Surgery soon

First, best wishes for your surgery...may it be successful with a strong speedy recovery.

As to the rest...try to remember that everyone else is in the same situation as you in that ward and they all know that 'everybody pees and poops'. Everybody sleeps as well, so maybe you can time your use of the urinal to when they are sleeping? Perhaps some of them will be off the ward at points during the day for tests or therapies?

My mother had 'shy bladder and bowel' and I remember how difficult it was for her, especially travelling. She probably would have loved to have had a cell phone that could play music to help 'cover' the sounds.

I had some constipation issues...even aneurized a hemerroid once...my proctologist told me to use one of the fiber products you mix in liquid...so my poop would be 'like an Irish sweater'...bulky yet soft. ha ha ha!

Pain medication can make people constipated, in part I think because we get sleepy and don't drink much while taking them, so try to make sure you are hydrated well.

I second the suggestion of Miralax. It is an osmotic laxative (meaning Miralax draws water into the large intestine) and is non-habit forming (meaning you can use Miralax over the long term without risk of laxative dependency). Miralax dissolves completely without any gritty
mouth feel.

Miralax is the brand name. The same is available as a generic at a reduced cost.

The benefit of Miralax if that you can adjust the dose to your needs. As the dose is increased, water transfer into the large intestine is increased, making the stool looser and easier to pass.

Magnesium as a supplement (magnesium citrate is available as both a capsule or powder you mix with a beverage) or the familiar mainstay Milk of Magnesia is also a good choice for bowel management. Like Miralax, a daily magnesium supplement (500 mg capsule 2-3 times a day or a product called “Natural Calm” by Vitality Holistics as a powder) or Milk of Magnesia (1-2 tablespoons a day) is an osmotic laxative without risk of laxative dependency.

Magnesium is a natural element, a non-chemical laxative. Magnesium provides a kinetic, muscular “oomph” to promote the large intestine to contract as nature intends in parasistalic waves. That is, magnesium gives your intestines the message to move food material along the digestive tract.

Stool softeners have low/minimal benefit for constipation. Stool softeners facilitate water migration into the intestine but provide no kinetic/movement effect. The result can often be that fecal matter becomes heavily weighted with water and sits, stagnant, in the lower digestive tract. Miralax or Milk of Magnesia are far better options.

And never forget the benefit of warmed prune juice. 100% natural with no chemical additives. 6-8 ounces a day of prune juice.

Opiate induced constipation is a real problem for many people on opiates. Your question about constipation and the posts in response will help other people on this forum.

Sending you best wishes for a successful resection of the lesion on your leg and gentle healing.
Karen

Turning on the water faucet of the bathroom sink adjacent to your hospital bed may be a gentle stimulus to your bladder while on bed rest.

You might look into available apps or CDs of soothing sounds and music. Many offerings of ocean sounds, nature, and soothing music are able to access on an iPhone.

There is also the option of intermittent catheterization if your bladder is overly shy and not wanting to empty.

Try not to imagine the worst case scenario that you bladder goes to sleep. Visualize your bladder relaxing. The mind body connection is real. Our thoughts and internal dialogue influence our physical body and its workings.

Best wishes for a gentle recovery,
Karen

An indwelling catheter (placed while under anesthesia or post operatively) carries the real potential for a urinate tract or bladder infection. The draining tube provides a ready incoming road for simple, every present bacteria to freely enter the urinary system (urethra and bladder and kidneys).

Intermittent carheterization does not have that same risk. The intermittent catherizatikn tubes are ultra thin and single use. People with spinal cord injuries self cath several times a day.

Even if you are in a room with other patients, and especially so, there will be ample background noises from those patients - talking, rustling with a newspaper, watching television, nurses and staff entering and leaving - to offset your sense of self-awareness.

Pee, poop . . . It is universal.

I have a permanent ileostomy. That is, I wear an ostomy pouch on my abdomen that collects fecal output. It has become second nature to me, akin to wearing a pair of bifocals to see better. No one who sees me would know that I wear an ostomy pouch. The pouch is odorless. Low profile. And I am a petite/small person where a bulge would be a curiousity to a casual observer.

What you need to remember is that people, for the most part, are self-absorbed in their own orbit. People will not be focusing their attention on sounds coming from your curtained cubicle. The use of a meditative CD or sounds of ocean waves or whatever would give you a sense of enhancing your privacy.

In the end, your forced convalescence will be a finate experience with an end date. Given the inherent risks of bedrest, your physician will have you up and at least sitting as soon as the particulars of your leg wound allow.

All to say . . . Try to ease your worries. Often what I worry about the most turns out to be less problematic than I envisioned.
Karen

A, congrats on the no cancer diagnosis. Catheters can be annoying to painful for patients. I do hope that your recovery goes very well. If you were given pain medications, keep in mind they will cause constipation. Keep yourself very well hydrated as this will also help keeping things moving. Soon this surgery will be in your rear view mirror.

Take care.