One week on after surgery

[lc31]

Hi all!

Just posting from my hospital bed, I'm one week post small bowel resection and thought I would post my experience. I know I looked here for advice and just some reassurance before my surgery that operations do run smoothly. After arriving at hospital extremely nervous/ scared/ petrified on hogmany I was quickly settled in with a visit from my surgeon and anesthesia doc and told we were good to go asap! In all honesty I can say after having open surgery(my surgeon felt from my scans my insides were a mess and this was the best option) a small bowel resection, a fistula removed which was joining my small bowel to my colon and a temporary ileostomy bag fitted the worst part was being scared for 5 mins till I was put under. I have no recollection of anything till I was woke up with a massive hot water bottle on top of me in ICU. Sure I had some stiffness with my wound getting in and out of bed but with all the pain killers I had I barely felt anything else. Anyways just thought I would post a meşsage and hope it eases some worried minds.
:ghug:
Oh and the best thing ever I am allowed all food which is a blessing after being low residue for around 4 months, my surgeon says eat eat eat to build up and I will notice if any food doesn't agree along the way.

Sorry for babbling just wanted to help reassure some people if I can as I know how petrified I was

 

[Seancuig]

Very good to hear - glad it went well - Get back to yourself as soon as possible

 

[Grumbletum]

Thanks for posting and wishing you a speedy recovery x

 

[nevilletanner]

well i am on here as i had to see the surgeon on monday , i was told that i have to have a resection ASAP and that it would be open surgeory as there is two fistulas and a section of narrowing that has to be dealt with, works out to 15cm of ileum and to repair where the fistulas have connected to ( one to the large intestine and one to the small).

also he said that due to smoking the disease has gone mental and has done ten years of damage in two . so yes i am on the CHAMPIX so hopefully i can give this up.

and due to being on the Prednisolone there is a 50/50 chance of having a stoma but wont know until he gets in there , work in progress on this one , down to one tablet as from today so fingers crossed on this one.

so it looks like next month i will be going under the knife and to be honest i am absolutly petrified at the thought of going into hospital let alone the operation.

after reading this thread i feel a bit less worried but not sure if the toilet visits are due to the crohns or the fear .

wanted to ask a few things aswell :-

did you have to follow a diet before the op ?

did you have a catheter before the op ?

did you have the gastrotube in your nose ?

how bad was the pain after the op ?

any problems ?

thx all

 

[gmm]

also he said that due to smoking the disease has gone mental and has done ten years of damage in two

i would be well wary of any doc/surgeon that told me that

 

[lc31]

Hi Nevilletanner,

Sorry to hear the meds didn't work for u either. I too was a smoker and quit 6 months ago, I hope the CHAMPIX works for u my husband was successful with these tablets after numerous attempts with the patches and has been cig free for 7months. I too had numerous toilet visits about 15-20 per day and now only about 8 but I'm told this could slow down more. Before my op I was on a low residue diet to try help stop anything becoming blocked in my bowel as I had a few A&E visits in agony till my food passed through. I woke from surgery with a catheter in so that was put in when I was under anesthesia, but once I was up and about the next day they removed it as I wanted to go toilet myself. I'm not sure about the gastro tube I only woke up with an oxygen mask on my nose? Also I had the morphine pump I pressed before I was moving anywhere which controlled any pain I had- the pain was managed so well all I felt was a tightness over wound then I knew it was time to press again. To be honest the biggest problem I had was getting in and out of bed on my 1st day. Because I had open surgery my stomach muscles were cut and this frustrated me needing help to lift my body in/out bed as I am very independent, but as I say this only happened twice on the first day till I was learned how to manoeuvre.

 

[lc31]

I hope this helps ease your mind, I am so glad I went through with my op I feel so much better and am glad to be off the prednisolone and azathiaprione I hated taking those tablets due to side effects and am now only on vitamin supplements, co-codamol and electrolyte drinks. Oh and I can eat like normal now!

Keep me posted how you get on