Saturday, October 04, 2008

Malpractice?

I told Timm that I think they left some gauze in me when they did the surgery. I don't want to be dramatic, or I would have said they left an instrument in there, so I think it's just gauze.
There's this one place along my incision that hurts even when nothing else does. 3 weeks from the surgery and I am managing the lingering pain with 4 Advil every few hours, but this spot still hurts. Sometimes it's a dull reminder and sometimes a sharp stabbing pain. Underneath the incision it feels thick and ropey, different than it's ever felt from the other 2. It seems strange to me that the same spot always hurts when nothing else does and that it is so sensitive to the touch.
I got the idea from an Oprah I saw once with several people who had experienced major medical mistakes at the hands of their doctors. There was a man who was erroneously castrated because they thought there was cancer but didn't consult him and then it turned out there was no cancer. He was very elderly and married, but he was absolutely crushed because even though he was old he said he and his wife still enjoyed a very active sex life. He could barely speak without silently weeping. Another woman had surgery on the wrong limb, one woman had defective breast implants that were riddled with mold. ew. And then one woman had a wad of gauze left in her abdomen from surgery. She had pain for months and complained until they took x-rays and saw that there was foreign matter in her abdominal cavity.
Timm doesn't think I have foreign matter in my abdominal cavity.
I'm not so sure.

7 comments:

michelle said...

I sincerely hope you do not have foreign matter in your abdominal cavity.

Anonymous said...

I had this same thing after Kaylee!!! Not something foreign, just one spot and it hurt for way longer than everywhere else. Hate to say it, but it took a few months to totally feel normal- well as normal as everywhere else. How irritating- I bet it is nothing, but still worth asking your doctor about!

charlotte said...

I saw that Oprah: yikes. I'd ask about it.

Jill said...

I really hope you don't have any foreign matter in your abdominal cavity! (Oh dear, I just saw that Michelle said almost exactly the same thing.)

Denise said...

Foreign matter of any kind should be avoided.

rmt said...

I remember watching that show and being horrified! I don't think I'll ever forget it!
But honestly having a foreign object left in you might not be too bad: a few months of pain, then a huge cash settlement and comfortable living for the rest of your life!
No, really--that's strange. I agree with Hannah: ask your doctor about it.

Tasha said...

They use rag like things to soak up blood during surgeries, especially in the abdominal cavity, they have a small piece of something that will show up on xray sown into them. They count instruments, etc after cases and before to make sure that everything that went in came out, but sometimes those wrags get so blood soaked that they look like the innards. When a patient is asleep, they will do a quick x-ray to see if there is a wrag or whatever in there. If you are really worried, go in and talk to the doc about it and they can do a quick xray. I've never had a section, but I know that I feel like HELL for a lot longer than anyone else I know that has normal vaginal deliveries. I have these tiny preemie babies and for like 10 weeks I'd love to be popping percocets because I hurt like a (insert turrets there!) Those Oprah shows freak people out, and are NOT the norm, but if you are worried, go have them take a look.

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