I'm doing well, and so very happy that I had the surgery. Finally i have made some progress as my bowels woke up more about a week ago. I have been feeling better than I have in YEARS. Besides the fact that my gi track is working better now (no bloating, going poop, not having a month of stool fester in my bowels etc.) I have this overwhelming feeling of wellness. I have not felt this good EVER.
I am still very week and have very little energy. I am sleeping a lot. Riding in the car is very painful but putting pressure on my abdomen with a pillow helps some. Sitting up in a chair and walking are painful still as well. My surgeon says this is all very normal and he is very pleased with my progress, mostly with my eating!!
He shared with me how my colon was extra long and had many extra bends and loops. He traced the path it took on my belly today and man i had so much extra colon. He said that during surgery he just kept following it and following it and following it and was wondering if he would ever reach my rectum and just kept on following it and eventually he reached my rectum. The weird thing is that I had EXTENSIVE testing on my colon, many colonoscopies and the GI doc never said anything about it being longer than normal...ugh that dang GI doc, makes me mad. That is something they should see right? especially on a colonoscopy! What was that guy doing down there?
I am now actually eating and i can eat whatever i want!! This is a big deal for me. For the last two years since my colon took a turn for the worst i was living on very little amounts of food. Mostly saltine crackers, and on a good day i could get in a little orgain. I could not keep food down, had no appetite for anything and just the thought of a lot of foot especially meat made me loose it. I lost over 30 lbs in a matter of weeks when things started getting bad. The 6 months leading up to my surgery were the worst because my Dr. said that I had to eat even if i couldn't, so I did...I tried and would balloon up, you can only fill up your intestines so much!!! I'm so happy to be able to eat and not have pain! I am even eating chicken and i had steak the other night!
I am having a lot of diarrhea and have been having a hard time staying hydrated. Sunday i was dizzy, light headed, bad headache, leg cramps the works. I was taken into the ER at 2 AM on Sunday. They kept me, gave me fluid, potassium and magnesium and ran a bunch of tests. Today the surgeon prescribed lomotil to help slow down the diarrhea but I'm afraid to take it, i am so worried about getting constipated again! I'm going to start it tomorrow along with Metamucil.
I also got more pain meds because i have a lot of cramping at the anastomosis site when i have a BM. Doc said this is a normal part of the bowels waking up. My stomach and small intestine did not fully wake up until about a week ago and when it did the diarrhea picked up, having close to 25BM's on some days. For me there is no pattern yet, and the BM's do not corelate to when I eat. They will in time, the doc reassured me and eventually he hopes i can back off the lomotil.
I started having back spasms today after going to the appointment, i was upright for way longer that I have been since surgery so I am assuming they are from not using my abs at all and because i have to use my arms to put pressure on my abdomen at all times when walking.
I see the doctor in two weeks from today and then we will start the conversation and process of going back to work.