretary. I can imagine the conversation going along the lines of:
Body: “Ouch…”
Secretary: “What’s wrong with you?”
Body: “Ah its nothing, my shoulder just really aches today.”
Secretary: “Oh yeah, about that. You know that stuff that happened to your stomach?”
Body: “Yes?”
Secretary: “Well your shoulders knackered.”
Body: “What?! Whats that got to do with anything?”
Secretary: Shrugs “I dunno. I just found a memo for a shoulder ache and put it through the system.”
Body: “But…”
Secretary: “Ah well. I’m off to lunch. Ta ta!”
Welcome to the strange way my mind works… Anyway. Hope that was useful / entertaining!
KBO
