Cats:
I know I am a day late and dollar short (or $20 :) --gotta figure for inflation!!), but I wanted to wish you the BEST OF LUCK for your surgery and recuperation. REMEMBER, please DO NOT get discouraged. It often takes time to get your colon/rectum (what's left of it ;) ) to return to normal.

It's like potty training your kids. Remember, you are asking different parts of your colon to do things they were not made to do, and it may take time to retrain them to do this. So BE PATIENT! You'll get there!

And as TAHB says, you may need diapers for a while...no worry though. We're all pulling for you!!!!!!!

Warm Regards,
CancerDad:angel:

I second that! All the best, cats...you will be fine!

I third what CD stated, I've been thinking about you guys, but I have been so busy since I returned to work. I hope everything goes smooth, just think you've finished one hurdle with chemo, now only one more to go! Hang in there woman! We're rooting for you!:jester:

thank you ALL for your well wishes. :wave:

I am doing well...but worried how i,ll feel once these drugs wear off. Surgeon did a colonoscopy w/surgey, and everything looks gfeat.

i am feeling great emotionally, which i havent felt in a long time.

take care and keep rooting for me as I wait to pass some gas.:p

take care...sorry for typos - in house web access has touch screen

:wave:


cat

Hi all...

Well sipping water is not working...I was doing an ounce every hour, but it keeps coming back up. Trying to keep positive and patient. Blood pressure is still low (81/52)...they don't seem too worried about that.

Wish me luck!
Cats

Cats:
BP will lower with narcotics used to help with pain. It's not a big deal though... they can always use pressor drugs and keep you hydrated with your IV to stabalize you. So, don't worry, BE PATIENT, and try to get up and walk around if you can.

There has been research that chewing gum can help get your digestive system going... but then there is also contradictory data too. So, you could try having your husband slip you a half piece of gum. I would sneak it if it were me. I say, what will it hurt??? You're not seizing where you could aspirate it. Might be worth a try.? Just a suggestion. :rolleyes:

Good luck, you will get there!! :)

Fondly,
CD

Best of luck to you. Now that the surgery is done, let's hope it's clear sailing from now on.

Thank you all for rooting for me...

Have been NPO but sucked on some ice chips this afternoon, and I think things are moving (yesterday was vomiting green stuff). I've had some cramping an had two watery bms. This is so bizarre to me! Been a long tim since I used my bum. I am curious if my doc will let me eat tomorrow...

Thanks to you all for your support. Keep your fingers crossed that this keeps working! :dizzy: :dizzy:

Take carel
cats

My dad had the green stuff vomit after his surgery, probably from anesthesia. It took me almost 6 days to pass gas after my surgery, I had the NPO deal too. Also, I've heard what CD said about gum too, but my surgeon told me last Thursday that that can also give you gas because you're swallowing air while chewing, I don't eat gum because of TMJ, but I try to reduce my gas intake by not drinking with straws now, because even though I did pass gas in the hospital, I can't fart on my own now, because I don't know if it's going to be stool or not, and I can never do it anyways, I have to be in the loou using it to pass gas. My gas was much more painful after surgery than before too, but of course I had a different operation.

Good luck, hang in there!

I also vomited green stuff. Lots of it. Drs put a tube down my throat (from nose), very uncomfortable. Tube constantly sucked out the green stuff (using some vaccum force). I also started diarrhea, of same green stuff, lots and lots every 15 minutes to half an hour. I was wondering, how the hell there was so much green stuff in me.

Then after about 18 - 20 hrs of diarrhea, around 2:00 am gas came out with it. Then withing couple of hours just only gas (around 4:00 am). Dr took out that tube from my troad in morning. I had liquid lunch, semisolid dinner, and was home before next days lunch.

So hang in there. You are almost there. The green stuff coming out from down below, means things are moving. Soon you will have the most awaited thing in that ward. "The Gas". By next day you will be home.

Edit: Just another note of caution. When the solid BMs start then you may get horrible burning during BMs, amost intolerable. To make matter worse, you might have 10 - 15 BMs per day. Do not loosen heart, that butt burn (if it happens to you) will go away soon and number of BMs will come down.

Good luck.

Thanks for all the advice... Gas and poop started late yesterday...I know only you all can appreciate how wonderful it is to pass gas! I got my "colorectal clears" tray this morning -- so far so good (jello & Italian ice). If I can graduate to toast tonight then I can go home tomorrow afternoon! I am thrilled!

Thanks for all the tips...have lots of pads, diapers, creams, wipes I am ready to go...literally. :eek:

When did your x stoma heal and stop bleeding? Mine looks GROSS!!

