I haven't had a splenectomy yet, but had an appendectomy last friday and can honestly say i am still in pain just under a week later. I had to go the doctor today to get some stronger pain killers and he gave me tramadol cause my pain was about a 9 out of 10 this morning. I am expecting to go back to work on monday though. The doctor today told me that there was probally internal bruising and possibly some minor internal bleeding as well as the external bruisng which could cause some issues as well.
I had key hole surgery and he said because they had instruments and the camera in there, they is probally some trauma from that as well. My Aunties friend had his appendix taken out a couple of months ago and she said it took him a good month for the pain to really go away. I know a appendectomy is not the same as what your having, but they do it the same way which is why i thought i'd let you know my experience. I usually have a really high pain threshold, so for me to say the pain was 9 today and crying cause of the pain, then thats saying something for me.
I don't want to scare you and everyone reacts to pain differently, but i thought i'd let you know how i am feeling, so your not gonna go in with any false pretense that your not gonna be in much pain cause you might. Like i said you might not have the same experience as me and might have very little pain, but i thought i'd prepare you anyway and your having two seperate things done as well in the one surgery, so u might be in a bit more pain maybe??
This may be a bit gross sounding, but i wasn't made aware of it at the hospital and didn't know i would have issues till i got home the day after surgery, but i also had trouble with constipation and my doctor today said the anesthetic has a paralyzing agent in it which makes your bowels paralyzed and then with all the pain killing drugs they give you also has agents that can make u constipated and then to top it all, whenever u try to go to the toliet, you natually want to push out with your stomach to find it is the most unbearable pain ever cause you have just had surgery there.
Also if they do key hole surgery, they inflat your stomach with carbon dioxide so they can see everything with the camera more clearly so there might be some left over gas that they don't fully get out, so make sure you ask for help with the consipation if you need it. I had to take metamucil and increase my fiber in my diet plus get something from the pharmacy to help with the constipation.
Like i said before, I hope this hasn't grossed anyone out, but like i said nobody at the hospital made me aware of the side effects from the general anesthetic and the possible problems it could have on your bowels and it is something i think everyone should know when undergoing any type of sugery and it would have been good to know that information before hand or even to make sure i knew before i went home so i could combat the problem before it got unbearable. Most of my pain earlier in the week i think i can attribute to that issue and now i have that problem solved, i am concentrating on getting rid of the pain from where the surgery was done.
Good Luck with it all and I hope i have given you some helpful information so you can prepare for your surgery better, let us know how it all goes, i'll be thinking and praying for you xoxo