Post-Op Notes

Iron · Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 2:18 pm Post subject: Post-Op Notes

Greetings everyone!
The following information is a summary of my post surgery experiences. I am a 48 yo male, surgery removed a cancerous tumour at the Sigmoid and Rectum junction. Approximately 5" of my colon was removed and resectioned. I have a temporary Illiostomy.

[b]Interesting Facts[/b]
Days in hospital: 7
Days since sugery: 13
Status: Eating full diet. Drinking about 3l or .75 gal of water. Sleep well. Little or no pain. Tighness in area of abdominal incision.
Medication: None, including over counter pain killers
Supplements: Mannatech products, Toi Raichi Mushroom, Garlic pills, Chlorella, Extend Life Multi-Vitamins
Alternative Treatments: Accupuncture

[b]Complications:
In Hospital[/b]
Poorly installed epidural caused freezing of entire legs that interfered with walking regime. Epidural leaked causing early removal due to fear of infection.
Vomitted on first day of food intake. This triggered 14 hours of pain and subsequent opiate infusion.
Illeostomy related small intestine water absoption became deficient. Underwent "Illeostomy Replacement" that entails an extra IV to replace a percentage of total Illeostomy output (which is meassured by the nurses).

[b]At Home[/b]
Experienced a mild form of withdrawls when I cut off all pain killers once I was home. This was basically a depression that lasted about three days. Its not fun and the tendency is to grab a pain killer.
Withdrawls masked the onset of dehydration which I experienced on day three of being home. Reached a severe dehydration stage where I was dizzy, short of breath, irregular hearbeat, blurred vision and dry mouth. Abdominal pain made drinking anything difficult. Forced myself to continue fluid intake. It took three additional days to rehydrate myself.
[b]
Advice[/b]
Assuming that you are about have colorectal surgery, here are some things from my owe experience that I can pass on.

1. Seek second and third medical opinions.
2. Elect for IV administered pain medication as opposed to Epidural.
3. Make a plan that your family of friends provide supplements in liquid form that will help replace your Intestinal Flora. Do this prior to eating anything at the hospital. This is especially true if like me you were given anti-biotics.
4. Assume that you will have an Illeostomy or a Collostomy, temporary or permanent, even if your surgeon downplays the likelyhood.
5. Be prepared to drink tons of water because your colon absorbs a SIGNIFICANT portion of your daily water requirement. If like me you have the large colon disconnected (Illeostomy/Colostomy) you have to make up that volume through your small intestine.

[b]Final Comments[/b]
In general I would rate my experience a 5/10, 10 being the best. I found that the surgeons are not great communicators. I found them to be somewhat secretive and vague in answering my questions. I find that they lack in perspective in dealing with the entire scope of pre and post surgery treatment. This includes especially dietary considerations.
The hospital staff were excellent. Many wonderful caring souls. Truly angels on this planet.
Its like the whole medical system is missing something. On the medical and technical side there is no question of the high degree of capability. On the physiological, phychological, emotional and most definately nutritional/dietary fronts significant gaps of knowledge and treatment options exist. I would have easily paid for an acupuncturist and a reflexologist to visit me in the hospital. I would have paid for a nutritional expert to formulate a blend of natural ingredience to help restart my digestive system. Maybe that is just too Utopian thinking for our med sys!

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