u/clejeune

I came into the hospital on Friday Oct 2nd for reversal surgery. It is now Saturday… 8 days later. I had an NG tube for 3 days. I had aspiration pneumonia for a couple days. All of those problems are now good. I am still only on fluids and have not been allowed to eat solids yet. The doctor said my belly is still distended and won’t be able to go home until it goes down more. All bowel functions are perfectly normal. Doctors are saying most likely will still be here until Tuesday, day 12.

I’ve been waiting on this date for three months and my surgeon finally called this morning. October 2nd I finally get to start the next chapter. I’m nervous but excited. I live in a very rural area of Texas and the surgery will be done in a very small clinic but I don’t care. I’m just so ready to get to my next steps. They told me I’ll have the JP drain for a few weeks after I get home. Please tell me your stories, tips, advice, what to watch for, everything.

I haven’t had one of these in three months. I naively thought this was behind me. My nurse came to the house today and did a changeout with me. It was a difficult one cause I kept going and it was a painful one. But that was that and that was almost twelve hours ago. And then I’m asleep and I wake up with that terrible feeling of poop sliding down my side. I turn on the light and sure enough it’s all over me. My wife is traveling for work, thankfully. I would have been much more embarrassed if I had woken her up and had to change the sheets. I’m still not good at doing this alone. Start to finish it took me an hour.

I have an ileostomy that I’ve had for two months. I know some people deal with these for years and I honestly don’t know how you do it. The last few months have been rough. Anyway this week I have a sigmoidoscopy and a ct scan with rectal contrast. Both will require enemas. I’m 52 and I’ve never had an enema. I also haven’t used my backside in over two months. I don’t have much of a support system at home so I’ll be doing this mostly on my own. I have a ride to drop me off and pick me up. I’m mainly worried about the rectal contrast enema and the fleet enemas used to prep for the sigmoidoscopy. Has anyone here already done this? Can you suggest anything?