Well, I had surgery on Friday. As far as the reversal goes, it went well. I'm in extreme pain, though. The little hole that the stoma came through in my abdomen is my only "incision." The surgeon made the decision to not open me up further, so my recovery time may be shorter. BUT, by doing so, there was little room to work through; hence, there was a lot of internal turmoil to my skin, intestines, and muscles. Muscles are involved because he found an internal hernia that I didn't know I had, and he had to cut muscle to repair it. I have been informed that hernias are quite common with an ostomy, so nothing out of the ordinary. The hardest part (besides the constant pain) has been the "recovery" from the pain meds that have done quite a number on me. On surgery day, I was given many drugs. It started with propofol along with the anesthesia for the surgery. In post-op, I got cocktails of propofol, versed, fentanyl, and dilaudid. Fentanyl x4 and dilaudid x2. OMG, they have kicked my ass and not in a fun way. Monday, day 4, and I still haven't been able to get up except to go potty. No PT or anything. The dizziness has been so bad (from the cocktails) that my BP dropped to 56/40 at its lowest. Came close but never passed out. Needless to say, they have kept me down. I have slept most of the night and the next day... all day. I have started to eat and... I pooped. :ok: So the plumbing is starting to work. The dizziness has almost subsided completely, but I still get waves every now and then. I didn't poop after the first day (Saturday). Doc said not to worry. Came home on Tuesday. They left the ostomy site open and packed. That pain and the pain involved in removing that hernia, working through such a small opening, is kicking my ass, but I can tell it's getting better. I slept not a wink last night as I began to poop again, and again, and again, and... I was in the loo every 15 minutes all night long. It finally subsided around 8 this morning, so I will probably sleep most of the day. No home health care nurse to change the packing today, so my husband is going to do it when I'm awake enough. He's SO afraid of hurting me, but I know he won't. He's a 32-year retired paramedic, so I'm in very good hands. He's SO gentle.
So far, so good, but the bad news is they were not able to remove the stents nor the kidney stone, so I'll be having another surgery in 4-6 weeks. But, while I will have general anesthesia for the procedure, it will be outpatient.
Another question, I need pain-killing butt hole ointment. Any suggestions? The poop has gone from solid to almost diarrhea with "sludge." The lack of use and the acidic nature of it is painful, and I'm almost in tears when I go. The good thing is I am much more optimistic. This is very rough, pain-wise, but I know that will pass. Thank God for ice packs!
