While in the hospital...

Hey there!! I am a Dr. P patient and a Barix Baby too!  Everything mentioned is pretty much what I went through while at Barix!!  The biggest issue I had was the gas afterward...it just wasn't flowing on out of me even though I was walking and doing the "dance" Dr. P shows you how to do to get the gas out...I was miserable!!!  But eventually it did move on out and I was discharged...

Barix is amazing they will monitor everything and really take care of you..but they won't baby you either--I look back now and laugh because I must have been soooooo cranky when they came in to wake me up to do my breathing tests..the nurses were just like "C'mon Laura just do it real good and then you can go back to sleep!!!"  But I thanked them so much when I left because all of the getting up, walking, breathing, and monitoring makes a huge difference in your recovery.  I had never had surgery before in my life so it was all soooo new and different for me.  But the staff and nurses and docs at Barix are the best.  You are in EXCELLENT hands!!!

I had a pillow fo my hour ride home and it was pretty good...hubby avoided bumps on the road....but it was still a little uncomfortable so take a pain med before you leave if you can...and try to sleep on the way home.  If you have to stop--stop and take a break somewhere!!

Good luck!!!

Laura

Hi Denise,

I'm 6 weeks out, with Dr. P at Barix Langhorne, so the memories are still "fresh" haha.

As said before, you will not have a catheter and not have to do a leak test unless your surgery is open.   When you wake up "fully" you'll be in your room (you may remember a little of the trip to your room, but you'll still be pretty out of it at that point).  If you have a CPAP machine, you'll be on it, and will also be getting oxygen through it.  You'll have at least one IV, which is pumping you full of lots of fluids and also your self-administered morphine pump (which will be your best friend for a while).

A little while after you get there, they'll come in and have you do your breathing thingie while they watch you, and will have you start your coughing exercises (while holding a pillow against your belly to help with pain).  About 4 hours after you wake up, they'll come in and haul you out of bed (more like cajole, actually) and will get you walking.   They will push you to go as far as you can that first time and if you're still groggy, someone will literally be with you helping you along and making sure that you don't fall and stuff.  That walk was the hardest one I've ever taken!

Each walk after that, they will help you less and encourage you to go farther, and then faster... and you'll feel like doing it! 

Before and after each walk I REALLY recommend doing  a set of stretches because they will help you work out the gas and avoid a lot of the stomach and muscle pain ... START NOW!!!  (If you have any yoga knowledge, the standing salute the sun and crescent moon are great ones for this...basically, stretching tall, stretching to one side, then the other (that's crescent moon) and the tall stretch straight up, hold, then stretch back over your head (bending your back slightly) and hold, then sweep down to the floor (or your knees, more likely, after surgery), hold, then back).  Also hold on to a counter or sturdy chair, bring one knee up toward your chest, then down and back (like a donkey kick but slowly)... repeat as many times as you can, then switch knees.  Dr. P will have you doing some variation of these, but if you get used to them now they'll be even more effective later.

As to the ride home... stop and walk every hour if you can, even if it's only for 5 - 10 mins.  At that point, you'll have been pumped so full of IV fluids that you'll be needing to stop and pee every hour anyway!  Make sure you have a full water bottle with you when you leave the hospital, too!  Sipping that on the way home may help with any nausea (i didn't have any, but some people do), and will help keep everything moving.

Don't fret, you'll do just fine!

Karen

I'm a Dr. Boe patient & did have a catheter.  I am so happy I had that thing or else I never would have left the bathroom. For me, it didn't matter if gas or poop has occurred.  I was told, "All in it's own time."  However, I was so pumped with pain meds that the constipation and gas were killing me.  Suppository requested, received and did......NOTHING!!!!!  Waited the rest of the day and requested my very first enema.  I still find it difficult to say, but I'm pretty sure enemas are my friends.  It completely solved the problem and I immediately felt fine after wards.

 

***The toilets at Barix are very large, shaped strangely and my feet couldn't touch the ground.  I had to poop in the hallway bathrooms for achieve any form of success.

 

********People recommended slippers.  I HIGHLY suggest slip on sneakers which would have helped me me greatly in the walking process.

 

Good luck