Pain management

Hi Sisters,
This question would be your those of you that have reached your target date by now. Have any of you used a PCA pump for pain management while in the hospital? I was told that this would probably be used on me the day after surgery rather than pain shots. With the pump I could press a button for an instant delivery of pain meds that are delivered through an IV. Now, I've never used one before, thought in my line of work I have set up the purchase of such items for the hospital where I worked. The sales pitch for them sounded real good when I was behind the desk looking for the best price for the equipment for my hospital. But now, viewing it from the patient side I have my concerns about how it really works. Does it really keep you pain free? What happens when you go to sleep and can't keep the pain medication consistant? When you wake up are you in extreme pain then from going for a long period without it? I was always under the impression that it was best to no let pain get to the unbearable point and then call for medication. Also, how responsive are nurses and doctors to the pain associated with sugery of this type?

Funny, I'm not worried about the surgery, just the post-op part!

Bless all Sisters,
S@ndy

Hi sandy,
my doc said i would be using the pump also. i too am worried about the pain getting to bad while i'm sleeping and not being able to get it under control. well i should find out soon enough my day at the castle is on 12/5. i will let you know how the pump thing went as soon as i know. lol. hope you find better answers then the one i just gave you. good luck
hugs,
nocluegirl

Hi Sandy

I've never used one of the pumps before, but I know people who have for other reasons - apprently they are brilliant - I believe that the pain will probably wake you at some point rather than waking up and then realising it has got so bad you can't manage it. When I awoke from my last op, I catnapped for at least 24hrs after it, I'm not sure what pain meds I'll be getting, but I'll get that all sorted out at my pre-op on Monday

Hope this helps

I am having a TAH on the 11th. I will also have the pump for at least 24 hours. I've heard where they extended that.
Others that had it said you can pump every 8 minutes. So I guess it is best to pump in small doses when you are up. I never thought of the overnight situation. I guess pump away til you fall sleep then should you wake, pump whether in pain or not.
ive heard it works well. Hopeing so.

I had TAH on 10/30 & used the pump for the first time. I found that it worked great, even though I slept quite a bit. The nurse did adjust the amount of medicine delivered through the pump. They started it out at a lower level and then "upped" the amount. Good luck.

Hi,
I had a TAH/BSO/Bladder Repair on 11/22 and also had the pump. It was loaded with morphine and would give me a small dose every 8 minutes. If i tried to push it sooner it wouldn't give me anything. I found that if I did sleep for a long amount of time then I would wake up in some discomfort but once I hit the button it didn't take long for the meds to kick in, plus my darling husband stayed by my side all night and would hit my button for me every 10 minutes or so while I slept, that was great, I would wake up in much less pain than if I hadn't used it in awhile. The nurses where I was were very good about making sure I had my meds when I asked for them once I was switched to pill form, I think that was after about 24 hours. Hope this helps tp answer your questions, may God guide your surgeons hands and may you have an uneventful and speedy recovery.

I also had the morphine PCA pump. No pun intended, it worked like a dream. The pump is set up so that it is impossible to overdose, even if the button is pressed often. I was so sleepy that day of surgery and moved around so little that pain was not too big of a problem. I really do not remember being shown how to use the pump, but I held on to that button constantly. I did not want it to fall out of reach and then I would not be able to find it if needed. I did use the pump my fair share, but by the next morning I was ready to get rid of it. The morphine was starting to give me a headache. Once they took out the pump I was started on Percocet, one of my best friends in the hospital. Hope all you LIWs have as good a recovery as I did.