Hospital stay and recovery

Jan 06, 2013

Sorry that it took so long for an update, but surgery and my hospital stay was tough and I wasn't feeling very bloggy...lol! The surgeon said that the surgery was a lot more complicated than he hoped it would be. I had a lot of scar tissue and the hernia was more severe than they had originally thought. He said that is took longer and he knew that recovery would be a little more difficult as well. I went down for my leak test the next morning and DIDN'T pass! It's not that I had a leak, but there was a blockage. I came back in 30 minutes, failed again...30 more minutes and still the stuff had not moved beyond the last staple line. They said they would check once more in 2 hrs and finally it had moved beyond the area, which was the most painful experience of my life so far! I though I was dying and it felt like a knife going through my insides! I really hope this does not happen to any of you! So I now have an ileus (piece of sleeping bowel) so no clear liquids for me and no discharge after 2 days. Later that night I ended up throwing up, which actually was not as painful as I had anticipated...lol! Things finally started to move around in there and I was able to start on sips of water 2 days postop at 2 pm. It was very slow going because my bowels were still sleepy and very slow!  Finally that night my bowels completely woke up and it was like they were having a party in my belly....growling, gurgling, etc! So finally, today, they took the painful JP drain out and let me go home! I feel like a completely different person today and even though the whole experience was very painful and scary, I do not regret it for one second! During the worst parts I still never questioned my decision!

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