No bowel prep

I kept reading things here about bowel prep. My TAH is this Friday, 3/5. I called my doc today and asked about bowel prep. His nurse called me back and told me that ny doc only does that if there is "serious disease". So no bowel prep for me. Have others had the same experience? I don't even really know the purpose of bowel prep.

I also did not have to do a bowel prep before my hysterectomy. The purpose of the bowel prep is, one, to empty the bowel thereby lessening it in size. If there is a suspicion on adhesion to the bowel, they may do a prep because in releasing the organs from the bowel you can sometimes have injury to the bowel. That can cause infection. I have worked in the healthcare field for many years and if your DR does not want to do a prep I am sure he has very sound reasoning for it. I also have prepped patients for the same procedure with different DRs and it comes down to your personal needs and situation and the Drs preference. Please try not to worry and enjoy the fact that you won't be pooping the entire day before your surgery. I know from personal experience that a bowel prep will wear you down, even if it is done for the best of reasons. Hope all goes well for you!

I'm doing very minimal bowel prep before my dvH & BSO. My surgeon told me that she only has patients do full bowel prep if there's a very specific reason to do it.

I've had to do full-fledged bowel prep twice before, and I'm *so* relieved that I don't have to do it this time! It's awful--you end up spending all afternoon and most of the night on the toilet.

All the best of luck to you on Fri!

I also had a TAH BSO and had no bowel prep..yea!

Hi jennneil
Consider yourself one of the lucky ones!!!!
I have had several surgeries and the only one I didn't have a bowel prep for was one where I went into ER about 8 am and was in surgery by 10 am!!!
All the best for your surgery and a speedy recovery!!
Hugs,
Suzanne

I had to do bowel prep the night before and morning of surgery.

Different docs, different protocols. Just do what your doc says.

No bowel prep for me either. I have done bowel preps for other procedures, and to be honest, it's not all that bad. But it's one less thing to worry about for you!

I didn't have one either. Just depends on your doc and the hospital.

I just had my pre-op, and found out that I will have to be on clear liquids the day before surgery, with a fleet enema at 3:30pm and another at 5:30pm. I've never done one before, so not really sure what to expect!