Tomorrow I will be 3 weeks post-surgery!
I am still taking 2 pain pills a day (and they have never slowed down my gut...) Also Immodium, Pepto Bismal as needed, and now this Colestipol, which is primarily a cholesterol medication but is also used after intestinal surgeries.
An aside, which you folks will appreciate: A few week ago, after my pre-op with the nurse practitioner at my PCPs, the office person called me and said some of my bloods were "a little high" (cholesterol, triglicerides, etc) and I should eat "less processed food", more fresh fruit and veggies, and be retested in 3 months.
Between having my colon out and having 6 months of chemo, the fact that these things were only slightly raised is amazing to me - 7 months of noodles, potatoes... I think I had one salad in that time. But, I do NOT eat processed food, except ham at Christmas.... lol! And, of course, for the 3 months after that bloodwork, my diet is not going to be all fruit and veggies by any means! Clueless. Sigh. I am just now branching a bit off the low-residue diet - I am really cautious about
these things.
Anyway, I just read on one of my other groups that recovery from the reversal should be measured in weeks/months, not days. And the poster realized she was going less times, with less urgency, at about
6 weeks out. Somehow that sort of thinking had escaped me, and it reassures me to hear that I am probably doing just fine.
The urges/intestinal cramps/gas cramps (whatever they are) were really painful at first, but they are happening less and also are less painful. And now I can often, not always, put off the urge - but urgency is still very much part of my days and nights.
My job has been very good to me since my initial Dec 28 surgery. Now is the beginning of the program year, and I REALLLY want to be on hand for as much as I can. Also, I have a few public speaking events even in the next few days! So I just went out and bought a package of Depends for these events, just so there' ne lss thing to worry about
!
I started being in a my office for a few hours yesterday, and I think the distraction of not just sitting home thinking about
my tush has been a good thing. Or, as I said to my boss, "I just had to get my head out of my ***!"
