A word to the wise to the new people with ostomies. I was told this thousands of times, but do I listen? Probably not enough. But, I hope I finally learned my lesson now.
A few weeks post op (around July of 2010) I had to be hospitalized for dehydration. They kept me a few days because my electrolytes were off. Well, this past week we were at the Jersey shore and I was basking in the sun (loved it all my life) most of the day on Tuesday. I did drink a bottle of water while on the beach, but that apparently is not enough. We had lunch at the casino and I drank a glass of gingerale. Back to the beach for a few more hours. At 4pm I gambled a bit and drank a mudslide...big booo boooo. I KNOW alcohol can dehydrate you so why I drank it??? Because I LOVE mudslides..lol. Only had one but that was enough. Didn't eat much of a dinner, just picked on some crackers. Had some ice cream and drank one more bottle of water. At 1am, I woke up to pee, noticed my bag was full and started to feel nauseated. After that I don't remember much. Hubby said I started vomiting ( probably the combo of chips that came with my lunch, the mudslide and then junk) and I became incoherent.
I was hospitalized from 1am Wednesday morning till Thursday 4pm and was hooked up to constant sodium chloride drip. My electrolytes must have been ok. They did a CT scan of my stomach and brain cause hubby thought I might have had a stroke.
Weird thing is, I have no memory of going to the hospital and the care I received when I first arrived there. I suppose dehydration can do this???
Fellow ostomates, drink that water!!!