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Is Surgery Painful?

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Posted 9/15/2008 6:37 PM (GMT 0)
To all thoughs who've gone for the cut. How painful is the J Pouch Surgery?

I need real honest answers...

I have a low threshold of pain and have been seen to faint during a blood test, so I need to know what I could get myself into if the worst comes to the worst.


G
Posted 9/15/2008 7:10 PM (GMT 0)
I am not sure, G, I am no where close to making that decision. I would think, though, that there would be some pain involved. It is a tough decision to make, but I have seen many comments from others that their lives are so much better and they live med free.

Wishing you the best w/ your decision.

Gigi1227
Posted 9/15/2008 7:45 PM (GMT 0)
For me the answer was no. There was a lot of discomfort (my back hurt because my body had been put into weird positions during the surgery--exercise and stretching helped--I felt nauseous at times, etc.), but very little actual pain. I did not use the pain pump they gave me, and filled the Percoset prescription but never took any (after either step).

To put it in perspective, the worst pain I have ever suffered was from gallstone pancreatitis, for which I needed Dilaudid. I also had an eardrum burst once, for which I took narcotics; that was a pretty close second. The surgeries were stressful and not fun, but I would not call them painful.

One big caveat--my surgeries were laparoscopic. I'm sure if I'd had the big incision, it would have been a whole other ballgame.

PS. I also had serious reservations about the surgery, along with an irrational fear of vomiting that made it hard for me to do something that seemed certain to cause it. Oddly, though the NG tube did make me gag, I never actually puked. And in retrospect I wish I had had surgery about 15 minutes after I was diagnosed ten years ago. It's not that I don't have tough days, but so far never a day bad enough to be out of work or unable to be out of the house, and the peace in my life now that I am free of the disease and its risks is completely worth it. If drugs are not controlling your disease or if you have dyplasia, surgery done by the right surgeon is a very good option.

Post Edited (Charlotte Gilman) : 9/15/2008 2:05:46 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 9/15/2008 9:27 PM (GMT 0)
Charlotte,

What is a NG Tube and does everyone have to have one?

G
Posted 9/15/2008 11:50 PM (GMT 0)

I had the big incision surgery (j-pouch) and the recovery from the first surgery is difficult. The first few days are painful with movement (and you MUST move)

The resection is not nearly as bad. Recovery should be complete within 60 days of resection.

NG tube is placed in your nose down to your stomach. It's not pretty and very uncomfortable. Hopefully, it's not necessary.


Posted 9/16/2008 1:57 AM (GMT 0)
It's a nasogastric tube. It's placed down your nose and into your stomach during surgery to suck out all the acid and fluids your GI tract naturally produces (to keep them away from the surgery site). Everyone has one during surgery. It's usually left in for a while after surgery (in my case until about 4 the next morning, when I got desperate and asked for them to take it out). Honestly, at the beginning I was too out of it to be very troubled by it, and as soon as it really bothered me, they removed it.

The second time around I just asked whether they'd be willing to take it out before I even woke up. The surgeon said that within the next few years, using the NG tube after surgery will probably be less common anyway. They took it out and I had no problems.

People who have ileus or obstruction often need one to remove fluids that build up above the ileus or obstruction site. Those get put in while you're awake--fortunately, not an experience I've had.

You really have to focus on the improvement to your life afterwards, not the process itself. I know it's easy to be too anxious about it. You'll know you're ready when you're fed up enough with your quality of life that you're willing to take the chance on pain (or whatever you most fear about it). You'll probably be pleasantly surprised when you get there--unlike with UC, every day of recovery from the surgery is the last day you'll feel quite that way!
Posted 9/16/2008 2:08 AM (GMT 0)
i had surgery for a perm ileo, so my surgery was a little diff, but i will tell you that it does hurt, all surgery hurts.  But it's not that bad, you get nice drugs and i think part of what makes it even easier is the mental aspect.  I got through it by knowing that this pain was temporary, i could deal with it, and the UC pain was permanent.

The worst part to me was the back pain, and then the couple of bouts of gas i had, that hurts!

But it's so worth it

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