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Surgery Next week

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Posted 1/16/2014 3:05 PM (GMT 0)
I will be going for surgery next week. When I leave the hospital I will have an ileostomy.

I have been asked by my surgeon, the pre op nurse and also a lady from my local Ostomy Support Group whether or not I want an epidural for pain management.

I have asked lots of people for opinions and read lots but still can't decide.

I am not overly comfortable with people poking around my spine or having any more tubes and things coming out of me that are necessary.


Any input would be appreciated.
Posted 1/16/2014 3:59 PM (GMT 0)
Good luck with your upcoming surgery! When I had my colon removed and ileostomy installed, I did not have an epidural for pain. That wasn't even given as an option. There was a bag of Dilaudid hooked up to my IV and I had a button that I could press anytime I felt like I needed some. There were limits on it of course, but what I was allowed to have was MORE than enough to manage the little pain I did have.
Posted 1/16/2014 7:03 PM (GMT 0)
I did not have an epidural. (Didn't have one during childbirth with my two kids either) I guess like you, I wasn't keen on the idea of the needle in the spine thing. I was on dilaudid hooked up to a pump that I could push the button for after my surgery and that worked fine for me. Good luck!
Posted 1/16/2014 9:25 PM (GMT 0)
They didn't give me a choice and I had an epidural for my surgery. I'm a big baby but after they explained it to me it wasn't an issue...basically they said to have it because it would require less pain meds and would work better for pain management. The epidural felt like a tiny pin prick.

They removed the epidural from my spine 4 days after surgery, I was more worried about them removing it because the epidural was working so well for me, I had very little pain from my surgery. They couldn't do my surgery laproscopically so they had to cut me open and I ended up with a huge incision with 29 staples to close me up but virtually no pain (max pain was maybe a 3).

Good luck with your surgery. It was the best medical decision that I have ever made, I woke up from surgery, I just felt so much better and it was like "the Monster" was gone (which it was).

Post Edited (ks1905) : 1/16/2014 2:43:13 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/16/2014 9:31 PM (GMT 0)
I was given a Dilaudid pain pump with the button for my colon resection. I was able to press it every 10 minutes as needed. I was given Morphine originally but did NOT like the effects of it.
Posted 1/16/2014 10:06 PM (GMT 0)
I had an epidural for both of my big surgeries. I guess I was given a choice, kind of, but my surgeon strongly advised to do it. I was nervous too, but I have friends who are anesthesiologists and they all agreed that epidural is the best pain management option for abdominal surgery. It's totally normal to be squeamish about your spine (I was too), but remember, you're already trusting these people to cut you open and remove one of your internal organs... if you trust them to do that, the epidural should be OK! It managed my pain really well and I would recommend it, personally.
Posted 1/16/2014 11:39 PM (GMT 0)
I don't think I would ever agree to have an epidural again.

I had one and it worked fantastically at first. Then the night after surgery, the needle in my back worked its way out. It took about an hour to go from 0/10 pain to 10/10 pain. I still have feelings of rage at the incompetent staff in charge that night; it is the only time I regret not making made a formal complaint against somebody. Long story short, it took hours for them to arrange any effective pain relief. They refused to put in another epidural, but dithered about giving me pain relief stronger than paracetamol. Utter cretins! I'd just had open abdominal surgery the day before.

On top of that I felt sorry for the rest of the ward, because nobody could have gotten a wink's sleep that night. It wasn't fair on them either. And afterwards I was so terrified of pain, that lead me to demanding strong pain relief when I left hospital and unwittingly becoming addicted to Oxycodone, which caused further problems weeks/months down the line.

Which leads to another tip: get off the strong stuff ASAP. And take the lowest possible dose to manage pain: I was on a far higher dose than I needed to be after a week or two.
Posted 1/17/2014 6:31 PM (GMT 0)
I had the epidural for both of my surgeries and the first one was a success but I didn't realize that until the second one was a failure. For whatever reason, everything but my incision was frozen and a few hrs after the intial anesthetic wore off, the pain from the wound was nasty. Of course they couldnt administer anything until the anesthesiologist was in the next morning. So from midnight until 10 or so the next morning I squirmed....I would have probably jumped out the window if it was open....I used the morphine pump for about a day and half after that and then nothing after that. If I had to do it again and had the choice, I would simply opt for the morphine drip. Dilaudid gave me horrible halucinations also....best of luck to you.
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