Posted 8/18/2013 2:36 AM (GMT 0)
August 2 I had a total proctocolectomy, end ileostomy with anal closure. After surgery I had epidural in for 4 days then oral diluadid and tramaset. I went home day 8, still in great pain expecting it to lessen every day. I spent two days in bed barely able to move and counting hours till I could take a pain pill to bring the pain down. It is hard to explain where my pain is because it is in a couple distinct places. My abdomen, where my midline incision is; my bottom, stitches and swelling and where my appendix would have been. Each pain is different, thumping with each heart beat; when I move my abdomen; and sharp shooting pains. I noticed at home that when I lay I could hear sloshing inside my stomach when I lay down and the feeling like a wet package flops over. Day 3 at home I could not take it anymore, I had fever and chills and the pain was not getting better. Back in emergency they did a CT Scan and said that I had too much fluid in my abdomen and it would have to be drained and possibly an abscess in my bottom. They hit me hard with antibiotics and morphine took care of the pain. Surgery the next day I had 3 JP drains put in my belly, they had to reopen me to see what the cause of the fever was and could not find a cause for either. The next two days were the most painful I have ever experienced,thank god for another epidural but......I developed an ileus, it took 3 days for Ruby to wake up and start spitting and she is still slow. The pain in my abdomen is worse, now that they have had to reopen me and explore. My bottom is getting better, I think the antibiotic these past 5 days have helped alot, although there is still the constant thumping pain without pain killers. If I can stay on top of my pain it is not too bad but if I let it go to far it takes so long to get on top of it again. I hate taking pain killers but cannot imagine not having them at this point. Today I developed another fever so docs are trying to figure out the cause of this new fever. I tried walking a bit today past my room, now that my catheter, one drain, epidural and ng tube were out but omg I cannot believe how much I paid for that for a few hours. How long will the pain be this strong? I expected pain but not this much for so many days. I know that once I get past these first few hard weeks my life will be so much better but...can I handle it?