My Ileostomy is Tomorrow.

It's great to hear from you! I'm sure you will have your strength back soon, Gillian.

Believe me, your husband is going through the hardest part right now. Feeling discouraged is pretty normal after ANY surgery. But in this case he's probably letting his mind play tricks on him. We've all been there. I bet he spends a lot of time thinking of all the things he probably can't do any more because of the ostomy. I know I did. I was actually bumbed because I could now never wear a Speedo. You see the funny thing is ....I've never worn a Speedo before and never really ever wanted to. But that's just the mind playing tricks on you when you have too much time to think. Plus, all those things I thought I could never do again...I was wrong. Not only did I still continue to do the things I thought I never would, I actually now do things I would never dream of doing before my surgery, like hot air ballooning. Those things don't come with bathrooms, and the closest one is 1000 feet straight down!

The only thing I find I can no longer do is sleep on my stomach. There are certainly greater tragedies in life than not being able to sleep on your stomach anymore.

Your husband will be fine. He just has to go through the physical and emotional healing process that we all went through.

I definitely agree with what Summerstorm said....

summerstorm said...

....but anyway, once he gets out and home, and off the pain meds, they can make you kind of off and depressed too, he will start to feel alot better

Once he can get up and around and his pain subsides enough to get off of the pain meds, he will begin to feel "human" again.  Pain meds can slow down output too ... it is just the nature of the drug.  As much as it hurts to get up and move and walk, it is the best thing he can do.   He went thru a big surgery.  His body needs time to adjust to it's new life too.  I sure hope they get his other meds straightened out.  Thanks for keeping us updated.

p.s.  I DO sleep on my stomach!

dandbj,
I'm so sorry he's having a rough time. My heart goes out to you both. I can completely relate, because my stoma didn't start working until 10 days after surgery. It was very frustrating and miserable to be throwing up and unable to eat. It's normal for the intestines to take up to 2 weeks to wake up after surgery.

It's very important that he stay on the IV fluids, because they took me off too soon. Once my stoma started working, it put out like crazy and filled up the bag every hour! I became severely dehydrated and my pulse raced up to 200, so they put me in ICU for a couple of days on an IV going full blast with fluids. You can request that he get TPN, which is total nutrition by IV. I received that, and it helped me feel better.

Hang in there. His stoma will start working, and he will be home soon. By the way, I haven't had a problem with my ileostomy since, and it has been almost two years now. What he's going through now is temporary and just something that happens sometimes after this kind of surgery.

You're in my thoughts and prayers,
Cecilia

Hey Vette guy,

I don't sleep on my stomach either, i'm scared my bag will burst!!

yeah....i always slept on my stomach before and don't get to now...anytime I try I feel like I am springing a leak.....such a shame...amazing how I didn't realize how much I liked to lay on my stomach though....

dandbj  ---   how's today for you?  Been looking for an update from you...  will check again.

 

i sleep like that most of the time, but soemtimes i sleep direclty on my stomahc, i sleep on a pad though, that way if i have a leak all i have to do is change that pad, makes me feel more secure.

Possible progress. It has been a tough 2 days (10 days total). They put in a ng tube but David could only stand it for more than about 20 min. Still throwing up on a regular bases, about 2 time a day and it smells just like the stoma with it is burped. They put in some dye to see if there was a blockage. Nothing on that yet, but it did cause some activity from the stoma. They had scheduled a second surgery for tomorrow but are going to hold off a day or two to see if they keep on working. They put in at picc (I think that is the way it is spelled) to feed him some nutrition since he has only had iv solution for about 6 or 7 days and only liquids before that. More tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed.

Dear Barbara & David:

Sorry to hear of the continuing struggles. The PICC line will help David to get the nutrition he needs to get stronger. I have had a PICC line in for approx. 6 months. I only use it for hydration. I take a bag of IV fluid a day. I'm doing this until I can figure out how to stay hydrated. It probably will not happen until I have another surgery (reversal). But I roll up the tubing secure it in place and go on with my day. But I am an anomaly. I'm sure the PICC line will only be very short-lived for David until his plumbing starts working again. 

Hang in there, we are pulling for you and our thoughts and prayers go out to you.

Richard

P.S. Some of the posts ended up on another thread

 

Wow, this is such great news. I am elated to hear that things are starting to improve. It is so wonderful that these drs have been working with you both to insure a full recovery. After my surgery at Shands in Gainesville, after 9 days with no BM or passing of gas, the drs sent me home. When I started vomitting at home, I had to go back the the ER. I was constantly in and out of hospitals and drs offices for the next 5 years until a one dr decided to go inside and take a look at my intestines. It was then that he found over 25 blockages in my intestines. Now, if a dr wants me to stay in the hosptial, I am always happy to comply.

Please keep up posted on his recovery. I hope you get to go home before the weekend.

Amey

YAY i am so glad things are going better!