Determined to POTTY today! Any advice?!

Well, today I am 8 days Post-op from being the Princess on 6/4.
Beings I would only empty around 100cc's and retain 300cc's, they sent me home with a Cath on Wednesday. Friday morning, my Dr removed it in her office.

I had so much trouble voiding and having Bladder Spasms, my pain would jump from a 3 to a 15 in a second. The Dr recommended Saturday afternoon to go tho the ER and be re-cathed. I sat on the potty for about an hour and was finally able to go...during that hour the first void was about 125 cc's...I sat and sat and moved around in diff positions and was finally able to empty quite a bit of the colon...it was so heavy and the texture was like clay (no wonder it weighed so heavily on me!) and I was able to void another 325cc's.

So I thought this was a turnaround and wouldn't need to be recathed. Needless to say...I was back and forth to the bathroom only going like 100 cc's at a time retaining the remainder all night..and MISERABLE w/the "on a scale from one to ten pain scale" me being about a 15 from the spasms. So when I woke up Saturday morning...I told him I was going to the E.R. So they did a rention scale...and I had just went potty before leaving the house..took me 30 min in the bathroom at the E.R to get out the other 50 cc's and I was still retaining 166 cc's when she put the retention machine on me. They didn't cath me...they said I most likely had a Bladder Infection and sent me home with some Cipro and to continue w/my Azo.

Well, Saturday night...I was still Miserable and hurting and went to another E.R. that was closer to me...they wanted to draw my blood to check my Kidney function...it came back fine, but they wanted me to follow up w/a Urologist...and they did go ahead and place me back on the Cath and sent me home w/it. Of course informed me that any Prescription Pain meds are a culprit in stopping you up. So instead of two Purcosets...I changed it to one...and I take two Motrin w/it...and the 2 Azo's.

So on Monday morning, I went to see my Gyno that did my Hysterectomy/Rectocele repair and had taken my left cystic ovary.
She had mentioned that even tho she didn't do any procedures on my Bladder that I had a "sensitive" bladder and it was still "traumatized." She said after all of this time of my Colon/Bladder and Uterus all laying with and overlapping each other...trying to see who was going to come out first...that my Bladder was ACTUALLY having to "work" now...where as before I guess the other organs would just squeeze it out.

So we kept the Cath in untill today around 1:15 p.m.

Before...with the Cath...I was afraid of straining too hard to potty (#2)...now...I can get right on it!

So I'm determined to have a BM today...I know it's probably packed in there, like clay, again...but does anyone have a sure fire way of going, like....ASAP?

I've been drinking atleast 1 Murilax a day...today...I've already had one and will have another in about 30 min.
I've also been eating a fairly light diet...not much and mostly soups....scared of impacting myself even more. I carry my hospital water cup everywhere w/me, eat jello and even tried the bowel cleanser that we use for the Pre-Op Cleanser....Magnesium Citrate...I just can't tolerate that anymore. But I did eat 2 squares of ex-lax yesterday. lol.

Anyone have any advice they could share w/me?

If there are any questions I can assist with....I'll be happy to help my sisters also.

Oh...and can someone PLZ explain the "Swelly Belly" to me? I definately have that. lol.

I'm sorry you're having such a hard time. I had trouble not being able to empty my bladder while I was in the hospital but I didn't have to come home with a cath. Anyway, I too was determined to have a bm after day 3 so I took one full dose of Milk of Magnesia and that did the trick for me. It might not work for you but it would be worth a try. I assume you're talking about stool softener also. Once you do start going regular, don't stop the stool softener until your dr says. I hope you go soon!

Thanks, Sweetpeas..

I may have to send my DH on a store run tonight for some MofM.
As, we speak....I am on my second glass of Murilax. Thanks for the info....I appreciate u.

Annie, so sorry you had to go through all of that. *hugs*

I drank a half a bottle of magnesium citrate to get things going for me. It took a couple of hours to work, and when it did, it wasn't pretty. I hope something works for you soon! It is frustrating...

Please make sure you drink tons of water (64oz) as that is what keeps the stool softeners working. You might also try prune juice or kiwis to help things along.

CeJ, it's coincidental u mention the Magnesium Citrate...that's what I was given for Bowel prep. It worked great. The one day I did have a good BM I had drank half a bottle of it too. I think I still have some Lemon in the cabinet. I just used the Cherry twice and am "done with it" ughhh. Lol. I'll put it in the fridge and "try" to swig half the bottle down tomorrow. Thanks for the reminder.

As for the water...I've been doing great on that...I carry my water jug to every room in the house with me...including drinking on the potty. Lol.

Danni, I don't think I've ever tried Kiwis. Does it have that kind of effect as Prunes *as I shutter to that word?* lol.

Annie-mae, according to our Aussie ladies, it does have the same effect as prunes. Much tastier than prunes I would say.

Sounds like I need to add those to the grocery list then. ;-)

Thanks for that wealth of info, Danni!