I Now Have An Area Roughly 8" X 6" On My Chest Which Is Completely Numb.

[ladybirder]

Is this usual/unusual after a major operation? I did have five cuts in and around the area and it's seven weeks today since the op. Anyone else had this problem and did it right itself in time?
Thanks.

[emmie]

i had keyhole surgery for a gall bladder removal and had four incisions and did have pain with it,
i would contact the hospital or at the very least your GP.

[ladybirder]

But did you have numbness Em?

[emmie]

some, but mostly pain, i would ask to speak with the hospital, or first call the GP>

[Mamyalynne]

Perfectly normal and can take quite a while to come back fully.

Due to the nerves being interrupted.

Mention it if concerned.

[Mamyalynne]

One mention here in a list of after effecs.

https://www.cancer.net/navigating-cancer-care/how-cancer-treated/surgery/side-effects-surgery

[Mamyalynne]

* effects

[ladybirder]

It's not bothering me enough to bother the docs except to mention it next time I go Em thanks.
Thank you mamya, very helpful, I thought a/some nerve/nerves might have been damaged. Could have googled it myself couldn't I. My bad:-(

[emmie]

hope that you feel better soon..

[Mamyalynne]

Nothing bad about asking for reassurance LB, hope it soon settles.

In a strange way numbness can be as bothersome as pain, simply because it feels wrong.

[ladybirder]

Em I feel a lot better thank you.
Mamya exactly. It feels odd. Really odd but I'll get over it;-)

[Theland]

Born 1951 had radium treatment for something in my back.
Left me with a hollow in my back.
Always numb.
Sometimes feels itchy but scratching? Can't feel it.
Crazy.

[ladybirder]

That's even odder Theland.

[Peter Pedant]

google post operative numbness
huge amount of info saying yes it does occur
may get better or may not

[Theland]

If the Germans had got me.
Mangels or gas?

[Peter Pedant]

//In a strange way numbness can be as bothersome as pain//
is well described as anaesthesia dolorosa

pain the arriss - I had it around my colostomy scar

boils down to :
cut or damaged nerve
nerve gaught in fibrous tissue
painful fibrous tissue

[ladybirder]

Yup. Could be in a worse place than my chest though so I'm fine to live with it and see what happens.

[jennyjoan]

I was shot in the calf of my leg and even after all these years, there is numbness around the wound.

[ladybirder]

How did that happen jj? Hope it wasn't intentional!!

[jennyjoan]

No I was shot from a passing car during the height of the Troubles here. About 1972/73. Just got the ricochet of a bullet into the calf and behind the knee. So recuperated great - in fact went back to work a month later as my mother was worried I would lose my job in the Civil Service. Had to get on with it LOL.

[ladybirder]

Wow jj, I had no idea. That could have been so much worse so I suppose you were actually lucky it was your calf that got hit.