All,
So I am out of the hospital as of yesterday. It has been up and down with the pain…but I am happier that I am at home. I was only able to sleep 2-4 hours at most at a time. The last day was pretty tough as I was not able to have any pain killers for 6 hours at a time. I was feeling sharp pains about 4.5 hours in, so by 6 hours I was down and out for the count. So, being home is much better now. I still have been dealing with some nausea issues – but trying to keep that in check.
The surgeon told my family that when he saw my large intestines he could tell right away that there was an issue and they were “dead” in some areas. I also got pictures of my intestines so I can see what they looked like after removal. They were red and had black vein-looking pieces throughout. There was no healthy white tissues or fatty areas. It just looked swollen and old. Luckily, no complications and the larposcopic surgery went very well for me. When I left yesterday he said my wounds were healing very well.
They took out the drainage tube when I left and it is still releasing fluids (not puss), but the surgeon says it should heal in a few days.
Janie,
So, it ends up I lost around 10 lbs after the fist 7 days. This sounds reasonable. J I have been able to eat white breads though (using the low-residue diet), which has been amazing!!! I haven’t been able to eat beads and feel ok afterwards for such a long time! But I am going to have to slow it down a little bit so I don’t gain all the weight back fast.
Dianna (Scoobydoo)-
I too was in the hospital for 7 days. No epidural. Today is day 8 and I am up and walking around, but still have to take it very easy. I also can tell this was the best thing for me, right away. The difference between you and I is that I am still having pain just from the healing. I take it easy on the pain meds though. Also I couldn’t pass gas for 5 days afte surgery, so I was on clear liquids that whole time. Since then I have been able to poo – from 2 to 20 times a day. Breads help slow down the bm’s for me.
Tracy,
My surgeon said that green bm are GOOD after surgery – so hopefully that is the same for you. I have been dealing with the nausea too…hopefully if they haven’t prescribed you anything yet, you can get something. When it comes on for me, all I want to do is go to sleep so that I don’t have to feel it. If it is nausea (not due to eating) try eat one slice of white bread – even though I don’t feel like it, I feel better almost instantly afterwards. Or try a few saltine crackers. The drainage tube is gross, huh?!
Marisa,
You were absolutely correct. I barely did anything in the hospital. I was only able to sleep here and there and the nurses were in and out of my room. Had to switch rooms, and had 2 different roomies….oh how fun was that :/ (people are big time whinners in the hospital!!) All I wanted to do was rest. I only watched my roomies TV since she had it on the entire time and I had no choice. I had a lot of visitors and that was really nice, and a little exhausting some days – but cannot complain. It was nice to have so many people supporting me. J
Kandida,
I am only 8 days post op. What type of diet have you been on since you have passed gas? As suggested to me, try sticking to the low-residue diet (you can google it to get the “good” foods to eat). After 5 days after the surgery I was finally able to pass gas, and that meant eat whole foods. I was bound to the food the hospital gave me, so there were some red meat days….I chewed it up as much as I could to make sure it would get through easily. It would slow down things, but I noticed that Gatorade or juice boxes would help flow things out eventually. If the sugars are too much, just drink a lot more water. We need to drink at least 2 liters a day to avoid dehydration. See if that helps.
Love ya all, write more soon. XOXO
Barb Bee