Dr. Eric Pinnar performed my surgery on April 18, 2008. I've had two post-op visits with him so far and all is going very well. He asked me to pass along my personal experience with post-op pain because he feels that is a question lots of potential patients have. I'm glad to help.
My veins are hard to find so I had the IV in the back of my hand. That was unpleasant, but not bad. More annoying than painful. When I woke up after the surgery I guess I was on pain medication because I really didn't feel much. Because I wear CPAP due to sleep apnea I had to stay overnight in the hospital. As the day wore on my stomach started to feel like I'd done too many situps. Sore, but no real pain. I got out of bed four or five times the first day. By evening I was walking for fifteen minutes or so. I really don't remember if they gave me any pain medication the first night.
The next morning I got up twice to take walks while waiting to be released. The nurse suggested I take a dose of oral pain medicine since my trip home is more than an hour. I'm glad I did that because it helped me relax and not worry if anything was going to hurt.
At home I didn't need any pain meds at all. My stomach was sore, but no real pain. By the fourth day biggest problem was remembering I had had surgery and avoiding too much phycical activity.
Maybe I was lucky, but for me the post-op pain was never a problem.
