# got home from hospital yesterday from surgery



## SLBEL3 (Jun 1, 2000)

Hi all. Just got home from the hospital yesterday after having my hysterectomy. Here's how things went. The day of the surgery (wed) I had absolutely no pain whatsoever. Helped with the epidural constantly putting pain meds in me for 24 hours. Hubby said the operation took under an hour. Only bad thing about that was the medication they used made me extremely itchy and scracthing wouldn't help at all. More of an internal itch that you cant get rid of. the next day (thurs)out came the epidural and then came some pain. Not too bad though. Had a really bad day that day. Was still on clear liquid diet and was getting severe gas pressure throughout abdomen, that in turn made me every nauseous, also them giving me 2 percocet on an empty stomach only 2 1/2 hours after trying me on oxycontin and oxycodone. So basically I had way too much painkillers in me at once. Made me really sick. The nurse called the doc. wasn't the one who did the surgery though, and he was very rude and condescending (sp?) got me all upset and ended up hyperventilating and then having asthma attack. The nurses told him to get out of my room. So they called my regular doc, it was his day off so his covering doc called and said she was in the office until 8pm and would come in after that. (by this time it's 4pm and I'm in tremendous pain. Stomach was distended with gas pressure 6 inches above normal. Hurt like the dickens. finally at 8:30 I got sent to x-ray. the doc was there and so was my regular one, he got a phone call about me and came to the hospital. He's a really nice doc. After a while 2 nurses came in and told me they had orders to put a nasogastric tube in. (a tube that goes in your nose, down your throat, and into stomach and hooked up to slow suction). Never felt pain like that before in my life! It actually felt like they were sticking a knife through my nose and down my throat. I screamed the entier time they were putting it in. Only payback I got was once it got to the stomach I gagged and threw up all over the nurses. Hubby said they deserved it. LOL. Helped with pain in stomach and nausea but not the gas everywhere else. turns out that my whole bowel/digestion system completely shut down. Finally got a little sleep from morphine. So needless to say I didn't go home friday like i was supposed to. On Friday morning the ng tube came out but still had to be on clear liquids. also finally able to shower. they had to put a glove over the hand with the IV and when they did they noticed the iv had blown my veins. so my hand and arm were filled with fluid, looked really funny. LOL Finally after bugging the nurse all day long Friday to call my doc and see if I could atleast have a couple crackers because I needed to eat something, took me 10 hours to convince her that I could handle a couple crackers, so finally at about 11pm she called the doc and he said yes I could have some and it was actually in my chart that I could have had a light dinner of toast and juice. gee thanks a bunch dumb nurse. Starved all day long because nurse was to stupid to look in my chart for docs orders on eating. Could have had some real food at 5pm, but noooo, had to wait until 11pm. I was not happy. So doc came in Saturday to see me, checked the incision, removed staples, and said I could go home whenever I was ready since my bowels started functioning again. So i am now home, kids driving me nuts like normal, and it's hotter than **** here. I'm still in a lot of pain but know it will get better. I didn't get the private room I requested but I did luck out that I didn't end up with a roommate the whole time I was there. Gotta go for now. There's my story. Sandi


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## moldie (Sep 25, 1999)

Yowsers! What an ordeal Sandy. So sorry it didn't all go off smoothly for you. I think there is something about our fibro bods that they do not adjust to change well. Meds can be a problem, and so can any trauma that further irritates our nervous system. Just disrupting the change of normalsy for us seems to throw our bodies off. Sometimes I think there is also a problem with the diet they try to feed us post-surgical or for other reasons. Lots of sugars in those clear liquid diets, and lots of them are fruit sugars. Then you graduate to a full liquid diet which gives you dairy sugars! It may work for some, but I think that they ought to rethink this approach when it comes to those with IBS problems. Then they throw in oral pain medications to further irritate the gut. A little education and research by the doctors could go a long way in alleviating some of the stress in these situations. To their benefit and the benefit of the health care providers and insurance companies, it might even prevent prolonged hospital stays.


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## Feisty (Aug 14, 2000)

Hi Sandi!I'm so glad you checked in. I was thinking about you all week.Moldie is right. These so-called "health professionals" should reconsider the whole approach when they are dealing with Fibro and IBS patients. We definitely do not react the same. Our stomachs and intestines are extremely sensitive-----our whole bodies are so sensitive.I'm so sorry to hear about the complications. I was hoping it would be a breeze.When I had my hysterectomy, the Gyn. also had to tack my bladder back up into position because I was having "dribbling". Was sent home with one of those pubic catheters (a small incision is made along the pubic hair line and the tube is put into the bladder through the abdominal wall and then tacked in place.) Your sent home with that in and a bag attached to drain the bladder. After a few days, you have to start "retraining" the bladder to work again by clamping off the catheter until you can't stand the "urge" any more and then you have to see if you can "go" the normal way. Well, my bladder was so irritated---it felt like I had to go all the time, but couldn't, so I'd unclamp the tube and drain it out that way. After 3 weeks, it still wasn't working right and then the stitches holding it in place tore and it was just hanging there by one stitch. I went in and told them to take the damn thing out!! It felt like the catheter was hitting the wall of the bladder and I just couldn't take the pressure feeling any more. The nurse told me she would take it out that day, but I would have to come back in the next day and the Doc would put a new one in. I said, "Over my dead body"!! I knew the bladder was irritated from that darn thing and sure enough----within 12 hours, I was going the way I should go. I called him and told him I was not coming in. But, we never know what we are talking about, do we? Who knows our bodies better than we do? I had much the same reaction as you did-----needing the NG tube after surgery, etc. a year ago when I had to have the Sigmoid Resection. Here I was, waking up in recovery and feeling like I was so bloated and full of gas---almost like as in a helium balloon! So, Doc somes in and says, "Karen, we need to get an NG tube down you right away. It's going to be "uncomfortable", but it will relieve the pain and gas." Well, like you, I thought I was going to gag to death, but as soon as it was in and pumping, it was like instant relief. I needed mine in for several days after surgery and then when the Doc pulled it out, here's this big booger all over my nose! Doc was nice about it though, and told me I still had some booger to wipe away!!!







