Home from surgery

Hi ladies,
I am back from having surgery. I had a radical trachelectomy for my stage 1b cc.The Dr. said everything looked excellent during the surgery and there were no obvious signs of spread. Of course I won't get the all clear until the final path report comes back. How nervewracking!, but I am hanging in there. The fact that I came out with a trach and not a hysterectomy is obviously a good sign. Anyway it has been about 5 days and I am just having some symptoms that I have been wondering if anyone else has had. This might be TMI but I have been having diarrea . ( I know I probably misspelled it.) with stomach cramping and general abdominal pain, not just pain in the incision site but the whole belly area. My Dr. told me that I might have an ulcer or gastroenteritis and gave me some zantac but that has not helped. I can't wait for my swelly belly band to arrive because the incision site feels like a bad sunburn! Has anyone had any digestive issues after having their surgery? I left the hospital after 2 days because I couldn't stand being there. All the nurses and the Dr. were not too happy with me wanting to go home that early but for some reason I thought I would heal faster there. BIG mistake!. I can't and my stomach is really hurting. Can't call the Dr. til tomorrow so any advice? Thanks

dear sharona...i had a different surgery than you so my abdominal pain was expected and i took narcotic pain killers for a couple of weeks to control it. i don't know what the pain expectation is for your surgery. as far as digestive problems go, i didn't have diarrhea; i had the opposite constipation and terrible gas pains. lost my appetite for several weeks and lost 30 lbs. approx. 7 days after my surgery, i went to urgent care because i had redness and that sunburn feeling that you describe around the middle section of my vertical incision. turned out to be a skin infection (not internal), so the resident removed all the staples a few days early and prescribed an antibiotic, which cleared up the infection. then i had some leaking from the same area and that healed up on its own.

i'm so sorry you are suffering from the abdominal pain and i can't advise you. could you phone the nurses' station on the floor where you were a patient to ask if the pain from your type of surgery is normal? keep an eye on the incision as well. it sounds like your cancer has been caught and dealt with early...that is wonderful. hope you can get thru the night without too much pain and discomfort. let us know how it's going. happy independence day!

(((Sharona)))

I'm sorry you are having problems. I hope you have been able to reach your doctor by now and that you are feeling better. If you haven't been able to reach him/her, and you are still having these problems, please try to reach the doctor on call or go to the emergency room to have yourself checked out. Please update us when you can!

Hi Sharrona,
I just want to second Jeanine's sound advice. If your problems remain, pls contact your doc ASAP or the doctor he has on call. Let us know how you make out.
s

I'm a watcher and waiter, maybe it will go away type of gal.
Boy, has that cost me and I am trying to change. My surgery was different than yours and more involved but I also developed diarrhea and loss of appetite. Thought it was normal and kept trying to deal with it. I got so weak that I had trouble getting from the bed to the bathroom. Turns out I had something called CDIFF which is an infection you can get in the hospital. I had to give a stool sample for diagnosis.
Call the doctor.

CDIFF is an infection caused by use of antibiotics. You can get it just by using antibiotics and you don't always to get it while in the hospital. Stool tests are necessary to diagnose it. Be patient in having it cleared up. If you use a lot of antibiotics or have been exposed to them (like for infections or surgery) you are at risk for CDIFF. Don't be afraid its not contageous but you definately need to call the doctor.

Anytime you have big weight loss, pain, the big D like that you should call the doc. You can dehydrate faster than you might think.

Good luck, feel better - call the doc.

How are you doing now?