Post surgery

[vickiec1984]

Hi all

Ive just got home from the hospital having had an ileocecal resection last Friday. Had about 20cm of small bowel removed. Apparantly the part of bowel was quite bad and it had fused itself to my right hip (which explains the hip pain I was having). I also had an abcess and a fistula going to my colon. Am doing ok - just very sore, swollen and tired which is to be expected I guess.

Just wondering, from anyone else who has had this op, how bad the swelling around the incision was and how long it took to go away?

Also, would appreciate any tips on how to get comfortable at night and any other post op tips anyone has!

thanks everyone!

xxx

 

[mrjoe]

Hi Vickie,

my son had a very similar operation and issues as you.. His was attaching itself to his stomach muscle wall.. He had his surgery done laproscopicly for the most part.. He does have a 3" scar by his bell button which is where they took the 13" of his small intestine and ileocal valve out.. he's 2 months post op and doing fine... He's also on 6mp and prednisone at this point. The first couple of weeks he was tired and sore so just take it easy. Your body will let you know when you can do more so please don't rush it..

/joe

 

[kenny]

I got into a habit of sleeping on an angle titled to one side with a pillow. It took strain off my gut and helped to give me a spot between "flat on my back" which just gets plain boring, and "on my side" which is just not possible cause your guts push on the midline incision. I am still doing this often even a year later. Just became too comfy

The guy who did me is known for being meticulous. My stitches were internal and the outside was glued. I was scab free in a week. The muscles in my abs took months to strengthen up. I got a home gym and I am still working on them. My goal was to be stronger and healthier at 45 than I was at 35. I think I am just about there

 

[sf925415]

hey vickiec1984! hope you are doing well. I'm having this surgery done (with 20cm ileum to remove plus the valve etc.) I'm concerned that they will find more more. I'll know in 12 days!

 

[archie]

Hi I had the same op 1 month ago (1ft removed) and now back to normal (still a wee bit tired) i'm able to sleep in any position although i always was a good sleeper. I'm off all meds already. My wound at the belly button still hasn't healed properly and i have a dressing on it and regular checks. I just walked walked and walked some more. I still have some swelling around the larger wound and tummy in general but it was never particularly flat anyway. Hope you have a speedy recovery

 

[Zalanicht]

ALl I can suggest is get more enough pain killers until your healed enough to not need them anymore. It took me a good 3 weeks before getting to 50% able to walk around fully without looking like a T-REX RAWR

 

[sf925415]

thanks again everyone. Yes, Zalanicht, I will be seeking pain meds, and more pain meds. When they did you surgery, did they find anything unexpected? I guess for me the anxieties about the what ifs are most prominent, like whether they find unexpected inflammation, adhesions, etc. that don't show up on the mri (possible??), and thus longer surgery, longer recovery, that kind of thing. Personally I hope while the surgeon is in there he will do a thorough exploration as best he can and fix whatever he finds. I assume that is what they do.