Left leg pain after R/C

My husband had his surgery on Dec. 7, 2006. The worst part of his recovery was from the leg pain he suffered with. We too thought it was nerve damage caused by the long period on the OR table (7 hrs.)and finally the surgeon referred us to a Physical Therapy clinic. That didn't help at all. I was beginning to think that Bob would end up in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. (He had now been in constant pain and practically unable to walk for 3 months)

In desperation I took him to see our family doctor who referred us to yet another Physical Therapist. Thank God, these people knew what they were doing. They said it was scar tissue that had built up in the area of the surgery. (He had the bladder and prostate removed, and a neo-bladder constructed from a piece of the small intestine.) After about 7 weeks of therapy twice a week, Bob was able to walk again and was pain free. We celebrated his 71st birthday yesterday at the pool where he joined family and friends swimming and playing ball. We leave on the 9th for a vacation in the Rocky Mountains where he loves to hike and fish.

Don't give up. If one doctor or physical therapist doesn't help, try another.

Ellen
Goose Creek, SC

My pain did not start immediately after surgery but i had a lot of very numb areas still. It was as i can remember about 2 weeks after but definately connected to the surgery. Pat

Did the leg pain start immediately after surgery, or did a few months pass before the pain started? My Dad saw a neurologist who said there was no nerve damage but he still has the pain in his left leg. Dad thinks that, since the pain didn't start immediately after the surgery, the pain is not related to the surgery. However, he did have several lymph nodes removed.

After my R/C and Neo bladder in Jan 07, I too have had severe left leg pain. I was told it also was also probaly from the positioning on the table. I was sent to a neurologist and it was confirmed as nerve damage. That was the bad news. The good news is he felt it would return to normal over time. (1 Yr a least he stated!) The pain has been unbearable at times. I was requesting Vicoden refill after refill. It did not seem to touch the pain at all. I finally was sent to Pain Management in March. They gave me a Lidocain Iv , Neurontin and Methodone to manage the pain. It did work. However I was out of it. I received the Lidocain IV monthly untill August. I decided to ween myself of the Methodone in July so I would feel better and I could return to work. It has been a very very slow recovery, I still have pain and I can't run either. I have been thru P/T. It has improved dramatically but it is difficult to be patient.
Today my leg is still numb and painful around my knee area. However , I am greatful that my Neo bladder is working as I expected. I would try to seek some pain management and try to be patient ( it has been dificult for me at times) as it should improve over time. I wish you the best in your recovery.

Dave
48 yr old male
T2a no mx

Actually for my leg pain the chiropractor i went to (and i've never been to a chiropractor before) did a kind of pressure point thing with me where i would lie on my left side (it was my left leg from the groin area down) with my left knee just slightly bent and my right leg over the top of it and he pressed at my buttox area down a few times and then i laid on a table with an icepack on my lower spine for 20 minutes. I used the frozen peas at home and 4 times a day applied the icepack. It took about 2 visits and the pain was gone...it would come back occasionally but i knew the routine by then and could do it myself.
Now i'm not advocating this for anyone else...it happened to be a last resort for me as noone else had a clue what to do. Pat

Hi Ginger & Gene,

I was told at Wake Forest that the reason for the left leg pain is the removal of the Lymph Nodes in the Pelvic area, they are near major nerves that travel down the leg from the groin area. My Husband had a problem after a few biopsies in that area, and the surgeon said it is much worse when they actually remove the Nodes. After the surgery they have either been injured and will return to normal, have been damaged and will need time to re-connect, or are permanently damaged. I think that it depends on how many the Dr. took and from what area. Hopefully Gene's problem is temporary. Heat/Ice will help. It doesn't matter which, just whatever he responds to better. I would think in that area that heat is more probable though.

If you remember the old Encyclopedia's that had pictures of the body, and the transparent layers could be flipped through to view the nerves, muscles, organs etc. Well there is alot more in that area than just organs and Lymph Nodes, If there weren't nerves there would be no pleasure or pain. They control it all.

Alittle joke from Robin Williams I saw the other day in his movie "Man of the Year" he was talking about the human body:

"God had a sense of humor, he put a recreational area next to a waste removal facility".


Hope to hear from you soon,

Karen