I want to thank everyone on this page; my journey into the ostomy world was made a lot easier by those writing here. I am sure you know, but I want to really say thanks. I can say most of what has been making my life easier was learned on this site. I hope someone will find this story helpful.
I had an obstruction in April 2012 and after a month of struggling and 20 pounds less later, I went to an emergency surgery. No one told me about the risk of an ostomy nor had I heard about it ever before I woke up from the operation with one.
Just after I woke up under a lot of pain, my family had already done some research and had found out that a normal life can be lived; although it was very hard to understand at the time.
I was in treatment for the Endo that caused the obstruction for a year and after 15 months, I went to the hospital for the reversal on June 10th. I have never dreaded something so much as I did the surgery. I cried for weeks before it and was really stressed. The first surgery was extremely painful and it took me four months to be able to go back to my own home.
I want to share my experience just because I went over and over the posts here so I could feel better and be more informed. I can say my experience was the best outcome I could ever wish for and I had a very supportive team of doctors that went out of their way to make everything easier.
Two days before going to the hospital, I started eating only clear liquids. I went to the hospital on a Sunday afternoon; there was some mix-up on the timings because I went to the operating room and had a catheter placed in the ureter. One machine broke and they had to sterilize the catheter again, so I spent one hour more, awake! Waiting!! The anesthetist was the nicest and kept me calm and sleepy.
This procedure was made under anesthesia so I could not start the intestine cleansing until 2 hours after I woke up around 8. So I spent the whole night drinking the Nulitelli to clean the intestine. I was taken to the operating room and the operation lasted more than 4 hours. I had already lost an ovary in the prior surgery so I was hoping to keep the other ovary and the uterus. The doctors decided they were clean enough to keep them.
I was full of adhesions that had to be removed and I lost 30 cm of large intestine to make a long story short. My scar goes 15 cm above my belly button. The operation was harder than the doctors thought before, so it was believed my recovery would be longer. I think the doctors looked as bad as I did after the operation; they were so tired!!
I had requested additional painkiller and was offered an epidural, as from the first surgery I woke up with unbelievable pain. So I woke up to no feeling in my legs but not too much pain. Last time I had a very bad time waking up from the anesthesia and could not stop crying after 6 hours. This time I woke up and other than the nasogastric tube, I was not so bad.
The nasogastric tube twisted during the first night and because of the negligence of the guard doctor, nobody came to check it, so I spent the whole night in pain and with terrible nausea. That was the worst part. After the morning doctor and my doctor arrived, they had to pull out the tube and place a new one. You can imagine how that went if you have had a nasogastric tube inserted.
I was told the nasogastric tube was going to stay for 4 days but thankfully I only had it for two days. I woke up to a hole and a tube (not too big) in the place the colostomy used to be. I had a tube for urinating and the nasogastric tube. I had the tube in the colostomy place for the 8 days I was in the hospital. That tube was for draining all the fluids caused by the manipulation of the adhesions.
I was bleeding all the time I had the catheter in the ureter so they removed it before I went home, although I was supposed to have it for at least a month.
I have asked that I would be incontinent after the surgery and I was told no, but I was. So my sister had to run for some adult diapers. When I asked how long it would take to regain control, the doctors said 15 to 20 days; it really took about 10 days.
I was not given anything to eat or drink for about 5 days. I was allowed to brush my teeth and spit the water, not swallow. And on the last day of the 5 days, I could suck a candy that by the time someone brought the right kind of candy to the hospital, I was already allowed to drink liquids. So I was eating jello, clear juice, and water for another 5 days. I was released from the hospital after 10 days. After that, I started eating chicken broth and boiled vegetables for almost 3 weeks.
The first time I was allowed to eat something else, I ate tomatoes with chicken (still cooked, nothing raw yet); it was very painful. I was given a medicine since I got out from the hospital as this was expected. So I went back to my chicken broth, boiled chicken, and boiled vegetables. But I was told by my doctor I had to make my intestine work, so I had to eat red meat and lots of fiber.
I am still on the extra fiber and a normal diet after 2 months. I can basically eat everything; there are still things that I have not tried, nachos at the movies for example, but I have eaten fried Mexican food and survived. Sodas are not good and I have not tried to drink alcohol yet either. I forgot to say that I could stand up only after 3 days after the surgery and 1 week later I was dreaming I could walk to my neighborhood beauty parlor. Please note I was dreaming I couldn't do it anyway, but I was walking around the house and opening the door to my friends that came to visit. All of them almost passed out when they saw me, as last year I was in bed for almost a month and my mother had to literally make me take a shower, as I would not have enough will or strength to stand up from bed. The large scar was less painful than the small scar from the colostomy. This one they sewed it to the muscle so it hurts more than the one in the belly which is very large but was not that painful. Now I do look like a fat lizard with a big belly crossed with Frankenstein.
I did attend for 10 minutes the christening party of one of my friend's baby's 3 weeks after the surgery. I am about to be 3 months after the surgery, I have been swimming for 2 weeks now. I am not allowed yet to run or walk as an exercise, but I love to swim.
If I overdo it, my belly hurts. It is kind of a burn inside. If I eat something my intestine doesn't like, I feel really bad and I get cramps, but overall I couldn't be better. I was back to work after 6 weeks, driving after 7 weeks, and eating almost everything by now.
I have to go for a colonoscopy in the next weeks to make sure my intestine is the width it should be and hopefully it will be. I still have nightmares where I wake up because I was dreaming my pouch has exploded during the night or that I am standing in a party and I am covered in poop. Those will take time to get rid of, but as I said I could not be better than I am now.
