What Does Pain Above The Waistline Indicate?

Thank you! My 86 year-old mother has pain on her right side, above her waistline to her breastbone. She has recently fallen twice - the first time in June, where she broke four ribs and her collarbone. Those injuries healed, and she fell again two months ago, where she fractured a vertebrae. She wore a brace until yesterday, when she had surgery to put a cement into the fractured vertebrae. Her neurosurgeon felt that the pain she was describing was a nerve pain, radiating around her sides into her core. She is continuing to feel that pain, and I am now concerned that the pain may be coming from another issue. Any thoughts or advice?