Hello,

My father had a radical cystecomy in Jan 2009 for bladder cancer.  His type of cancer was originally misdiagnosed until that surgery.  After the surgery, he developed hiccups. They occured all day every day.  He ended up having a tumor in his pelvis.  After chemo (VP16 and Carboplatin) he is now in remission, but 10 months later, he still has the hiccups.  Typically when he lays down, they go away, but as soon as he gets up, they come right back.  He had been on medication for them which did not work.  He had every scan to figure out what was going on, full body and brain.  Each and every scan came back showing no reason for hiccups.  It affects his life.  He has a hard time breathing at times because of them. 

The basic thought of his GI doctor is that these hiccups are a direct result of the surgery.  Is it possible that in this surgery, something occured that either affected the way his body handles gas, or did something to the diaphram or the nerves that cause it to contract.  Is there anything else we can do or anyplace we can go for help.  We just want his hiccups to go away so he can get back to his life.

Thank you