Thanks again for your support and for being there in one of the scariest moments of my life. Although I was reversed, I think I am somehow going to be an ostomate for the rest of my life, at least in my heart. I have the scars to prove that I survived.
I had an obstruction in April 2012 and after a month of struggling and 20 pounds less later, I went to an emergency surgery. No one told me about the risk of an ostomy nor had I heard about it ever before I woke up from the operation with one.
Just after I woke up under a lot of pain, my family had already done some research and had found out that a normal life can be lived; although it was very hard to understand at the time.
I was in treatment for the Endo that caused the obstruction for a year and after 15 months, I went to the hospital for the reversal on June 10th. I have never dreaded something so much as I did the surgery. I cried for weeks before it and was really stressed. The first surgery was extremely painful and it took me four months to be able to go back to my own home.
I want to share my experience just because I went over and over the posts here so I could feel better and be more informed. I can say my experience was the best outcome I could ever wish for and I had a very supportive team of doctors that went out of their way to make everything easier.
Two days before going to the hospital, I started eating only clear liquids. I went to the hospital on a Sunday afternoon; there was some mix-up on the timings because I went to the operating room and had a catheter placed in the ureter. One machine broke and they had to sterilize the catheter again, so I spent one hour more, awake! Waiting!! The anesthetist was the nicest and kept me calm and sleepy.
This procedure was made under anesthesia so I could not start the intestine cleansing until 2 hours after I woke up around 8. So I spent the whole night drinking the Nulitelli to clean the intestine. I was taken to the operating room and the operation lasted more than 4 hours. I had already lost an ovary in the prior surgery so I was hoping to keep the other ovary and the uterus. The doctors decided they were clean enough to keep them.
I was full of adhesions that had to be removed and I lost 30 cm of large intestine to make a long story short. My scar goes 15 cm above my belly button. The operation was harder than the doctors thought before, so it was believed my recovery would be longer. I think the doctors looked as bad as I did after the operation; they were so tired!!
I had requested additional painkiller and was offered an epidural, as from the first surgery I woke up with unbelievable pain. So I woke up to no feeling in my legs but not too much pain. Last time I had a very bad time waking up from the anesthesia and could not stop crying after 6 hours. This time I woke up and other than the nasogastric tube, I was not so bad.
The nasogastric tube twisted during the first night and because of the negligence of the guard doctor, nobody came to check it, so I spent the whole night in pain and with terrible nausea. That was the worst part. After the morning doctor and my doctor arrived, they had to pull out the tube and place a new one. You can imagine how that went if you have had a nasogastric tube inserted.
I was told the nasogastric tube was going to stay for 4 days but thankfully I only had it for two days. I woke up to a hole and a tube (not too big) in the place the colostomy used to be. I had a tube for urinating and the nasogastric tube. I had the tube in the colostomy place for the 8 days I was in the hospital. That tube was for draining all the fluids caused by the manipulation of the adhesions.
I was bleeding all the time I had the catheter in the ureter so they removed it before I went home, although I was supposed to have it for at least a month.
I have asked that I would be incontinent after the surgery and I was told no, but I was. So my sister had to run for some adult diapers. When I asked how long it would take to regain control, the doctors said 15 to 20 days; it really took about 10 days.
I was not given anything to eat or drink for about 5 days. I was allowed to brush my teeth and spit the water, not swallow. And on the last day of the 5 days, I could suck a candy that by the time someone brought the right kind of candy to the hospital, I was already allowed to drink liquids. So I was eating jello, clear juice, and water for another 5 days. I was released from the hospital after 10 days. After that, I started eating chicken broth and boiled vegetables for almost 3 weeks.
The first time I was allowed to eat something else, I ate tomatoes with chicken (still cooked, nothing raw yet); it was very painful. I was given a medicine since I got out from the hospital as this was expected. So I went back to my chicken broth, boiled chicken, and boiled vegetables. But I was told by my doctor I had to make my intestine work, so I had to eat red meat and lots of fiber.
I am still on the extra fiber and a normal diet after 2 months. I can basically eat everything; there are still things that I have not tried, nachos at the movies for example, but I have eaten fried Mexican food and survived. Sodas are not good and I have not tried to drink alcohol yet either. I forgot to say that I could stand up only after 3 days after the surgery and 1 week later I was dreaming I could walk to my neighborhood beauty parlor. Please note I was dreaming I couldn't do it anyway, but I was walking around the house and opening the door to my friends that came to visit. All of them almost passed out when they saw me, as last year I was in bed for almost a month and my mother had to literally make me take a shower, as I would not have enough will or strength to stand up from bed. The large scar was less painful than the small scar from the colostomy. This one they sewed it to the muscle so it hurts more than the one in the belly which is very large but was not that painful. Now I do look like a fat lizard with a big belly crossed with Frankenstein.
I did attend for 10 minutes the christening party of one of my friend's baby's 3 weeks after the surgery. I am about to be 3 months after the surgery, I have been swimming for 2 weeks now. I am not allowed yet to run or walk as an exercise, but I love to swim.
If I overdo it, my belly hurts. It is kind of a burn inside. If I eat something my intestine doesn't like, I feel really bad and I get cramps, but overall I couldn't be better. I was back to work after 6 weeks, driving after 7 weeks, and eating almost everything by now.
I have to go for a colonoscopy in the next weeks to make sure my intestine is the width it should be and hopefully it will be. I still have nightmares where I wake up because I was dreaming my pouch has exploded during the night or that I am standing in a party and I am covered in poop. Those will take time to get rid of, but as I said I could not be better than I am now.
Thanks again for your support and for being there in one of the scariest moments of my life. Although I was reversed, I think I am somehow going to be an ostomate for the rest of my life, at least in my heart. I have the scars to prove that I survived.
