Colostomy Takedown Surgery at St. Anthony’s Hospital
It’s been five months since my colostomy surgery and I’ve been living daily life with a plastic bag attached to my side between my belly button and hip. In some ways having a plastic bag for poop is really convenient, but I’d say the drawbacks outweigh the benefits and I’d prefer not having it.
Wednesday, September 4: Day of Surgery
I arrived around 7.30 at the hospital; my roommate Will brought me this time on his way to work. My sister is to arrive here sometime Saturday. After they prepped me in a small basic room (putting on the gown, packing my clothes and filling out charts), the surgeon, Dr. Madayag, arrived to explain the surgery to me. Basically there are two parts to it, remove the bag from my side and reattach both halves of my intestines together so they will be fully functional.
Apparently the surgery took about four hours and there was only one complication in that there was a lot of scar tissue inside me which required a lot more effort in cutting. I was told that most likely I’d not have the nose tube this time down to my stomach, however, because of the excess scar tissue, I’m told I will have it for about three days. I can see bloody fluid coming from it so I’m guessing there is blood filling my stomach at a small rate.
Hiccups
My pain from the surgery is really low and mostly I’m not taking the pain meds given. However, there has been one surprising development in that I have extremely painful hiccups almost costly. I’m not sure why they are happening or what is causing them, but they sure hurt. I’ll need to speak with the surgeon tomorrow about the hiccups as the nurses have no input at this point.
Vomiting
In addition to hiccups, I also am nausious about every 20-30 minutes resulting in very, very painful dry-heave vomiting. There is nothing in my stomach to come up, so usually the dry-heaves transforms into a hacking cough and I end up with a tissue full of thick green mucus. Again, I have no idea why I’m trying to vomit. They put me on the maximum strength anti-nausia meds but it is doing very little to prevent it from happening a couple times an hour.
Thursday, September 5: Day After
Around 5am I started feeling much better; the dry-heave vomiting finally stopped. Leaving me withe hiccups for a couple more hours. By 9 or 10 I was feeling much much better! My incision and intestines are about a one in the pain level (unless I cough or vomit). So, I’m mostly off the meds now only taking occasional pain meds. I met with the surgeon late in the afternoon. He explained I had a lot of extra scar tissue which made the surgery more difficult and potential problems or complications down the road. Overall I slept most of the day (on and off) and did get up once to sit in the chair in my room. Tomorrow I’m hoping to do some short walks down the hall.
Friday, September 6: Walking
I spent most of friday taking short naps of 30 minutes to an hour. I have almost no pain while in bed and my energy is very good. I made it out of bed for three walks around the sixth floor. I’m very hungry and looking forward to having some food soon (maybe tomorrow?)
Saturday, September 7: Liquids
I did several walks, at least one every three hours. Around 2pm I started passing gas which is the first sign I can start into having some type of food more substantial than ice chips. Other than that, I slept on and off all day.
Sunday, September 8: Food!
A big day; I was upgraded to regular food and taken off pain IV meds. I took a shower and a long walk down to the garden area. I was told they plan to discharge me on Monday. Overall this was a great day!
Monday, September 9: Discharge
I’m feeling really good. I actually got about four hours of sleep last night and had two full meals today. I have almost no intestinal cramps. I’m happy things have gone so smoothly so far!
