Has anyone had referred shoulder pain in post pancreatectomy?

Posted by wifey2021 @wifey2021, Feb 26, 2023

Hi all,
My husband is 6 weeks out from surgery and struggling with severe pain in his shoulder. It is unrelenting, so we had it seen at the ER earlier this morning. He was prescribed oxy and a muscle relaxer. It is helping minimally.

He is already taking Tylenol and Ibuprofen for stomach cramping, which resolved a couple of days ago. The cramping was really bad, so he continues to take it. He is eating normally with no issues and digestion is also normal. The surgical team said the cramping was not unusual and recommended this protocol.

He had a post-surgery drain that was in so long (it was still draining) that it got infected. It was removed and now we believe there is either a mass of infection or pancreatic leaking going on. He has had two courses of antibiotic and the stomach cramping/shoulder pain is not an issue when he is on it.

I know that many people dealt with post-surgical issues for much longer, but we were really hoping for fewer ER trips (3) and pain this far out. Especially since there have been some really "normal" days and we always hope that a corner has been turned. And then it hasn't been.

Has anyone had drain complications or other issues that caused referred shoulder pain?

Thanks in advance for any input.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Neuroendocrine Tumors (NETs) Support Group.

Sorry to hear about your husband's pain during recovery. I had a modified whipple surgery, liver resection, and liver ablation in 2019. I left hospital at 14 days with a drain in, that was draining around 240ml a day. I had pain in my left shoulder in the front that would come and go. Over the counter pain medication helped enough to make it tolerable but did not get rid of it completely, so your husband's pain sounds alot worse. I was back in the ER after 43 days with intolerable pain on my left side, it was very sharp like something was stabing inside me. I had a CT scan and blood work, and they checked for blood clots and that my drain was still in place and working, they didn't find anything to explain the pain. No blood clots, no fluid collection, no infection. I was relieved to know that the CT showed no problems post surgery. The terrible pain lasted for over a week, the only time I wasn't in pain was when I layed perfectly still. Which doesn't help for recovery, ER gave me hydromorphine to take home for the pain which I decided not to take as I had a horrible 4 days when I stopped taking it previously. I was finally completely pain free at four months and that was also when my drain finally healed on its own. I would discuss the pain with the surgeon, I have read in the past that shoulder pain can be from air remaining post surgery. My recovery was slower then I was expecting, just made sure I was up and walking as must as possible. I did meet with a dietitian post surgery to discuss the easiest food to digest, and I needed to go on pancreatic enzymes for the first few months. They did help but was happy to get off them, found it difficult to get the dosage right. At 6 weeks I was disappointed with where I was in my recovery but I slowly improved. Wishing you and your husband the best, hopefully your husband will turn the corner soon.

REPLY
@smt

Sorry to hear about your husband's pain during recovery. I had a modified whipple surgery, liver resection, and liver ablation in 2019. I left hospital at 14 days with a drain in, that was draining around 240ml a day. I had pain in my left shoulder in the front that would come and go. Over the counter pain medication helped enough to make it tolerable but did not get rid of it completely, so your husband's pain sounds alot worse. I was back in the ER after 43 days with intolerable pain on my left side, it was very sharp like something was stabing inside me. I had a CT scan and blood work, and they checked for blood clots and that my drain was still in place and working, they didn't find anything to explain the pain. No blood clots, no fluid collection, no infection. I was relieved to know that the CT showed no problems post surgery. The terrible pain lasted for over a week, the only time I wasn't in pain was when I layed perfectly still. Which doesn't help for recovery, ER gave me hydromorphine to take home for the pain which I decided not to take as I had a horrible 4 days when I stopped taking it previously. I was finally completely pain free at four months and that was also when my drain finally healed on its own. I would discuss the pain with the surgeon, I have read in the past that shoulder pain can be from air remaining post surgery. My recovery was slower then I was expecting, just made sure I was up and walking as must as possible. I did meet with a dietitian post surgery to discuss the easiest food to digest, and I needed to go on pancreatic enzymes for the first few months. They did help but was happy to get off them, found it difficult to get the dosage right. At 6 weeks I was disappointed with where I was in my recovery but I slowly improved. Wishing you and your husband the best, hopefully your husband will turn the corner soon.

Jump to this post

When I said that his digestion is normal, something in my brain is nagging me because we did have greasy pizza last night. We have had pizza since his surgery but went with the least greasy one we could find. I wonder....

Your drain was busy! I have heard that is true of liver resections. Today's CT, which I just pulled up on MyChart, does show some changes. I am concerned that he will need to have a drain re-inserted. He will hate that thought. So many times he has built up his appetite and he feels "well", only to have an issue and start over.

Thank you for your message, I appreciate your insight.

REPLY
Please sign in or register to post a reply.