Surgery

Our computer had a virus and still has a few glitches and I was unable to finish my post last night.
My operation went smoothly. The surgeon said it took two hours. When I woke up, I had tubes coming out of every place I could imagine...but I was not in pain. They had a morphine pump next to my bed but I didn't hear them say when I could use it. The next day I found out I could press it every ten minutes...lol...When I did have some pain, I waited two hours cause I thought I could OD on it. I was so out of it anyway...best sleep I got in all the eleven days I was in the hospital.
Operation was on Monday the 28th of June. Things were going pretty well...felt weak though but managed to walk some every day. Thursday I tried some solid food and Friday morning started vomiting. My surgeon suggested they put the NG tube back down (they placed one in during the surgery) because he said it would help with the nausea. Not pleasant going down but helped tremendously with the nausea and brought up two big containers of bile from my stomach. He said that is one of the complications which happens frequently. Seems like it takes your intestines some time to wake up and the bile starts to build up. NG tube was in from 8 am Friday morning till 5pm Saturday. When I woke from a nap...it was out. I thought it broke off inside me..lol. Fed through IV's for the next day or two...started on liquids on Monday...did well. I believe it was Tuesday night when the nurse came in to take vitals... She couldn't get a reading on my blood pressure. It had plummeted to 70/40...temperature was 105 and heart rate 152. Still a mystery. They came in to take blood tests, blood cultures, chest xray and I had to go down for a CT scan in the middle of the night. Surgeon came in early next day...mystery....no explanation as to what happened. No obstruction...nothing. Watched like a hawk. Potassium levels fluctuated quite a bit but they let me go home Friday. When I got home I got a burning feeling in my urinary tract and some foul stuff came out...don't know whether from vaginal area or bladder. Surgeon had my husband pick up containers from local lab to do urine cultures. I do have a minor urinary tract infection and am taking Macrobid for seven days...but I think I also have a yeast infection in my vagina..ugh. No one called from my gyn's office either.
Guess that is up to day. Oh....no problems with my ostomy. Surgeon did a super job...I had wonderful ostomy nurses in the hospital and have visiting nurses come here twice a week. I actually change everything myself...no problems. I just have to remember to drink, drink, drink! Wake up and drink some more My appetite is good. Doc said I will feel like I was hit by a truck at least for the next couple of weeks and just to take it easy. I try walking half an hour each day...fifteen minutes each at a time as to not get too fatigued. Not bad for an old lady!
Oh..and surgeon said I made the right decision. My colon...well, rectum...was badly diseased. Probably only a matter of time before cancer would have set in. Guess what.....the GI doctor I had been seeing for 12 years...not a peep from him. No call, nothing. The chief resident at PA Hosp did call him but he never had the decency to phone me or my husband. Well, if he thinks I am keeping my appointment with him on the 29th of this month, he can think again and go scratch himself. I thought this very inconsiderate.

Thank you for the update Christine. I am impressed that you're able to do everything yourself already. I guess it's all pretty simple but must take a little getting used to. I am sorry you're having GYN issues, I know how much that can bring a person down, especially when you're trying to heal from surgery. The last thing you need to deal with is a yeast infection. It is probably from the antibiotics, I always get them when I take an antibiotic :(

Do you have to change/empty the bag often? I've always wondered how that works, do you empty it or change it? how do you know if it's time to change it or if you can just empty it? Do you find that you spend a lot of time concerned with having the bag? I am so OCD, I worry that I would be concerned with it all the time if I had one.

Thank you for the update and I'm very happy the procedure went well. No more UC for you!

So glad to hear everything went well!!

Glad your surgery went well, even if there were a few complications. As for the UTI, water and cranberries. And more water.

Summerstorm...I don't think it was bad equipment...I just think your body is trying to readjust itself. It really doesn't like people in there messing with things..lol.

calm on the outside....since I was just about in remission when going into surgery, can't say it is a relief..lol. However, deep inside I KNOW for a fact that as soon as my prednisone taper would reach 7.5 I would once again flare. The surgeon said it was better I was in good condition going into surgery than suffering with a flare. The recuperation process this way is a lot faster. I can tell you one thing for sure though.....it is a relief not to feel that constant pressure in the rectum.
I tend to agree with Suebear. Had Farrah Faucett opted for surgery as soon as her cancer was discovered maybe she would be alive today. I truely believe that my rectum was soooo badly inflamed for such a long time that cancer was lurking right around the corner. My parents told me years ago that my paternal grandmother suffered for two years before succumbing to rectal cancer at age 65. I am going to be 64 on August 12th. I do think my granny played a significant role in my decision to have this surgery. I was her only grandchild and she felt extra close to me as she lost her only daughter to diptheria in 1911 at the age of 7. Eerie too that I am the spittin image of her daughter when the same age...looks like the same person. Oh well, that is another topic..lol.