TOTAL COLECTOMY PART 20

Janie.....

I wish I oculd ease all of your fears, but I think you need to trust in your surgeon and yourself. I will pray for peace with your decision....no matter what your going to have fears, but let the hope of new life outshine those fears....its all scary. It is....but you can get though it and I truly think it is going to benefit you.

I wish I could eat like you, unfortunately I cannot. I would be a vomiting machine. Imagine...with no relaxation of the rectum. I am like a plugged sink that just keeps filling up. I have lost weight...I was 141 to be exact before surgery (I had gained gained gained and for no reason) and after surgery/infection etc I was 124. Then about six weeks ago I was 118 and now Ihave no idea...if I had to guess...maybe 115. Which is not a bad weight for me...I am only 5'2ish, but maybe I am less. I dont know...my co-workers said I look much thinner in the last few weeks....and not healthy, but who knows :( You will lose that 6-7 lbs girl and probably more....dont worry. It is sad to think that, but typicallty people with CI gain unnecessary weight....so you deserve to lose it :)

lizzie

well, now it's morning here, but it's night time for you, so i'm just gonna have to wait till it's your morning and hope you'll check in and see my apology.

You sweet thing.  No, it definitely WAS NOT you that made me worried.....I think that as soon as I set the date I started getting anxious.  When we were talking about the rectocele, I was pretty sure my surgeon said we could always take care of it later, so I wasn't too worried about that...but I also have the pelvic floor dysfunction, so that worries me...of course everything about what could happen worries me!  But don't feel bad at all....it wasn't YOU at all.  It was just me second guessing my decision!!

So before I stop worrying completely, how do you find out about the anismus??    Is it something that would show up in a test, or something you just find out about later?

I'm at my son's today, taking care of my beautilful little 2 month old granddaughter, so I'm not going to worry anymore about this.  I need the surgery, I really have no doubt about that, and actually it was something you wrote that really struck me the other day....at least I'm pretty sure it was you.  Didn't you say you had an aunt (or some relative) who was 70 years old and now couldn't go at all??  That has always been one of my biggest worries....that as I get older, and if I'm lucky enough to live a looong life, what in the world would I do if I wasn't able to take my senokot?  I don't take pills, I have to mix it with milk and ice cream, and what if I wasn't able to do that for myself?  Or get to the bathroom 10 times in the evening after I took it?  And what if it stops working completely?  I already have to take double what I did 25 years ago, and sometimes like the other night, it just doesn't seem to work well at all.  So, please don't worry....you didn't say anything to upset me...you and Lizzie and the other wonderful people on this board have actually given me the strength and determination to get this done finally!!

Hope you have a wonderful wonderful day, and eat well today, because isn't tomorrow you poop day? 

Janie

Hello to all,

Hodaya, you asked about the pain management.   In the hospital I had an epideral in for the 14 days I was in.  Except for the early on unexplained pain on my right side the pain was managed very well.  In fact I did not have to use the button for an added boost.  Once home, I was given Percocet, which I did not like at all.  Yes it did help manage the discomfort, but made you very spacey and had loss of balance.  I did not like that at all.  In fact the third day home, I cut the use of Percocet in half and on the forth day I took it only at night.  As of today, I do not take anything and yes there is discomfort in any type of movement, such as sitting up or down, standing and or walking.  But for me it is manageable and a good reminder to myself to take it easy (I tend to try too much too fast). 

Now I can tell my grandkids when they get older that I was abducted by aliens and I have the marks to prove it!  Love messing with the kids minds.

By the way, my daughter had her second son the same time as I was being rolled into the O.R for the second time.  She is well and baby "Brodie" is handsome.

Also, please keep my sister-in-law in your prayers.  Three days after I went into the hosptital she suffered a massive stroke and also had two brain anuerysums clipped.  She is out of critical care and is in acute care.  Last Sat. she opened her eyes for the first time and followed people around the room.  I was so blessed to see that miracle take place.  As the swelling in her brain goes down, the "lights" should start turning on.  And we saw the beginning of that already.  So please - January - has been a whirlwind and she truly needs prayer. 

Thank you everyone.  Take care and talk with you soon.

i was waiting all friday from morning till after noon for your reply (checking maybe every 20 minutes), and then just 1 minute before the sabbath came in i decided to give it one last check and i was SOOOOOO relieved to see that you're not upset with me, and i really wanted to post a reply, but i can't do that in sabbath, so i had to wait till the sabbath was over.

anyway, you see, i'm doing my thinking too and i say it like that:

~ w/o the surgery there's 0% chance that it'll get better.

~ with the surgery there's 90% chance we can have totat   
   success, and if not total, at least some level of relief.

of course, there's always the chance of complications and stuff.. but i decided to be as positive as possible and that's that!!!!

about the anismus, look if you had one, they would have told you about it, trust me, you would have known.

if there's anismus, it is shown in the defecography and manometry, so if in the reports of these tests nothing is said  about that or about a squeezed puborectalis (muscle), then you don't have it.

besides..... not every anismus can cause a complication post colectomy, and lately i've been told that even if a certain level of anismus exists, in most cases it still doesn't bother the results of the colectomy, and only a very severe level can cause such a comlication (so sorry Lizzie).

anyway, another surgoen has answered me (told you i'm gonna ask a few) and said the same thing as the first one, that there's no problem fixing the rectocele also after the colectomy and that your surgeon's plan sounds prety good to him!!!! you see, so we've got NOTHING to worry about!! and it sure feels good to be calm, doesn't it? especially when your rectocele is only 1 cm!!

and yes it was me who mentioned her 70 yrs old aunt.

you're so sweet, Janie, thank you, yes it was my pooping day today  , but i think that b/c of the antibiotics i've been taking for a few days now and still taking + the food (the types that are not good for me..) i've been eating while at home all week, the laxative wasn't effective this time.... frusrating. i hope after i finish with the antibiotics it'll be better again.

give your sweet graddaughter kisses from me..

sorry i ramble so much.

take care everyone