I am looking for some opinions and tips for surgery recovery

[Keefer]

Hi guys, I'll do my best to provide what info I can, but I'm posting this thread with my iPhone while recovering in hospital following a bowel resection on Wednesday.

My doctor removed 60cm of badly diseased bowel, which had about 7 obstructions he said. The first two days after surgery were typical, but things really took a turn on the third and now I seem to be going downhill.

My primary problems now, are that only half of my bowel is making any noise , I haven't passed any gas. I know walking is the key thing for that, but now whenever I try to do anything even the slightest bit physical, I break into a severe uncontrollable hiccup fit that lasts for 20 mins to an hour sometimes. Each one is painful as hell, and also can lead to vomiting. I'm still npo, because I've thrown up about 4 times now.

Does anyone have any tips on how to get my damn bowels working besides walking? Vomiting and severe hiccups make that a bust.

 

[Jennifer]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Sorry to hear about the surgery, I know they aren't any fun at all. There are some people on the forum (myself included) who didn't pass any gas until about the 4th day. Why that is, I don't know. Some people just take longer to heal I guess. The vomiting is concerning though. Is it strictly the hiccups that cause you to vomit or the pain it causes or do you vomit after having fluids? Are you running a temp at all? Hope they are keeping an eye out for infection because that can cause vomiting.

This is the first I've heard mention of hiccups after surgery so I can't help much there other than empathize with you cause I know how painful it is to move at all after surgery.

Unfortunately the only things I know of to get things moving is moving around and drinking fluids.

How big is your incision? Be careful with the hiccups and vomiting cause when my surgical site got infected I was vomiting a lot and the incision broke open from all the heaving (mine was about 4-5 inches across). Don't over do it. Just do the best you can if you have to lay down then do it. If you are able to sit up at least, then try that.

Keep us posted! I'm moving your thread to the surgery subforum for you.

 

[hainman]

hi keefer.i had kind of the same surgery as you about 5years ago.i was in the HD ward for a few days and at the beginning i was pretty sore being opened right up instead of keyhole surgery,
i never had any BM for about 4 days and dont remember passing any wind although i made up for that and still am haha,i know its hard to get out and walk,not sure if you had KH or OPENED UP but because they went right in on me they cut through all my stomach muscle and it was sore as hell when i tried to walk as when i straightened up it put major strain on my stomach muscle but over time i was fine,i actually got released after a week as i missed my new born daughter so i begged them to let me go home,when i got home i even stopped taking pain meds as i seemed to be able to get about without to much discomfort.i hope this isnt to drawn out post and it helps you get some answers.

 

[spcwife23]

Ask someone to buy you gum, i chewed one around 9 and then around 12 and that did the trick for me.. it will hurt like a bitch when your bowel does wake up but you will be to happy to care. But try the gum it worked for me

 

[Keefer]

Hey guys, sorry for the long delay in response, it was quite a week after the surgery. The hiccups eventually stopped after a few days, but boy did they hurt after a while. My bowels finally started to wake up on the evening of the 6th day, and on day 7 I had my first BM, and was released the next day.

Now I'm at home, and I have a new bit of concern regarding leakage from my incision. This clear liquid just pours out of my belly button area like a faucet, I use bandages and sterile pads to absorb and collect it, but it seems to just keep coming. I eventually just re-bandaged it because I was sick of the endless amounts of pads I was having to use to try and collect it. It's not yellow or green or even red or anything, its just clear and shows up slightly yellow on the pads when I wipe it away. There's no pain, I have no fever or chills, so I'm not sure what to think of this. I tried calling my surgeon but got an answering machine and now I'm waiting for a call back.

I'm also supposed to be visited daily by a homecare nurse that cleans and re-bandages the incision but they haven't shown up yet today. Is this something I should be concerned about? I tried looking up information online and I keep seeing conflicting recommendations, some say that leaking clear fluid is completely normal and not an issue, others say that it could be a sign of infection and to go to ER right away.

Anyone else have any input on this?

~Matt

 

[Jennifer]

Mine did get infected but the fluid was foul smelling and kind of a bright milky orange, plus I was vomiting non stop.

After reading other people's responses on the matter over the years it seems that a lot of people experience leakage at the incision site. I never got the chance to have a normal recovery from surgery so I have to go by what other people have said. So far some have said that the drainage was quite a bit yet still no signs of infection. Its trying to heal from the inside out on its own.

So far I think what you're doing is great by contacting your surgeon (keep trying) and you'll have the at home nurse take a look at it as well. Try to keep it clean by changing the bandages more often so they aren't completely soaked and keep us posted on how you're doing.