Total Colectomy Part 4

Well I have my surgery date!!! It is September 30th. I am so glad to have the date, I wish it were sooner. Now I am going to have to re-read all of the previous posts to find out what everyone else has done to prepare for surgery.

Zoe here,  I'm scared.  I went back to work on Monday.  I lasted until 4 pm, which is good, but I was exhausted and didn't eat right or take bathroom breaks.  They kept piling things on me and I couldn't take care of myself.  I guess I could, but I was just trying so hard to be a "good employee".  Anyway, Tuesday I felt terrible and had a real sharp pain in the middle of my abdomen.  I took a percocet, went to work and lasted until noon.  Today I lasted until 11:00.  I am still in pain and called my doctor.  He sent me for blood and urine work and x rays and wants to see me tomorrow.

Please keep me in your prayers.  I am so scared that there is something really wrong.

Zoe

Zoe - ahh you poor girl, I am sorry that you arent feeling good!  You need to take it easy and take time for yourself.  If your job precludes your eating well and taking bathroom breaks, maybe you should not be going back to work.

Also, relax because stress will just makes things worse.  Are you still having BMs?  If so that is a good sign... are you nauseous?  If not that is another good sign... Lastly you should NOT be driving while taking percocet... so if you need that medicine for pain you shouldnt be working! :)

Sorry...you just cant take the nurse out of the patient,

Emma

Thanks Emma,
I'm not nauseous and I'm still going to the bathroom. Actually, I took the percocet after I got to work, but you're right, if I hurt that bad I should be at home. Hopefully I'm just anemic. I'll let you know tomorrow what the doctor says.

I have a question about Scar Guard lightner. Should it make your skin peel? Mine is, I don't know if this is good or bad. It doesn't say anything in the directions about this.

I'm calming down,
Zoe

Hi all,

This is Amira's husband.  The surgery went well (3 1 1/2 hours) and the surgeon said it turned out better than he anticipated.  He said she may be home in 3 to 5 days.  She said to say she doesn't know if she lost weight but she definitely feels lighter.  Thank you all your prayers and good wishes.  I will keep youy posted but remember no news is good news.

Hi Emma and all,

I went to the doctor this morning.  My blood work and urine were fine and the x-rays were okay too.  The doctor thinks I have nerve entrapment.  He is sending me to a pain specialist, but I don't have an appointment until the end of this month.  He told me to take percocet and to stay home from work for another week.  He wants to see me again next Thursday.

I am so depressed.  I was so happy to get back to work. Those people have been so nice.  They paid me for the six weeks I was off and I'm going stir crazy at home plus my mother's driving me crazy.  I have two weeks of vacation left.  I think I'll tell them to put me down for vacation.

Hugs,

Zoe

Thanks Emma,

Maybe I'll get one of the banana cream ice cream pies while I'm at it.

Hugs back at you!

Zoe

Amiras husband - Swelling after surgery can be very common but if the swelling also has reddness it could be a problem.  Other than that, the IVF fluid usually has alot of salt in it, and re-equalizing the balance in the body can take time.  If she is retaining alot of water though, that could be a problem in the future.  Catheter kinks are common, but they do suck!  Sorry to hear about the fall, I am not sure how it happened, but it was definately not good!  Pain disipates naturally over the course of time as the body heals.  Tell Amira that I said hello, and that she should be walking as much as possible.  I was walking up to ten times a day in the hospital... the more that you can walk the quicker your GI tract wakes up!

I have drank over 2 quarts of SF koolaid... I am suprised my urine is not pink :)

Hugs,

Emma

But like Emma says, waking is VERY important. They tell me I walked around a lot, I even left the floor and got hell for it from the nurses. LOL.

Zoe

Emma, It's my turn to tell you not to worry.  After the surgery, each day's output was a little different for me.  Some days I'd go a lot, other days just one or two times.  After six weeks, I've leveled off to 5 or six times a day - sometimes watery, sometimes a little more firm, but always soft, depending on what I eat.  Just make sure you're drinking plenty of fluids.

Hugs,

Zoe

Somer and Zoe - thanks for the comforting thoughts!  I try not to worry, but it just seems odd some days.  When you were out surgery, did you tolerate food ok.  It seems like although I have no appetite, I tolerate everything I eat just fine and I dont notice the difference bewteen food.

Dumb question: my boyfriend bought some Uncrustables, but he got the kind with strawberry jelly.  After all the speeches about seeds, do you think that this would have seeds in it?  Would this be an ok food?

I feel GREAT today!  Gotta get something to eat now..

Hugs,

Emma

 

Hello ladies,

This is Amira's husband, Milt.  Although I am writing under duress I must admit that I am enjoying myself.  Here is the Amira update.

Today was a tough day.  They took out the epidural around 7 AM.  The previous day the anethesiologist advised her to immediately ask for pain medicine before the pain elevated.   The nurses told her she couldn't have it for 2 hours which caused her to freak and had me frantically running to the hospital by 9 AM.   I was able to resolve the situation and she received her IV pain med.  The problem was that she could have had pain med in tablet form but the nurse failed to tell that to Amira.  It wouldn't have made any difference though because Amira cannot tolerate pain meds in tablet form without major nausea.  Things are now under control, however, she is in pain most of the time but the meds are making it tolerable.

The good news is that as soon as she passes gas or has a bowel movement she is coming home.  We are targeting for Monday.  I have arranged private nursing which is helping her a lot as the hospital/nursing situation leaves much to be desired.

Before her surgery, and at Amira's request, her surgeon arranged for another of his patients to get in touch with Amira.  Much to our surprise this woman arrived at the hospital this morning just to encourage and help Amira.  She had her surgery May 4 and looked and felt fantastic.  She seemed so altogether I guessed that she had her surgery months ago.  She was incredibly helpful in teaching Amira techniques to use like how to get in an out of bed.  I'm telling you this because if you have the opportunity to visit anyone local PLEASE DO SO!  It was so uplifting for Amira and myself as well.

Finally ladies, don't forget your significant other or whoever is your care giver.  Give that person a great big hug.  I can tell you that this is unbelievably tough on us even though we are not under the knife or experiencing the pain.  The stress, the worry, the physical discomfort, the hospital cafeteria food, etc. in order to be with you is very very tough on us.  Believe me when I tell you I am physically and mentally exhausted.

Best to you all.

Hey Milt--thanks for the update--You sound like you are there 100% and I think you are right in the fact that patients do sometimes need an advocate in the hospital and the surgeon(s) comes in for such a brief amount of time that sometimes the patient needs their spouse to ask the questions and get things accomplished.

We are all keeping our are fingers crossed that her digestive tract wakes up and she passes gas soon.......I'm sure the docs told you this, but the more pain meds a person is on the longer it can take for the stomach/intestines to wake up so it's a hard situation to be in---you want the pain meds but you want to pass gas.

Take care...and thanks for the reminder about thanking our spouses and just how tough it is on you too..I know I didn't thank him enough so now is my chance :)

Sara