Recoveryish
The moment we have all been waiting for, the aftermath. So I woke up from anesthesia with 6" of my rectum removed (about 2/3rds of my rectum) and a temporary stoma bag (temporary colon bag). That means I will be functioning with 1/3 of my rectum which is definitely better than no rectum at all. As it turned out, I had about 2 golf ball sized endometrial masses that were mashing up my rectum; the bowel surgeon was susprised that I was able to have bowel movements at all. As she was removing the diseased tissue of my rectum, she said the NaPro doctor was exclaiming, "Kathryn is going to be so happy to be able to go the bathroom now!" He is so funny. I have one fallopian tube and one ovary now. I will not require a secondary surgery to remove the Gore-Tex, since he opted to suspend the ovary and fallopian tube.
A secondary surgery will be required in about 2 months to reconnect my colon to my rectum. That will require about 4 weeks to adjust and recognize the signs my body will be telling me to let me know when I have a bowel movement.
The first night was awful of course. Little sleep was had that night. I had more sleep this morning, but the nerve block must have worn off. I ended up vomiting from the nausea and pain, which was horrible. I must have jarred things up because there is more vaginal bleeding today. My husband and I were shown how to change out my stoma bag. I have been eating a soft fiber diet all day, which was switched to a low fat diet. My port to drain blood from the surgery site was outputting a creamy pink liquid called chyle instead of the reddish liquid I had the first day. This means the cheese and dairy fat affected my lymphatic system and has resulted in the creamy pink stuff. I cannot be discharged until that symptom disappears.
I have had an abundance of support. The medical professionals have been great. I hope that I will able to be discharged on Saturday. We shall see. Keep me in your prayers for my recovery. I will keep you all in the loop. I feel my sentences are becoming more blunt and my next batch of meditations are due. Have a good night, friends!
I hope that your recovery will be smooth. Give the Lord time to heal you. Amen.
ReplyDeletePat Taylor