Hysterectomy dates Jul 09-Jul 16,2007

elefante64,

It sounds like you're doing everything right. I'd keep walking too (not marathon walking but gentle strolling). My sister who is a nurse, emphasized the walking as the main bowel activator.

I used Mirulax (stool softener in powder form) yesterday and today which has helped a lot as well. I'm going to use that daily for the next week or so.

Do you feel or hear your intestines moving or making sounds at all or does everything seem totally still.

Nope, don't 'feel' anything but an increasingly swelly belly! And I had TVH, not abdominal. I will go out and do another townhouse driveway lap or two. I've chugged and eaten about everything i can stand to to. Now, earlier today i did pass a tiny tiny bit of gas, but again I feel nothing moving at all. Just verrrrrrrry uncomfortable. Do you think it's because they had me out so long w/anesthesia? I was 'out' 7.5 hours for just one hour of surgery. And sick of pain meds all Monday nite/wee hours of Tuesday. I didn't start anything solid until Tuesday nite .,,, maybe it just takes time. I will take your sister's advice and try more walking. And I won't take percocet tonite...i'll do the generic iboprophen (sorry for poor spelling) as i know percocet can constipate me.

Off I go for a mini Thanks again for your advice and for your sister's advice. I'll keep you guys posted. At least I'm burping once in awhile, but it's weird. I usually have VERY good bowels............

E. TVH July 9th for CIN/CIS

hi Everyone, home from the castle today,
all went well TAH/BSO in other words they took everything.
Not in any pain so just taking Motrin.
The gas is the worse problem. The nurse told me when I got home place ginger ale in a cup then a tea bag place in mircrowave for 1 minute and drink it does work the gas started to escape. Took a shower when I got home and my daughter did my hair.
Well going to go take a nap. Glad to be home
Diane

Hi Elefante and Hi freakydeaky, we had our procedures on the same day. believe it or not i was thinking about you ! Oh and there was someone else Law1961? I think her procedure was on the 9th too. I'm so happy to hear that everyone is back home and feeling better. I wrote an update when i got back from the castle yesterday but i'm not sure on what thread now ? LOL the vicodin has made me so groggy. I've decided to take only half with the 600 mg ibuprofen in between. I havent had a bowel movement. I'm just like elefante. I'm swolen and so uncomfortable. I've take 4 tblspoons of MOM and some Gas-X, drinking water, eating chocolate and nothingggggggg! I'm going to keep reading the threads for more ideas on how to help this little problem out. Thanks for the advice on walking....I need to do more of that.

I finally moved those bowels. All it took since Monday's surgery and Tuesday's release from 'The Castle' were:

six metamucil wafers
ten+ prunes
almost an entire carton (big carton) of extra pulp OJ
Three servings of brown rice
Three servings of black beans
A huge salad w/tons of fresh veggies
Two ducolex given to me Tues. a.m. in the castle on doc's orders
two little bowls of cheese popcorn
a bowl of cereal my first morning home w/fresh blueberries, fresh nectarine, fresh banana
an apple yesterday, skin and all.......

LORDY.

And, as FreakyDeaky recommended via her sister the nurse: I chugged a TON of water and tea (well, I like canned tea, decaf as I have osteoperosis)... I chugged WARM tap water this a.m. and I walked a HALF MILE this a.m. which I am sure my doctor would not be happy about but off I went. I went VERY slowly and I plan another half mid day and a final half later today. All the neighbors I'm sure are wondering 'what is UP w/that gal?' Usually I plow by quickly in my tennies or on a bike... i'm moving pretty slowly. And I sat on the floor of the shower to shave my legs and I did four trips from the laundry basket to the machine in my townhouse (don't worry everyone...it's all one floor

Re: gas pains.
What I learned this week is that the gas pains are the surgery pains for me. They feel like cramps. They get really intense sometimes. I save my percocet for night time (as that can constipate, too)..... and try to do generic advil during the day if the pain is too intense. I agree be careful w/'gas' because it might not really be 'gas' but the pain from the surgery itself.

