my post surgery follow up on 9-2-08

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to let you know that my follow up appointment with my surgeon went well. I asked him about my concerns with the eating and vitamins and things. He said it was okay for me to take a multi-vitamin. about the foods, he said that everyone who had a total colectomy are different and some poeple can tolerate carbs and things and not veggies, while others can be the opposite, who can tolerate healthy foods and not carbs. That is really cool that he told me, so if anyone had questions about what they can and can not eat, it is because everyone's system is different, and it is pretty much up to me to figure out what I can and can not eat. There is a possiblity that my intolerances will be lifelong, but at least he said that everything is okay. I asked him about seeing a dietician, but he said it was too early to tell and he will see me in a month. If I lose too much weight in that period, than  he will think about it. He had me do a complete bloodwork to see if there is any problems with blood count and to see if I have a fast metabolism, though. He also told me about the diareahe(sp), that it will ease it self with the foods that I can tolerate. He said also that If a certain food gives me to much diareah and it causes me to go too much, that to avoid it because I will probably have to avoid it for the rest of my life. That is fine with me, since all of the foods I can not handle are the "bad" foods anyway. He also told me that because I am at least going to the bathroom that it was a good sign and because I was not able to go for a very long time, my body is going alot as well, because it is finally able to go, and that I was so blocked up from constipation. Sort of, just as an example, like if you were cooped up in a small space for a while and all of a sudden you were free, you would probably be jumping atround alot enjoying it. Just like my body can finally poop, so it is taking adavtage to the full extent and "making up" for all of those years of being constipated. Well, I just wanted to share with everyone. I also hope this answers at least some question of everyone, whether if you had the operation or have not had it yet. I hope everyone is doing well.

 

Hi 2 ris k,
Thank you very much for the response. as for the weight, yes I have lost alot of weight. Before the surgery my constipation was so bad that i could hardly eat, so I was 115 lbs. During my surgery, though because of my thin weight, the doctor pumped 10lbs. of air into me and made me 125 lbs. of the surgery table. Then the next day as soon as I stared walking and pooping after taking in the liquid diet, I stsarted to lose weight. when I left the hospital, I was about 112 lbs. Then as time came on only 3 1/2 weeks out, I've went down another 7 lbs. to 105 lbs. I have lost half and half. mostly at home because in the hospital, I was hooked up to IV's for 3 out of the 4 days I was there, so it made me slow down abit. I found as soon as I returned to eating food and off liquids, I ended up going to the bathroom alot more, so I lost more weight. When I got home, I was on soft diet for a week or so then I am now on a regular diet, but with me, I was lucky to have the Healthy foods work for me and even though everything made me go to the bathroom with diareah, the healthy foods only had me go 5-6 times in an hour and a half, and the "junk" had me go 5-6 times an hour for a whole 8-10 hours, especially if I had them in the afternoon, I would not be able to have any sleep because I would go 2-4 times an hour every hour and have no sleep, and my butt would be sore. I know people would think this is good, but in reality the more a food would make you go, the more you should avoid it. I am still figuring out what foods cause me to go, but because I have pretty much go some idea what does not bother me food wise as much, those are the things I would eat in a normal day. As for eating out, I still have not done that yet, because also with food portions, the more food you eat at one time, the more you would also react and go too much, as I found out when I ate too much food when I got hungry, even though it was foods that did not bother me too much. With eating, small meals of things you can have are a lot better. Even if they are foods you can have, still eat smaller portions of them at a time and not huge portions. Since you do have constipation alot of the weight you have on you is mostly in your stomach because of the build up in your colon, so you would probably go back down to your weight, and "may" end up a little thinner than that, depends on how your stomach and small intestine handles and digests the food. Asw for exercising, walking helps alot. walking and moving, especially after your surgery gets your stomach and the poop moving. Walking is the best exercise and me and everyone on this board recommend it. The more you walk the quicker and better your recovery is. well, I hope this answers some of your questions. I wish you good luck and your surgery will be here before you know it. I know, it is like a rebirth, the new healthy me. You will go to the bathroom alot, but at least it is a great sign that the "plumbing" is working. As I was told by the wonderful people on this board, I kept a journal and kept track of the foods that bothered me and did not bother me, so I know what to eat and it helps me plan my daily menu of what I should eat for my meals. I wish you all of the luck in the world. I am happy to share more so, keep those questions coming.

