Upcoming hysterectomy 3/16: Food Restrictions Pre-Op?

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Originally Posted by TaraNoel3009 Sorry for the delay - I typed out the list and then somehow managed to lose it! Rookie mistake. I will try again. The list I was given said to stop these items 5 to 7 days before surgery: Grapefruit juice Green tea Melatonin Vitamin E Omega 3 fish oil Fish Oil Papaya extract Chinese wolf berry Coenzyme Q10 Cranberry juice Curbicin Danshen Devils Claw Quilinggao St. John's wart Dong Quai Fenugreek Garlic Ginger Ginko Ginseng A lot of these appear to be supplements and herbs. I hope this helps. Let's see if I can post it this time! Lol!

Sisters, may I suggest that you speak to your doctor or his/her office before you give up anything they didn't tell you to give up?

Every patient is different. And doctors have different rules. It seems a little like playing with fire to take one doctor's rules and applying them to a surgery with a different doctor.

I had my pre op appts yesterday and wasnt given any diet restrictions .. just nothing after midnight.. and no bowel prep.. I was told the day I go home from hospital they will give me a stool softener.

Amy, I have heard a lot about -not- using a laxative, but instead using a stool softener (I'll be using Metamucil, which isn't a stool softener, but should have the same effect). Avoiding "gassy" foods for a while after, and using a heating pad on the shoulder/diaphragm area since they didn't pump the gas into your digestive system, but directly into the abdominal cavity. Staying hydrated, and walking as you can to keep the system "moving".

If this is like any of the other abdominal surgeries I've had (one to remove a ginormous ovarian cyst that "ate" my ovary, and one to pull my stomach back out of my chest cavity where it had herniated), I won't be hungry for awhile anyway, so avoiding the "wrong" food should be easy. Big thing: hydrate! Lots o' liquid.

~mk

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Originally Posted by markira Amy, I have heard a lot about -not- using a laxative, but instead using a stool softener (I'll be using Metamucil, which isn't a stool softener, but should have the same effect). Avoiding "gassy" foods for a while after, and using a heating pad on the shoulder/diaphragm area since they didn't pump the gas into your digestive system, but directly into the abdominal cavity. Staying hydrated, and walking as you can to keep the system "moving". If this is like any of the other abdominal surgeries I've had (one to remove a ginormous ovarian cyst that "ate" my ovary, and one to pull my stomach back out of my chest cavity where it had herniated), I won't be hungry for awhile anyway, so avoiding the "wrong" food should be easy. Big thing: hydrate! Lots o' liquid. ~mk

Thank you! I too had a cyst that 'ate' my ovary, that was a fun middle of the night ER visit many years ago. It looks like Captain Hook did it, she did a vertical scar basically from my belly button down. When me now doctor say it before my surgery last Jule to remove a cyst on my remaining ovary, he was shocked at my scar. But, I do scar easily. However, I can't even see my scars that he did, so he must be really good. I think I did take a stool softener like Dulcolax, not a true laxative. But if wasn't until 4 days post op and I was dying. That and the shoulder pain from the lap. gas was awful! Plus my husband & kids left for Scout camp 3 days after, but I have awesome girlfriends that checked in on me and took care of me. My husband's not going anywhere this time!

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Originally Posted by PrincessAmy7 Mind if I ask you, on that bowel prep, was it a liquid, a pill, or an enema? I had to do a colonoscopy last year and I could vomit now remembering the taste of that drink, yuck!

I had to cancel 2 colonoscopy appts because I couldn't get enough prep down. For that I had the golytly huge huge jug. I am a slow drinker, which doesn't help. It tasted sweet and salty at the same time and was really disgusting. So when my surgeon told me I would do a bowel prep, I freaked out and asked what if I couldn't drink it. But she just gave me 1 bottle of magnesium citrate to drink, it was relatively small and while not good, was not nearly as disgusting as the other stuff. I managed to get it down by getting it nice and cold, I poured half into a juice glass and make myself a cup of chicken broth. I would take 2 sips of the prep and then some chicken broth. I got the glass down pretty quickly, and I think the contrast of the hot salty broth with the yucky sweet of the prep is what helped me. Then I took a break for an hr or so and then did the other half. It was really not that bad.

Hello my March 16th Sister! I wanted to follow up with you on your food restriction question. I shared that long list with you of herbs and supplements to avoid that my surgeons office gave me. I had my anesthesiologist appt 2 days ago and the only thing she wanted to make sure I avoid was
Advil (and those types of pain killers). Go figure. I'm not sure what the point of the long list was. I had assumed it had something to do with blood clotting. Anyway, I just thought it was kind of funny. I hope all is well with you and your preparations!

Hello my March 16th Hyster Sister! I too have had all my pre-ops. All I was told was that I had to do a clear liquid diet all day Sunday and start the bowel prep at around 3. I'm going to eat a nice meal tonight and eat very lightly tomorrow.

I'm getting nervous. I know I'll be fine, but just nervous about it all. He's doing a 'lift' of my bladder/down there area and he said I cannot do stairs for 3 days. Well, he said I could go up the 6 stairs to get to my bedroom, but after that I was grounded to my upstairs for 3 days. I've updated my Netflix list of rentals, so I've got lots of chick-flics all qued up, ready to go. And of course, the terrible shows I watch on Bravo will be ever-entertaining.

And have you been emotional? I am totally 'good riddance' with that whole area of my body, so I'm not sure why I'm emotional. We watched 'Dolphin Tale 2' last weekend as a family and I was balling at the end, you know, the ugly cry....ridiculous, the dolphin lives and is fine, why was I crying? Help!

HaHa! Too funny about the dolphin! But, seriously, I have not been feeling too emotional yet. I am sure it has not hit me yet. I am more worried about not being completely ready for recovery I have all this nervous energy and instead of putting it to good use, I am cleaning things that are so random and don't really make a difference to my recovery. Yikes! I am babysitting my 3 year old granddaughter today. So there is another day where I don't get anything productive done. I guess I am really going to have to dig in tomorrow.