I suspect each case is different. I had my Ivor Lewis in September. The pain could be in different places each day - front side or back. I was confused as I have seen a short video of the procedure and know they prise your ribs apart in your back to get in to the chest cavity. Talking to my surgeon he described it as nerve damage and not as rib damage. I think I felt pain free by Christmas (3.5 months after). However this march I got home from swimming, sat down and sneezed. Suddenly I was in real pain and had to take serious painkillers for 2 days which taught me I still wasn't completely recovered.
Hi, I really know how you feel. I had a tightness in the side of my back where they want in, at first it felt like I had a big sticking plaster pulling on the skin but as the months went by the pain increased. It is down to the nerve damage caused, so I'm told. Basically the nerve ending have bunched together and send pain signals all the time, it got worse as months passed. The plan was to do a nerve block injection but unfortunately for me the scan to check my back revealed my cancer was back and spread. I took morphine to help which was a relief but made me feel crap, I asked to switch to gabapentin and slowly reduced the morphine to zero. It works great, some tightness but much better, I can get on with life. So, it is something that can happen, your sneeze probably jarred your ribs which is very painful, they can take 12 n 18 months to heal properly. Don't forget it's a huge op, it's like being in a bad car accident. You sund like your doing great. I hope everything else is going well for you
