Let me "colectomy" thoughts...: Hospital Stay for Round 2

The surgery stay this time was thankfully much shorter than last time. I was in a private room the whole time, but the room was significantly smaller than before, which was fine for the short stay. After the nurses got me settled in and let my family in, I was able to look at the incision for the first time. Unfortunately, there was still a bandage over the incision, but at least there was no bag! I found myself checking frequently for the bag, but to no avail. I guess "old" habits die hard, right?

My Pain Button

Since the incision is so much smaller and the surgery less invasive, I did not have an epidural this time. Instead, I had a traditional pain pump, complete with a little clicker to get a "hit" when I needed it. The medication that I had was called dilaudid, which is a derivative of morphine. I think I had this last time, but can't recall completely. I truthfully did not use the pain pump very often. Last time, the pain medication made me sick several times and I think it slowed down the process of my gut waking back up. So, since my pain was minimal, I only used it to take the edge off and for some nice naps every so often.

I truly felt pretty good starting from day 1. I was able to get up and walk around the hall the night of surgery, something I didn't do until the afternoon of day 2 last time. Walking is one thing they tell you to do as often as you can and I don't think I did it enough after the first surgery. This time, I was determined to walk all over the place! After the first night, they removed my urinary catheter, so I was able to put on shorts (which I did on my own... again something I couldn't do last time until my 2nd or 3rd day at home, aka a week after surgery) and walk the halls in flip flops. It was much more pleasant than wearing 2 robes and slippy socks that the hospital provides. On day 2 I think I walked 5 or 6 times, each time going around the hallway 3 to 4 times. The coolest thing about these walks was seeing some of the same nurses I had last time. I recognized faces when I first got on the hall, but didn't expect them to remember me. Somehow, many of them did and it was really cool to see them again. Angie, the nurse I had the first few nights last time, was there one day and we saw her in passing. She promised to come see us later, but I think we were sleeping by the time she had a chance (but she left a note on my board... definitely still my favorite!). I was amazed that they still remembered me, but my mom pointed out that it was probably because I was one of the youngest people on the wing both times I was there... plus I'm an easy patient!

On the night of surgery, I was limited to "eating" only ice chips, but I was moved to clear liquids on the morning of day 2. They brought me some juice and broth for breakfast and it tasted SOOO good! However, by mid-morning, I was very nauseous. I had not yet moved my bowels, so everything was getting clogged up and adding juice to the equation was not helping. I never vomited and the feeling subsided, so I decided to go for a walk. Walking not only helps you recover physically, but it also helps get your guts moving... and boy did they get moving! Later in the afternoon I had my first bowel movement, which looked a lot like toxic sludge. After things started moving, they kept moving and I was in the bathroom very frequently the rest of my stay in the hospital. I did have a small accident the first night while sleeping, but other than that, I was always able to make it to the restroom in time. All of my movements in the hospital were very liquid and I was prepared with my own soft toilet paper and moist wipes. These helped, but did not totally eliminate the dreaded "butt burn". Since I no longer have a colon, the output is not only more liquid, but more acidic. This, plus the fact that I haven't used my butt in the traditional sense for four months, leads to irritation affectionately called "butt burn" by j-pouchers. This should go away after a few days as my stool becomes more formed.

On the morning of day three, my surgeon put me on a full diet. He also said that if I could handle to regular food through dinner, I would be discharged that evening! This was GREAT news and the food was awesome! I chomped down on some eggs and a biscuit for breakfast (though still taking it easy on the portion size, just to be safe), then had a grilled cheese and potatoes for lunch. Finally, for dinner I had chicken and rice with some chocolate cake (I had to stop eating the cake because it was SO good, but too much sweet stuff right away was probably not the best thing for new plumbing). The good news was that everything stayed down and I was discharged Friday evening!!

My first night at home, I did not sleep well and had one more small accident during the night. However, it was so nice to be home and in my own bed. My trips to the bathroom are still pretty frequent and still very liquid, but this should improve as time goes on. This morning (Saturday), I was finally able to take the dressing off of the incision (and shower!). The incision has 8 staples and was covered by an antibacterial dressing during my stay in the hospital. Since this is a "dirty wound" there is a better chance of infection, but things looked OK when I took the dressing off.