2 ris K,
I know how the bloating feeling is, but don't worry it will be all gone. That is great that you have a very supportive husband that loves you for who you are. I am not married, so i do not know yet about marriage, but if I do I hope I have someone as wonderful as your husband. Love, Family and support are the best things to have, especailly with our circumstances. I have my parent's and they helped me get through alot, before and after the surgery. Even though I live in my own apartment, I was recovering at my parent's house because they can give me all of the care that I needed. I was served like a queen. That is also good you have your husband, because you will probably not be able to do any house work for a while or any kind of physically demanding labor for a while, so he will probably have to do that for you. It has been a month this coming Sunday, since I had my surgery, and I am starting to just now do very light housework, like cooking, dishes, and light cleaning. I am still not able to do the heavy duty house cleaning yet. it may take a while. The hospital may say 6-8 weeks, but sometimes, it can be alot longer depending on what your body does. Even til this day when I do these light house work, I still get overtired as well, since I am going to the bathroom alot and it drains me physically still. I personally, knowing my luck will start doing heavy duty cleaning and lift something and my insides would move and make me feel uncomfotable, but I can't really say that is true, since I am still not ready for these tasks yet. You will have to listen to your body to see when you are ready. well, I hope this helps out a bit.

2 ris k,
That is so cool that you have a very loving supportive family. Your husband seems so nice. You deserver to be treated like a queen, and trust me, after all you have been going through, you definately deserve it. He seems like a great man. Your kids seem great too, as they do their own chores. Maybe they will help you out as well. I am sorry about your first ex, he is right, it is not your fault.but now you are very lucky to have met a nice wonderful man in his place. You are one of the lucky ones to find such a great man. I hope you and your family are doing well. after your surgery, you could finally go out to eat again with them, though it may take a while to figure out what foods you can tolerate. I am starting know that I can tolerate fish and chicken, so when I do go out, it would be somewhere that serves chicken and fish, but not fried or breaded, just plain. Fast food is not a good place for me because thier meats are seasoned and fried with fats, even thier "healthy" choices are kind of questionable, so if I do go out, it would be somewhere that has boiled or baked plain fish or chicken, with just cooked veggies like peas or carrots on the side, but no potato and carb, since my stomach still can not tolerate those things yet. If i get a dessert, it would have to be plain jello, with no whipped cream on it since cream gives me diareah. well, I hope you and your family are doing well. Good luck with everything and i am glad to see that you will be well taken care of, since being cared for especailly by loved ones and friends, also helps with recovery. Trust me I could not have done it all without the care and love from my parent's and family.

