WHY NO ENEMA??

I a scheduled this thursday for my TAH and the hospital called me yesterday with their list of questions and to tell me to come in tomorrow for bloodwork. When she was done I asked her if I needed to have an enema the night before and she said "No, we don't regularly request that, not for this kind of surgery" I sort of thought it was routine. I have a girlfriend who had a TAH 2 months ago and she had to. But this nurse said, "Difference in hospitals and doctors."

I wonder........how many of you ladies had this surgery WITHOUT the doctor prescribing an enema the night before. I am going to call the doctor today and find out directly from her if this is true or not.

I am getting a little nervous for Thursday, although I have to be there at 6AM so I won't have TOO much time to dwell on it the day of surgery. I also was thinking of talking about having the spinal (had one with my only child) but now am drifting towards just having general and asking for the meds so they don't make me sick.

This site is a god-send during a time of much stress and concern over making the right decision. Thank you all!

Kris T.

Hi Kris:

I had my TAH at a major teaching hospital affiliated with Harvard Medical School here in Boston. I was not asked to have an enema or any other bowel prep before my surgery. All I had to do was not eat or drink anything after midnight the night before. I haven't had any problems with my surgery and was out of the hospital after two days. I didn't find this web site until after my surgery so didn't know anything about doing a bowel prep. I do understand the benefits however so if you want to do it on your own then you may want to in order to give yourself some peace of mind. Just wanted you to know that bowel prep is not always a requirement.

Hi Kris. I specifically asked my doctor about a bowel prep and did not have to do one. I was told it wasn't necessary. I haven't had any problems post op - all systems are normal! You may want to ask your doctor before doing it on your own.

Hi Kris,

My doc didn't require any pre-op bowel cleansing either... maybe your doc will instruct you to do a laxative instead of enema?

Just wanted to say, in hindsight(sorry for pun), my first BM may have been more comfortable, and I may have been less panicked about the whole BM thing in general, if I had done something on my own the nite before...

Sending cyberhugs,

Hey Kris, I am 3 weeks post-op from a TAH/BSO. I was surprised and elated when I read my orders and there was no enema or douche listed. I was just told to not eat or drink after midnight the night before. I took a Pepcid before going in at 6:30 the morning of my surgery. I started urinating on my own the second day. That same day my doctor ordered a small dose of Milk of Magnesia. It worked, gently, by the next day. What a relief! I live near Laurel, Mississippi and we only have one hospital. It was a wonderful experience. They put me in a most gorgeous room in the OB/Gyn section. Everyone involved pre and post-op were so kind to me. I thank the Lord for it and wish everyone else could have the same kind of experience as I did. I wouldn't do anything "on my own" without checking with my doctor first. I know it's different for everyone but please believe me when I say that the waiting is the hard part. I will be praying for you......

I also did not have any bowel prep or douche. I asked when I went for my pre-admit testing. It pleased me, as I wasn't looking forward to it.

I was very pleasantly surprised not to have to do any kind of bowel prep whatsoever. My surgeon even told me to eat as I pleased until 8 hours prior to the operation, but I did take that a bit easy on my own.

It seems that in some cases the surgeons are concerened that they might be "in the area" so they ask the patient to empty out.

But I spoke to some docs after my op, and was told that there are down sides to bowel prep -- the procedure does leave that patient weak and dehydrated to a certain extent, and that a completely empty colon sometimes actually makes the first BM difficult, as normally, it's never completely empty.

As I sometimes have wickedly said (JOKE, JOKE!) that the surgeon's toilet training may play a part in the decsion...

my dr. didn't give any pre op instructions other rhan no eating after midnight the night before. I did take gas-x the morning of surgery and when i got to my room after recovery. No real problems after. It was a little difficult for the first bm, so i took and enema to help, and it worked. Gas hasn't been a real big problem. Nurse at hosp. told me there are only two dr. here that do not require prep and mine was one ,and that's a good thing she said.