Thanks again...Wishing you all well.

Take care,
Cats

Hi Cats, Glad to see you are doing well.:) As for the stoma site . Did they sew it up? Larry's was stitched up internally and appeared to be glued closed. We spent the day of his discharge at a hotel near the hospital. He walked the 3 blocks to the hotel and promptly took a nap. He woke up a few hours later to find the sheets beneath him and his undies all a bloody mess.:eek:
I couldn't find the source of the bleeding and called the hospital. As the bleeding seemed to be stopped we were told to keep an eye on it and call back if it happened again. Larry was on coumadin to thin his blood so I was concerned that his stoma was still bleeding. At about midnight he woke up and had me check as he felt dampness and sure enough he was bleeding from a corner of his incision. He put pressure on it and went back to bed as it didn't seem to be a lot of blood. We returned to the hospital the next morning to have his Doctor check it out and found out that it was just drainage from the wound site that pooled under his incision and came out when he lay on his side to sleep.
It is two weeks from his surgery today( my how time flies) and his stoma site still looks strange. He had an allergic reaction to a convatec wafer put on the day before his his surgery and his skin became all red and inflamed. His skin is still a bit red and feels leathery around the stoma site. He has raised stretch marks from where the hernia was also. The whole area is dry and itchy so we have been using a medicated cream on the site. It has taken almost the whole week for him to stop feeling check his pouch.:D
He was an honorary co-chairperson for our Re-Lay for Life last Friday. I was so proud of him as he completed 6 laps on his survivor walk. |He had only been discharged from the hospital 4 days earlier. We handed out the blue star pins for colorectal cancer awareness at the event. :blob_fire
Hope you get to go home soon. There is no place like home:angel: |Kathy

Cats:
My incision took WEEKS to heal. It turned very angry looking and red and then, POP opened up a pocket that required packing. I NEVER healed right from ANY of the incisions though... I'm told it's due to the radiation I received. The radiation prevents you from healing correctly and easily.

In any event...all will be well soon. It WILL eventually heal and look mostly normal. You will always have a scar there, and will probably feel numb for a very long time. But with all the other scars (and now my bag on the other side) I joked with my wife after surgery, "Darnitt, there goes my modeling career!":D

Hang in there! :angel:

~CD :)

I will never wear a bikini again either !!! but hey! Im alive to make that choice! :). It also took me weeks for my scar to heal totally. Actually its only just now I can say its fully healed and that was 2 + 1/2 months ago. Things are going well, tho at times (like now) I am up at 3.30 in the morning.. Due to about 4 BM's in a row. This things happen occasionally but its STILL A HEAP BETTER THAN having the bag!. I almost feel "normal" at times. Gotta say tho, I have had a couple of emergencies and accidents which is by no means fun at all. '
I have more hours at work now (new positon) a new partner!! ;) and a good outlook on life. My life has changed dramatically, but now its all just going so well. SOmetimes it scares me just how well its going, and I get scared and worried that the big C will come back. I think thats probably normal.
Miss u all on here, u specially CD and hope that you are all doing well.
Take care my friends! Cats you'll be fine.. and congrats!!

Maz. :wave:

Thanks to you all for the great advice. I am now home and doing OK. I did place a call to the doctor because I have not had a bm since I got home two days ago. They said I would be going a bunch of times a day and now it seems like everything has stopped. I am wondering if I am constipated or if I am obstructed. Last time I had to have a surgery to remove adhesions at 10 days post op... Anyone else have this trouble? I was expecting that I would be living on the toilet and yet I have not gone at all!? Also having bad pain in the right side of my back - right kidney area??

The wound is still seeping quite a bit...looks really nasty. I am still trying to work on my bullet hole story... Yeah, after two c-sections and 3 abdominal surgeries I think I am out of a modeling career as well...NOT that I had one before!!

I am just so glad to be home and to be healing.

Glad to hear that you are doing well Maz!! :wave: YAHOO! Hope things continue to go well for you!

Take care all,
Cats

For me it took exactly 48 hrs to have first BM after I came home. I also gave a call to doc when I didn't pass any thing for first 40 40 hrs. He just asked me to wait it out. It takes a while to get things start up fully, more over, compare to what you have eaten since you stopped that green diarrhea.

I also have back pain, that is when I sleep and get up in morning. When I walk around, the pain goes away.

Only thing I can say is that any delay more than 48 hrs, does warrant a call or visit to doc even though it has high probability of false alarm.

gocats, its been a few days now since your last post. How's it going(literally and figuratively) now?

If you are getting plenty of liquids and doing some walking about that will help with the bm issue.

Hope things are going well. My thought s are on ya.