hospital stay

My surgery is Thursday Oct 6. I went today for my pre-op appt and needless to say, I am kinda freaking out.. LOL. liquid diet... drink some crazy stuff at 2 tomorrow. an enema at 8 tomorrow night.. i have never in my life had to any of it... I have to have a catheter in until friday... is all of this normal? do you all of you have to do the same thing??

i also asked what i needed to bring to the hospital. they said slippers, robe, and a toothbrush. thats it... any advice on what else I might want? will i feel like using the computer? reading? or will i just want to sleep for 24 hours?

sorry this post is all over the place and scattered. LOL. i am nervous!!

Good luck on your surgery. I had mine in July and I've been doing great. I hope your recovery is as smooth as mine has been!

I had to drink the stuff the day before my surgery, but I didn't have to do an enema. I'd suggest having a strong tasting clear liquid to drink along with the bowel prep stuff. I drank clear grapefruit soda with it. I've heard someone else say they drank cranberry juice with it.

As far as what to bring to the hospital - I brought almost nothing. I brought a magazine, a handheld game, chapstick, and I think some hard candies. They had a toothbrush, toothpaste, lotion, socks with tread for walking the halls, gowns which functioned as both a gown and robe, and pretty much everything else I needed. I didn't bring slippers because I didn't really want to keep anything that had been all over the hospital floors.

I didn't really use anything I brought other than the chapstick. I wasn't interested in reading and I didn't need the candies for my throat. I ended up in the hospital for 3 nights due to some complications, but I still didn't really use any of it.

I had a catheter in overnight, but when they removed it I couldn't pee, so they put it in again for several hours. I barely noticed it when it was in or when they were putting it in / removing it.

Good luck!!

Good luck on your surgery. I'm six weeks post op now and my hospital stay was overnight. I had a catheter in until the next morning. I don't remember what time it was, maybe it was afternoon. Anyway, they didn't take it out until I was ready to get out of bed. They want you to walk, but want you to be ready.

I also brought almost nothing. I had a book, which I think I read about five pages. I was too tired to hold it up. I brought my own toothbrush and stuff like that, and I also used my chapstick! My hospital doesn't want you to bring anything valuable, that way you don't need to worry about anything getting taken. I pretty much watched tv and slept. I didn't want to do anything else.

I did walk, as it was encouraged and went to the bathroom myself, which they want you to do. They probably won't let you go home if you can't walk to the bathroom. They want to make sure you can do it once you're not in the hospital.

I wouldn't bring much. You might want to do things, but you might just want to do nothing. I wanted to read, but once I started, my eyes began to close!

Do you know how long you'll be staying? That might make a difference if you stay more than one night.

I would bring:

THE PILLOW for the ride home. This is a must! seatbelts save lives, but they also pull on incisions.....

Also, chapstick, toothbrush, toothpaste, a hairbrush, an ID & an insurance card if applicable.

They gave me an extra gown to wear as a robe (I didn't want to ooze or bleed, etc on my home robes). They gave me those no skid socks - I agree with sunflower's post, my home slippers were not walking on hospital floors.

I had a book & computer available, but I really didn't use them. You know the old saying, never drink & email - probably applies to "Never hit the morphine button & email" - just sayin'. If you stay longer than 2 days you may want something to read, but less than that, & I wouldn't bother.

Catheter - yep it'll be there - another good reason for not bringing your own robe...

If you have someone who will be on standby to help you, I also recommend not bringing a cell phone. I apparently took calls from all sorts of friends during my brief stay .... (see earlier comment about the wisdom of combining morphine & emailing). Thankfully, my friends have a good sense of humor and a fair amount of discretion.

Good luck!

Hi there all docs seem to have different opinions on the prep. I didn't have to do any bowel prep at all or modify my diet. I just had to wash with the antibacterial soap twice before surgery.

Don't take much to the hospital. There is a section on this site with suggestions on what to bring. The things I used: pillow for the ride home, chapstick, iPhone for texting my son and also listened to music to fall asleep, fluffy socks, toothbrush, a sanitary pad and warm pajamas for the ride home. I wasn't able to wear regular clothes for a couple weeks.

I wish you the best :-)

I fell your anxiety. Woke up this morning and said this time next week I will be in surgery. A lot of 'sisters' took a nightgowns, robes, slippers etc. But now that I have read the replies to your post about robes & slippers I think I will just opt to use whatever the Hospital provides for me.

Good luck on your surgery! I'm 4 weeks post op today and like the other sisters said leave it all at home. I took my toothbrush, toothpaste and a brush and didn't need anything else. My catheter was also in until morning but thanks to the "help yourself" morphine pump it didn't bother me at all. Lol I napped, watched a little TV and napped some more!

Hello all, I'm also scheduled for 10/6 @ 9:30am (need to be in @ 7:30am). I was instructed today to only bring the comfy loose clothes I'll be wearing in the am together with an ID. GYN is planning a laparascopic procedure and keep me overnight unless she has to move to abdominal for which I'll stay until Sunday or so.

I will pack a small bag with some things I may want to have but only for if I need to stay longer than a night. I was told today at the pre-admission that the hospital will provide robes, socks, toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, lotion, etc.

I'm doing the Lo.So Prep Bowel Cleansing System starting at 2pm tomorrow together with a liquid diet. So pretty much in the same boat as all of you who had to prep prior to surgery. I'm getting everything removed but keeping cervix.

I haven't been able to sleep for about a week or so since we started to get ready for this. I wake up around 1am every night and can't go back to sleep until 5am or so but then it's time to get up to start the day...I'm so tired, restless, anxious and I just started cramping and spotting (time for THAT time I can't wait to never have again).

I too am having TAH (giant fibroids) on 10/6. I start my prep tomorrow at 1 and an enema later in the day. Yuck. Surgeon said I would need to be in for 3-5 days. At least I will have a private room. I am nervous about the whole procedure and am ready to be back home in my bed. I have a small bag packed with a pillow pet, chapstick, toothbrush socks. I haven't slept well for weeks and only had a week to prepare for this. I am actually looking forward to not being allowed to do anything. Let's all reconnect when we get back from the castle. Blessings to you on our day!

I'm bringing some DVDs that I've seen a hundred times, so it doesn't matter if I fall asleep while I'm watching them. And a magazine with lots of pretty pictures (birds, butterflies, & flowers). Now that I've read these posts, I might leave the robe behind and wear whatever they give me.