I went in to surgery at 9:30am and was out by 11:30am. It was a very straightforward surgery with no complications but I was in a lot of pain when I woke up. The incision sites stung like they had salt on them. I was discharged at 4pm.
The shoulder pain started about 7pm. My god!!! It’s excruciating. I was given dihydrocodeine and it barely tickled the sides. It was impossible to relax. The only way I could get comfortable was kneeling on the floor with my head resting on the couch, turned to the left, and my right arm bent round my head. I got about 3 hours sleep the first night.
The shoulder pain lasted for 3 days and did not let up. The incision sites ached a bit and standing up straight was a no-no, but I thought I was gonna lose my sanity from the white hot agony in my shoulder. Then it just stopped. It was amazing!
Then the incisions decided to wake up. I’ve got 4 in total; one in my belly button, one on my diaphragm and 2 little ones on my right hand side. I’m convinced the surgeons shoved a bowling ball up through my bellybutton and pulled it out of my diaphragm for a laugh before they took my gallbladder out.
Diyhydrocodeine causes constipation so I was given a big bottle of liquid laxative to take twice a day. It didn’t work. I felt like a whale and I was TERRIFIED of when it would kick in cos I couldn’t even cough without seeing stars. I stopped the painkillers on day 5 and nearly passed out on day 6 when all functions went back to normal-ish.
Today I’m 8 days post op and feel brilliant. The incision sites are still tender but I can move around like normal. For anyone due to have the op, yes it’s f*cking horrible at first and you may think the pain will never go but it will, I promise. At about 7/8 days you’ll be right as rain so don’t worry x