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Gall Bladder Removed, Hiatal Hernia, Shoulder Pain. Treatment, Advise?
Posted on
Sun, 29 Apr 2012
Medically reviewed by
Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team
Sun, 29 Apr 2012
Answered on
Sun, 8 Jul 2012
Last reviewed on
Question : I had my gall bladder removed and a hiatal hernia repair on Thursday afternoon. It is Sunday morning. I am having a pain in my shoulder. Also, I can only drink 4 sips of liquid at a time or it comes back up. I am attempting to drink one 8 oz. Glass of water every hour. Had an ensure....that took an hour. The doctor did not explain this fully and I am afraid.
Hi XXXXXXX
Thanks for writing in.
From your description, it appears that you underwent a dual surgery in the same sitting.The two surgeries were cholecystectomy and hiatus hernia repair. Performing two surgeries in one sitting by itself is too much of stress and strain on the body especially in 65 year old individual.
It is difficult to believe that there were compelling indications to perform both at the same time. Ideally, a gap of 12 weeks should have been kept between the 2 surgeries.
Shoulder tip pain is due to irritation caused by the gas insufflated for laparoscopic surgery. This gas needs to be removed as much as possible. If some amount remains then it causes shoulder tip pain until the gas gets dissolves which may take upto a week or 10 days.
In order to achieve complete decompression of the operated stoamch after surgery it would have been preferable to keep a ryle's tube ( a feeding tube) in place until good bowel movements are regained. This could be between 3-4 days.
I hope this answers all your queries.
Regards
Thanks for writing in.
From your description, it appears that you underwent a dual surgery in the same sitting.The two surgeries were cholecystectomy and hiatus hernia repair. Performing two surgeries in one sitting by itself is too much of stress and strain on the body especially in 65 year old individual.
It is difficult to believe that there were compelling indications to perform both at the same time. Ideally, a gap of 12 weeks should have been kept between the 2 surgeries.
Shoulder tip pain is due to irritation caused by the gas insufflated for laparoscopic surgery. This gas needs to be removed as much as possible. If some amount remains then it causes shoulder tip pain until the gas gets dissolves which may take upto a week or 10 days.
In order to achieve complete decompression of the operated stoamch after surgery it would have been preferable to keep a ryle's tube ( a feeding tube) in place until good bowel movements are regained. This could be between 3-4 days.
I hope this answers all your queries.
Regards
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Aparna Kohli
Answered by
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