It's wonderful to see everyone's updates. Thanks to everyone for their ideas and support. I'm still bloaty swelly belly (even with TVH) but I am sooooooo happy that my bowels finally moved after all that fiber I put into them.

Have a decent Friday everyone. E

Hey Sisters, Had my LSH on Tuesday the 10th. Went very well. Wasn't sick from Anesthesia (thank you God). Home on Wednesday. Yes the gas issue seems to be the worst of it. Can feel it rolling around and sometimes I get a little relief from a bit escaping,,but I feel like it could be a lot more.. So I'm walking around...eating fiber cereal, tea, lots of water and took MOM last night... hoping to eventuall have bowel movement..
All in all I am extremely happy with how it all went. this discomfort is very tolerable and is temporary....

My advice to those having surgery in the future.....Get your arms in shape. Do some tricep work (like tricep dips) Having strong arms can be very helpful when getting in or out of bed, chair, whatever.....You use your arms instead of your abs! (Mine were in pretty good shape, but could have been better, I feel that now!
P.S. If I ever meet my anestesieologist again I'll have to thank him for doing such a good job! Not sick... terrific.

elefante 64 - Great news!! When you said you had a smallbit of gas escape I was going to write and say that is exactly what happened with me. 3 very small toots over a 4 hour period and then it all happened.

Phillipians446 - thanks for thinking of me. I hope you have success today - I'm sure you're miserable having to hold everything in.

livestronggal - yep - it's all in the arms. Thank goodness my husbands arms are available cause I'm working 'em!!

Day 5 and I'm having some pain today. My doctor told me to remove the steri strips today so I did. There's one small area that seeping some blood now. Everything I've read says to let them fall off naturally. Oh well. Back in bed and relaxing totally.

OK, I'm new here and just found this place so I guess I'll keep things as short and simple as I can.

I'm 22 and went in for a laproscopically assisted hysterectomy, oopherectomy and cervix removal on Monday. My surgery started at 3 pm and I was out of surgery sometime around 6 pm. I stayed in the hospital until Wednesday around noon. I've been recovering at home by myself so far. My family couldn't stay with me because I'm at school and they have to work, but my grandfather was able to come up and help me until he went back home yesterday.

My appetite has been pretty non-existent and I've been trying to drink as much water, tea and juice as I can. I've been extremely gassy (very painful too) and haven't had a bowel movement until this morning. I'm afraid to keep taking the pain killers (vicodin) because of how constipated I was and how painful the past few days have been (especially the bowel movement, oh my...).

Otherwise, I've been trying to rest as much as possible. Walking around my studio or down the hall when the gas gets bad seems to help some, but I don't want to over exert myself. I'm still spotting quite a bit from the surgery but not bleeding.

I am going to go for another half mile walk. It takes me thirty minutes to do it.

The nurse called to check up on me. I now have the famous 'low grade fever' and she said, 'good, it means you are healing!' I asked again about two weeks no driving and she said that's the doc's preference, so i will try to adhere to it. She said to keep up w/all the fiber, water and walking, bec. even with this morning's 'success' in the bowel department, i can still get very constipated. I told her I was doing half miles and she said okay, but not on hot, humid days and only if there isn't super pain doing it. So onward! Again, thanks to all the 'sisters' for their support (including FreakyDeaky's sister the nurse) and it is so wonderful to see people checking in as they return from the Castle.

age 55/TVH for CIN3/CIS July 9

Minnie: I hear you... not much of an appetite here either -- heck of a diet plan. All in all everything is going really well. I had both a LSH and a sling, but as of today I haven't needed any more pain meds of any kind. This whole thing went so much better than I had thought it would. I had a cholecystectomy (gall bladder removed) a few years ago and was surprised when they told me that I was ready to go home after the surgery -- so I figured this was going to be the same way. Thankfully not...

Happy Friday the 13th everyone -- feel better and take care!!