2 ris k,
With my new diet, yeas I get bored, but I think that if I do eat those too much diareah foods, I always think about how sore my poor butt would be and because i had a rectal prolapse before, I am afraid that if I go to much, my poor rectum would not work anymore and I would probably have a bag, no offense to any one who has one. After being on this forum, i know how painful it would be to have one. I did not ask my doctor about that outcome if something like that were to happen to my rectum, but at the same time, I also think about my quality of life and that if I were in the bathroom with too much diareah, I would not be able to do anything or enjoy anything. I always go to the bathroom after eating anyway, but if I did eat the wrong foods for me, I would be basically stuck in that bathroom, including during the night and I would not be able to sleep. I know I miss my foods, but it was a matter of outweighing the good vs. the evil. If I ate the plain foods, and did not have the "bad", but good tasting ones, I would only being the bathroom an average of 15 times a day. If I ate the "bad" foods that I can not have, I would be in the bathroom about 2-3 times more than that, where, my whole entire daily activites and night time hours would be sitting on the toilet not being able to function, and at the same time having such bad rectal pain it would lead to ehmmeroids, even though I would use the creme, and on top of that it would be costly out of my pocket because that cream is not cheap, even though I get the Wal-mart brand, because I am not working at all, it can eat out of your budget, and trust me I need that cream more than anything in the universe. As i was told by my doctor, each person is different. I may eat practically plain food, but for me because i eat the fish and chicken, I get my protein from that, and the jello and canned fruit, and canned veggies is how I get my daily fruit and veggie servings, and I am lucky to drink water to rehydrate me, so I am kind of happy that I am one of the lucky ones who can get all of the basic healthy food needs out of the way. I may not tolerate carbs, so I am not getting any kind of carb energy that I may need from that, but I can at least tolerate regular gummi bears, the only sweet thing that I can actually toerate, and can at least tolerate only 1 cup of half and half coffee, which is kind of good, since this is the only way I can get any kind of sweet satisfaction, even thougn I only have 2 splenda with my coffee, since I have diabetes.The regular gummi bears are more to keep my sugar from going low, since I only control my type 2 diabetes with diet and exercise and because I am at a low weight, I needed something to prevent low blood sugar, since this the only way I can have anything that would help with that. But with my coffee, I can only have very little skim milk, since this is the only way I can get any dairy, because even though I can not tolerate even a small glass of milk, I can have this very tiny bit of dairy in it and not have it bother me. I am not sure how that would help me, though.But as I was told by my doctor, that everyone reacts differently to foods, and maybe you will be lucky and tolerate the healthy one s like me, but maybe you will be even luckier and not only tolerate the healthy ones, but at least be able to tolerate some of the great tasting sweets, even though i you may not be able to tolerate alot or most of them. But as I said, everyone's body is different with food, and unfortuantely it is one of those things that I even admit that I am not able to tell you which ones you will be able to tolerate until after your surgery. it is sort of like a big "suprise" what the stomach and insides will do. Those things are funny like that. It has been a month now since my surgery and I am now starting to figure out and know what my basic diet plan is for myself. At the same time, though, at this point, if I eat things that are out of my Basic diet plan, my body reacts too much with too much diareah. Well, i hope this helps with some of the questions. It is a major journey and lots of record keeping when it comes to foods, but eventually with me, you too will find your food comfort zone. I know it may be hard at first to deal and to keep up with my "new" diet plan, but when i get stuck, I just remember all of the postives and negatives about this and trust me, the positives outweight the negatives big time. Well, good luck, and keep your head up high, because before you know it, you will have your surgery done. i know i keep remind you of your surgery and sorry if i do, it is just that this urgery si the best thing and it is like welcoming a new pleasant thing in life, where your life just gets better and better, and trust me, if anyone needs this surgery, i highly recommend it. I know there are things that you may have to adjust too, for me food wise anyway, but it is all worth every step and length to go to, where I can lead a normal healthy life without any sick days and being able to do all the great things life has to offer, and to enjoy every minute of good health, and best of all, no laxatives, so med free.

2 ris k,
I am all ears, so keep those questions coming. I am the same way before i had my surgery. I was constantly reseaching and googling everything about the actuall surgery, and how it will affect me and literally spending 10-12 hours on the computer researching everything from diets, to the procedure, to what goes on in the hospital and after the hospital. Un like you, I did not find this board til after the surgery, but it is a great thing because I have more questions now than I did before the surgery. The difference is that before the surgery I needed to know the basics, like what the surgery is going to entail. But now that I have had the surgery, there are so many things to know like how and whta to eat, learn and to deal and find out the complications and the trials and tribulations on how life and the body will be like and all of these factors. I am very glad to ahve found this board. I came on here to find support and to talk to people who have had the surgery done, and to put my two cents in to help people who have not had the surgery yet, and to also share my experiences, because we all could learn alot from each other's experiences. well, I am happy and glad to share and answer any more of your questions. keep them coming.