Questions about a new pain!!

@tealbluwarrior
I had the same thing happen to me. It scared the bejesus out of me. I called my surgeons office and was told that often happens from an internal stich or stitches. Call your doctors office on Monday. Mine lasted on and off for at least 6 months.
I know the ER waits are ridiculous, by brother in law waited at Northwestern Hospital in Illinois yesterday for 12 hours before he was seen and his blood sugar was 550 and his doctor called him in ahead of time.
Good Luck

I hope it all works out for you. Alas, I know nothing about this kind of problem. Thank heavens there are still some medical issues that each of us has not had to face.

However, as for wait times in our local hospital's ER where I have had to go about 7 times in the last few months...ALWAYS a minimum of 8 hours and one time it was 12. Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.

Should you visit the ER?

Do you have a fever over 100F? Is the skin around the stoma flushed, and the flushed part getting bigger? Do you need to treat the pain? Has your output stopped (do you have a blockage)? Are you vomiting? If the answer to any of these is yes, then I, personally, would go to the ER. My ER experiences have been that they will treat pain, they may or may not know what to do with a blockage, and a fever and flushing around the stoma could be a sign of infection, so don't wait in that case.

You might try calling your surgeon's on-call number to see if they can give you advice. If you can manage the pain by resting, using appropriate pain killers (as prescribed by your doctor or over the counter), then I would wait if it were me.

I do think that this sort of thing ALWAYS happens on the weekend, or at 5pm on a Friday. I don't think this kind of pain post-surgery is uncommon; I've had it and sort of think of it as your guts settling into the new configuration (I'm on my 4th stoma as a result of my Crohn's Disease). But if there is fever or vomiting. don't wait.

Good luck!

Thank you!! That's my plan, I'm going to call first thing in the morning and talk to a nurse. They might end up sending me to the ER anyway, but hopefully a week day won't be as crazy. Twelve hours is insane!! My last experience my doctor called ahead and told them she suspected I was hemorrhaging. I sat in the waiting room for 3 hours, then another 3 hours in the room before I saw the doctor. People were coming in after me, and going in before me. I understand they triage, but not very well because I was suspected of hemorrhaging. You would think that would put me high on the list. Had I'd actually been hemorrhaging, I'd be dead. But, I definitely will do what my surgeon recommends. So, tomorrow I'll call first thing!! Thanks again!!

Yeah, it's definitely crazy there always!! And, the problem is they don't triage properly. I am going to call my surgeon's office first thing tomorrow and do whatever they suggests I do!! Thank you!!

Thank you!! I don't have a fever, no vomiting, and the stoma looks great!! I don't think it's a blockage because my output is okay. I might be a tad backed up because when I do go it's only little things. But, I'm actually more concerned about a hernia. Nothing is bulging however I do know it's possible to have an invisible hernia. My plan is to call my surgeon's office first thing tomorrow morning and do whatever they recommend!! Thanks again!!

I’ve had two surgeries for volvulus and later a stricture resulting in a colostomy and stoma. If I were you I would go to ER despite a wait. I initially went to the ER for pain and after my wait was admitted for emergency surgery that saved my life. A month later I was discharged but returned to the ER for abdominal pain and again had emergency surgery. Your pain is no doubt different but if you would have gone to the ER right away your issue would have been reviewed by a doctor and hopefully you’d be home by now with the issue clarified. I’ve learned to take messages the body is giving me seriously.

I still get a lot of discomfit in stomach area on both sides and some pain on right side especially walking I have been back to surgeon and my gp They attribute it to all to the amount of muscle they cut through and possibly some scar tissue but no signs of hernia Its been almost a year for me but I am 85 and do not heal quickly even with small cuts or bruises They tell me I will heal and it will be better as time goes on

"No joke at least 3 hours in the waiting room. " I was rereading the posts and thought to myself...waiting the normal 8 hours to be treated is so commonplace in our hospital and has been in effect for SO many years....yes, years...now that waiting only three hours seems like nothing. The medical system in Ontario Canada is broken for so long now. A lot of Americans mistakenly believe that the Canadian medical system is terrific...well, it ain't and that's that!

@tealbluwarrior, I wanted to follow up. Did you end up going to the Emergency Department? What did you learn from your surgeon? How are you doing now?