Post Op visit

Well I had my post op visit today for the second surgery. It was suppose to be Monday but silly me forgot. I have a good excuse....I have a total of 11 months to recover from anesthesia brain. I was told by a fellow patient that for every hour you are under you have to take that many to recover memories or memory. So....yes I will recover but being forgetful now has a good excuse. Grin.

So the appointment was reset for today. I immediately asked what to expect from this appointment. I was transferred to a nurse. The nurse assured me that I would not need to take an anxiety pill because there would be no....well....no butt exam. That the appointment would be all about looking at my incisions. So relief is what I sought and that is what I got. I was just not interested in having my bottom examined. It is "working" so to speak. So much better than I ever expected. I have heard some pretty scary stories but I have heard some good stories too of what to expect post surgery. I am thinking I fall closer to the good stories at the moment than the bad. I praise God for that because I am already dealing with more bathroom trips than I have had in years. I was warned about this. All the surgeons I interviewed told me that while I recovered from final surgery and maybe for months afterwards that I would feel like I did when I had active colitis. That I would be in the bathroom a lot more than I had been over my three wonderful years of remission. Well. Well they were right. Once my bowel woke up, the last day and a half I was in the hospital I spent A LOT of time in there. In fact I did for the first week I was home. Let's just say my children know where to find me. Thank God my mom is here for the recovery part. Thank God she has been here through this whole thing. Now though, now it seems as if it is starting to know what to do. I have spent much less time in the bathroom this week so far and have gone out on some outings w/o fear of having to know where the bathroom is. That was something I always had to know when I was really sick. Not so much when I was in remission but I always visually looked for them, guess it just gets in your blood. I actually went to a kindergarten and grade school tour yesterday that took 2.5 hours and I never once felt like I need to quickly find a bathroom. I think I got a good one....I got a good pouch.

So back to the visit. Got there and Dr. H was running on time. I got in right away and then waited for about 12 minutes or so in a room for my turn in with the ole doctor. He came in and we talked. The first thing out of his mouth was "so we got ya out of the hospital....under ten days" and smiled. We had joked prior to surgery that I had set the office record for most time in hospital post surgery for surgery number one and that there was no need for me to break records this time. I think I got close. We both had a good laugh over it.

So Dr. H looked over my belly incisions and I mentioned that I thought the prior ileostomy site might be a bit infected because it was starting to bleed and puss. He took a look and said for me to be still and take some deep breaths...to think about the beach. Well I can tell you that as soon as that was said alarms went off and I was in no way thinking about the beach. He snipped at some scab covered stitches and peeled back the stitches. OUCH!!! He said "well you're right. Small infection." I should have charged him for the office visit. Grin. He than told me that he was going to place some pressure to release some fluid that was built up. It was kinda painful. He than packed the site and said "the kids will have a good laugh when I pull a shoe string out of my belly." I said "that's gross." Laughter filled the room and I didn't notice the quick packing and before I knew it he was placing a bandage over the wound. He's good.

We then discussed my bottom. I told him about the burn. Common. He mentioned what I was doing was correct in caring for it. Never in a million years did I think I would be placing diaper rash cream on my adult bottom. But it works. It helps. So I will continue for the mean time. Hopefully it wont be forever. We also discussed my "going" and how it was going. He was impressed. He said things sounded really good. So again...I have a good pouch!!!

He shared with me some other positive news but I am choosing to keep that to myself and my family for the time being. I hope you understand. But I can tell you that it made me very happy. God is listening and making my life better even after I used his name in vain way back when this past summer when all of this dysplasia/cancer/surgery stuff started. I can say I was angry. So angry. But I should have never used His name like that but I did. I know He has forgiven me.

The visit today was a good one. I have a bit of discomfort at the incision site and still the surgery soreness going on. But all in all things are looking/feeling really good.

Dr. H gives good pouch!!!