TVH with A&P repair no bowel movement

Oh my goodness. I have had such a circus of a recovery. 4 hour surgery. 4 hour recovery. Severe gas/ileus. Low potassium. Finally passed gas/diarrhea 3 days ago. Stayed in hospital for 5 days. Finally on day 6. Hugely swollen with gas, finally starting to toot. Have a supra public cath that seems to be doing fine. No fever but I am sooo sweaty!!!! Anyone else have that?

I haven't had a bowel movement yet and I'm starting to get nervous. I feel like there is a devil on one shoulder telling me I should push down. The angel on the other side says no pushing or I'll tear up all of the pelvic floor reconstruction that I just survived. How on earth is this going to work!? Ugh! Thanks for your wisdom!

Junction City - did you have to go to Portland for surgery or were you able to go to Eugene or Salem?

What are you taking? I would suggest stool softeners and laxatives. The first few weeks don't worry about dependency on them unless you told by your doctor not to use them. Walking, water, fiber, stool softeners just did not do it for my system.

Many find prune juice helps them but it gave me horrible gas. Others use Miralax, but again the gas from it was horrible and took 6 days to work. Finally got some Milk of Magnesium Which I took the recommended dosage of 2 tablespoons I think, 1 every 3 days. It kept me moving without the strain. I will say before I got it, there were days the stools had built up right at the anus and I took my finger and dug it out unless it started moving on its own. I have always had that problem of backup but I could strain then, no way do I want to now .

HI NinjaJewel,

I'm so sorry you're having so much trouble post surgery! I know this can be challenging and having gone though issues of no bowl movement pre and post opp I understand.

For me I got a prescription to help with my bowel movement and still after 6 weeks will use it to help. I also discovered cooked vegetables work as a natural way to help with a congested colon. It's really fiber that will help with this, sometimes people eat more fruit but I persoally want to lower my sugar intake so vegetables is the way to go.

Good luck with this and don't be afraid to tell your doctors your experience so they can help you.

Wishing you all the best!
J