Sorry guys, I know it's disgusting, but funny, too! At least I gave him a show for his money!!!







I also ended up coming home with a bladder catheter still in and had to leave it in for 2 weeks. Ended up with bladder distention and infection big time. He was a nice Doc and apologized to me so many times for all the "discomfort" and complications. Can you imagine a Doctor these days doing something like that?! He's a "gem".But----don't you just love their carefully phrased "uncomfortable" which means it's going to hurt like h-ll!!!Considering everything, though, I'm so thankful I had the surgery. Things are going better now compared to a year ago.Take it easy and try not to overdo. I'm sure you will have some pain yet, but remember------if you overdo, your body will let you know and then you will hurt. Also, if you can tolerate Extra-Strength Tylenol or Advil or something like that, it might help to take it on a regular 4 to 6 hour schedule for a week or two to get you over that "hump". That's what my Doc recommended to me. I refused pain meds in the hospital after a couple of days because they made me feel worse and weird. So he recommended this approach and it really worked for me. And the surprising thing was that after a few days, I found I really wasn't actually hurting that much any more. I was mostly just "uncomfortable" and worn out, which rest took care of. I only used the Advil a few times after about the 7th day.Take care.Keep us posted, okay?And, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to you!Karen


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## weener (Aug 15, 2000)

Sandi, sorry to hear that you went through all that horrible stuff after the operation. I also am not good with pain meds especially narcotics. They gave me morphine for the first day and I ended getting sick on the nurse too. I felt bad and she was very nice about it. Then I got a prescription when I got home for percocet and could not take them either, they made me hallucinate and it was a weird feeling. As Karen said, try to stick to extra strentgh tylenol if you can. By the third day I was dying for real food. I shared my room with 3 other ladies and one lady was diabetic so she had to eat every couple of hours. Every time the food tray came into the room I was up checking her food out. Then they would bring me my jello and tea. Try to go lightly with the foods at first. Things will should get better as the weeks go by. I'm so glad you posted. I was also thinking of you all week. Wishing you a speedy recovery, but remember to take it easy. Were you able to get someone to stay with you this week?


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## mamamia (Jan 21, 2000)

Sandi,I am glad the worst is over for you but what a terrible ordeal, and I think totally unnecessary. I hate oral pain medication. I have three herniated disks in my neck. The doctor wanted to write me a prescription for pain meds and I said, "Don't bother, they'll only make me sick." Stick with Tylenol and Tylenol PM, the only things that keep me going. I take enteric coated aspirin sometimes too, that's pretty helpful for me.We are luv ya and are glad to have you back in one piece!!!love to all, mama-


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## SLBEL3 (Jun 1, 2000)

Hi all, thank you so much for your love and support. I feel so blessed to have you guys to talk to. Well, yesterday wasn't too bad. The worst part is at night in bed trying to roll over. Cant use muscles in abdomen whatsoever because you can rip the stitches out plus it hurts too much! Saturday night I actually got stuck on my back and had to wake hubby up to help me back onto my side. (I can't breath if lying flat in bed). Same thing happened last night but I couldn't wake him up to save my life so had to try and do it myself. Hurt like h**l! Today I've pretty much only been doing a puzzle I got the other day. Take breaks after every 1/2 hour since can't sit in one position that long or I can't straighten up. I tell ya, this definitely is not fun at all. My hubby is home with me all week thankfully but I feel really bad for him because he feels so helpless when he sees my eyes tear up if I move too fast, and he hears me yell and cry when a cough sneaks up on me and I dont' have time to support my stomach, and he sees how hard it is for me to get up from the couch or a chair or how uncomfortable I am and how aggrivated I get when I can't even do the simplest things right now like get dressed by myself and put socks on my feet since I can't bend that far over and he has to wash and dry my legs when I shower because I can't. But I know it's going to take a while before I'm able to do the normal everyday things so I have to be patient and take it slow + heal correctly. Gotta go, will be back soon with an update.Bunches of hugs,Sandi


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## Mio (Dec 19, 1999)

Hi Sandi,hope you feeling better! Take it slow and let your family take care of you! Take care, Mio


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