Back from my bladder test! :).... more pre op info

Well.... I survived the last major step before the surgery on the 7th. Now the clock is definately ticking down.

I arrived at my scheduled time, 6:30am, after being up all night dealing with the most wonderful experience of a "bowel prep". A man must have bottled that nasty stuff in the green bottle! It's evil! I spent most of the night on the thrown! HA! My poor aching fanny!

It took almost 2 hours to get to the first stage of things. Considering I hadn't slept I was not up for that. Off went the clothes and on with the sexy backless number. IV went in, which I hate... and this particular nurse did a lousy job of it. Rolled me to X-Ray to have several images of my pelvic area done, then off to the waiting area while they filled me with fluids awaiting the mighty river flow.

The time finally came for me to "do my thing", with a male nurse in attendance. (he did ask if I wanted a female nurse, but my attitude is that after bearing children, nothing is sacred any longer) It seems they wanted to test the flow rate. It would have helped if they had the cup lined up under the giant funnel I was sitting on. Ugh! Only test result that happended after all that waiting was that my brand new $3.99 Walmart slippers got soaked!

They decided to wheel me in to the operating room without the flow test. Fine with me! I got to the operating room and was met by two very nice nurses, one of who kept freaking out that I was going to fall off the table since I kept fighting with the sheet to get warm. They put a little happy juice in my IV to relax me and the doc arrived. Cheerful little fella named Lupo! I don't think I was in there longer then 10 minutes and it was all over. It didn't even hurt. I mean, there may have been a bit of discomfort, but nothing to even mention. I had to give him a good cough and grunt, and back to the recovery room I went to await my sweety.

PIECE OF CAKE!

The bad news is that I have to have a major tacking up job done to my bladder! (sorry I said uterus earlier!!! Duh!)which is a bummer since I'll have a catheter (sp?) hanging out of my belly for 10 days post op. I really, really didn't want that!!! I've decided that I"m going to name my new side kick just so I don't hate it.

I also found out from the doc that I will be under general anesthesia and they will insert an epidural prior to my waking up. Works for me! The doc says I should be able to go home a couple of days after the surgery. Ahhhhh, my own bed and my puppies.

Now that the countdown is really in my face I will try to keep a postive outlook and sunny disposition. But, as you can see by my "feeling like crap" thread I'm not always successful.


[Edited by PaTony on 11-28-2000]

Hi my name is colette i go for surgery friday. you are definatly right about that green bottle stuff, it is nasty!! Your right about another thing a man must of invented that stuff. Gosh awhile back ago i called the dr because i had'nt pooped for days and my belly was killing me he told me to buy some magnisium citrate. so DH runs and get me a bottle! Here i am getting all excited to get some relief from constipation(i'v had bowel problems for years but since the uter is enlarged its worse than ever)> Well aroun 4:00Pm i chug that nasty crap down. Well let me tell gosh you know what happens after 2 hrs of that stuff my rear hurt for days i never thought i'd stop pooping. LOLWell the bad news is thursday i have to drink that nasty junk again at least i can do it in the morning so hopefully i'll be able to sleep without getting up a thousand times the night before my surgery. Trust i know how your fanny is feeling, hang in there. Glad to see you got this over with take care and get some rest.

Hi PaTony,

Thanks for updating us on your preparations...there have been several sisters here with a supra-pubic catheter like you spoke of, and though it seems awkward, it will help you in the long run with your bladder repair. The best thing is that it won't be in there forever!

Soon it will all be over with, and you can concentrate on your recovery. The new year will see a recovering new YOU!

My very best to you...

Linda

Okay okay.... What is the stuff in the green bottle?????? Is it Fleet PhosphoSoda? If so, I am now SICK because that is my prep the day before surgery! :-(

Are you haveing your BLADDER tacked up or your uterus? I am confused. You said uterus in your post but I thought you were having a hysto. Could be me. My comprehension skills are WAY DOWN THERE! LOL

Glad everything went well!

PaTony what kind of bladder repair are you having? Do you remember the name of it. I am also having bladder repair with my hyster. Scheduled for Dec. 18 so have not had the pre-op visits with dr. yet. I have a friend having just the bladder procedure and her dr. did mention possible going on with a catheter.
The bladder surgery for me is called Pubovaginal Sling.(sp)
Good luck with your surgery.

TVH/BSO with bladder repair
Dec. 18

"kamilleon" and "wilma"

The stuff in the green bottle is Magnesium Citrate Oral Solution. They give it to you to clean out your bowels.... AND THAT IT DOES! I don't want to scare you off from it. AS bad as I felt last night with my flaming fanny... I'm quite OK today. But, be prepared. Get whatever helps ease the burning you generally have with any old case of diarhea. That was the worst of it. Triple antibiotic ointment was NO good for me. Vaseline w/aloe is what I had handy, and it helped. I'm sure the Preparation H would also help. I'm going out to get some now since I have the pleasure of the GREEN BOTTLE again the day before my surgery..... even though I whined quite loudly about it this morning. I mean, I had to try!

I'm having my uterus, ovaries, cervix, tubes.. the whole works taken out (TAH/BSO). Because of some not so frequent incontenance the urologist did the bladder test this morning and found that I had to have a more extensive tacking up of my bladder. I'm sorry I'm not up on the terms. I'll start a new thread about it and see how many of our post op sisters can help on this one. From what I gather, the more minor bladder repair (like what I think Wanda is talking about) is some sort of sling. The one that I'm getting will require a cathetor coming out from my belly. I know... sounds gross, but other sisters have assured me it helps with the recovery. I hope this answers the confusion I caused!

I also found out that they're going to try to cut me horizontally since that seems to heal better, but they'll determine that better when I get in to the operating room.

Off to Wally world for yet another prescription for antibiotics. Wonder if i'll manage to sqeak in another YEAST infection before I'm due to be crowned!!! sheesh!

Hi PaTony,

It's me again. I did a search on the word "catheter" and turned up a thread that has posts by a couple of sisters that had the suprapubic catheter. One has an e-mail address and invites others to ask her about it. You can get to this thread by clicking this:

https://www.hystersisters.com/forums/...threadid=14389

Hope this is of help to you.

Linda

Check it out... I went back and fixed my boo boo. I do apologize if I confused anyone. I blame the evil green bottle!

Well Pat you have just had a heck of a day haven't you.
Sounds like the prep to the tests was worse than the tests.
At least phase one is over with. Maybe you should add the little green bottle contents to the chili you fix for the doc. LOL.
We can start a name Pats cathater(sp) contest.
Wouldn't that be fun!!!
Take care hun
Kris

http://www.aardman.com/images/anims/laugh2.gif
Kris: Thank God I don't have those stitches yet... I got a good laugh out of your reply!!!

Yes... the evil green bottle! I have my next date with that nasty beast on the eve of Dec. 7th. He sits atop the fridge watching my every move! But, I've placed my knight in shining armor right next to him. Sir PreparationH to my rescue. I think I'll also have me a little spritz bottle handy as well. NOT looking forward to that at all!

Name the cath contest.... awesome! That might help me get my mind off of the image I keep having in my mind.

You are truly a dear. Thank you for your awesome sense of humor. I am not worthy, I am not worthy (on my knees).