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So sorry to hear you're having a tough ride. Your attitude is amazing and such a critical part of recovery. I go in 8 days, and reading all of the updates are so helpful. Makes it less scary to hear what might happen so I can be prepared. 

Keeping my fingers crossed for your continued progress. 

:)

Good for you for keeping the right mindset! You may sail right through, out you may have an issue or two, but you're strong and can handle anything! You got this!

Hey, guys. Soooo...I'm still in the hospital. My other post was a bit too optimistic, apparently. Now, keep in mind that everyone is different, so my experience isn't going to be the same as everyone else. But this has been really miserable. After my last post I started vomiting. Like, constantly. In addition, I got the worst chest pain, it was like someone was stabbing me in the chest with a knife. The nurses kept encouraging me to drink, so I did, but at one point I vomited up about 300 cc's (a pouch is only supposed to hold 50 to 100 cc's). At that point I was moved to the regular hospital from the surgery center, and my doctor had a gastrographin study done. It didn't show any leaks, but what they've decided is that I have an ileus. This is a part of the bowl that doesn't "wake up" properly after surgery. So, they said no more by mouth and start walking, as that's the best thing to wake up the bowel. Except...my IV's keep blowing. Finally, after being stuck about 8 times (some of them really deep) they gave up and said to just drink. Except...when I drink, I get air in my pouch. That's what was causing the chest pain. So every once in a while I have to stop and bring up a belch, and the pain immediately goes away. My surgeon is still very positive, which is about the only thing that's still keeping ME positive! Things have gotten better a little bit every day, and there's a real possibility I could finally go home tomorrow. So, no real wrap-up here, just hoping everyone is doing better than I am! Just remember, those of you that are prep, it is VERY unlikely that you will have even a fraction of these issues. So I'll talk to you guys more later. Posting from my phone is a pain. Keep positive, everyone!

Wow, today has sucked! Day 6, I have had bad diareah since the day I came home.....like liquid in ,liquid out...sorry tmi. Really hard to get in fluids, but I keep trying. Also today was a really bad day with craveings. I've been so mentally prepared for this for a long time but still today I wanted food in my mouth sooo bad. Tomorows a new day, going to go shopping and get some things for my pureed diet I start Monday.

So sorry it has been so difficult.  Sounds like you have an excellent attitude and are handling it well though.  The best thing I can say is that this difficult time will not last forever, even if it seems like it will.  My process has been very smooth but I still have discomfort and get tired easy ( especially when i push myself too hard).  I  feel good enough to think I can do whatever I want and just bad enough that I can't.  It's frustrating and I too can't wait until this initial recovery stage is complete.  Best wishes to you going forward.  Hope things smooth out and get easier.