The Journal I kept in the Hospital during my 4th operation, My Ileostomy Reversal Surgery,
and the rest of June 2001.

June 11-16, 2001

Day before Surgery

June 11, 2001. Tonight was the night before my surgery. Luckaly my bowel prep wasn't that bad. All I had to do was drink a 10 oz. bottle of citrate stuff followed by 3-8oz glasses of water at 7pm. As 7pm got closer and closer my stomach got sicker and sicker!! What was I going to do?!?!? One loud ding, and its now 7pm. Now I tried to think of different ways I could drink that stuff. My first idea was to use lidocane and numb my tongue. Before pouring it directly on my tongue, I took a Q-tip and rubbed a small amount on my tongue. Boy am I sure glad I didn't just pour it on. As it turns out the lidocane was a VERY big mistake. It tasted so horrible it made me sick to my stomach. I almost puked from it!! My next idea was to chew alot of Big Red gum and burn off my tastebuds. That didn't work either. Finally, I decided to mix up some koolaide and mix some of the citrate stuff with that. I was standing at the sink mixing the 2 together and all of a sudden got the urge to puke! I couldn't even hold that stuff because just the thought of it made me sick!! Disgusted I sat down in the living room for a while to think about what else I could do. Finally I came to the conclusion to mix up some miralax and drink that, so I did. Later on I went to bed.

Day of Surgery

June 12, 2001. Today started early for my mom and I. We got up at 4:45AM so that we can make it to the hospital on time. My pre-op arrival time is 6:30AM, and my surgery is scheduled for 8:30AM. Well the day that I have waited for the last 6 months is finally here. I didn't know how much longer I could have lived with an ileostomy. I want rid of it for EVER!! We left our house at about 5:30AM. When we arrived at the hospital we went to the 11th floor so I could get ready for surgery. The lady outside the waiting room told my mom to wait in the lobby for 10 minutes while I got changed into a gown. Mom showed up shorlty after. I was put in room 1101-2, just a holding room until the surgeons were ready for me downstairs. At about 7:45AM I was taken down to the operation holding area. My mom was allowed to come with me. Down in the holding area they had a very hard time getting an IV, but they eventually got one in after numbing the area first. Only about 5 minutes after getting the IV in they took me back to the operating room. They placed the oxygen mask on my face, and tied my arms down at my sides. Then they told me I would be going asleep..and I did. When I came out of surgery about 3 hours later the pain wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I slept the rest of the day and night.

Day after Surgery

June 13, 2001.One of my doctors came to see me. He asked me if I was passing gas yet, which I'm not. Around 11AM my surgeon came to see me. He said that the surgery went well but he wasn't able to fix the hernia, only stitch it up because it was pretty significant. He didn't want to risk infection. He also had to cut out another small piece of bowel. In the future I will probably need more surgery to properly fix the hernia. I'm allowed to have popsickles, hard candy, and clear liquids. My surgeon said that tomarrow they would remove the packing. I'm not looking forward to that at all! I hope it doesn't hurt, because it looks like it will!!

Starting to Heal...

June 14, 2001. Well today I finally passed some "air" (as a nice way to put it!!). When one of my doctors came in to see me I told him. Then he asked me if I was lying!! I told him no!!, because I wasn't. I was asked if I wanted some food, I said "YES!!!". About one hour later my surgeon came in and seen my Winnie the Pooh doll pillow laying on my bed next to me. He said to me "Who is that in your bed?, we don't allow over night accomidations". Next he looked at my belly, and before I knew it he was pulling on the packing!! It felt horrible, but not painful. It eventually came loose. He also asked if I would like some food. Today for lunch (which arrived when I was sleeping and no one told me!) I got mashed potatos(ate it), 1 slice of bread(ate it), Jell-o(ate 1/2), and 1/2 cup of milk (drank it). For dinner I got sliced turkey(ate a few bites), mashed potatoes(ate 1/2), and milk(drank all). I didn't even get ANY salt on my tray either times today!! I've had to change the dressing over my closed ileostomy site like 5 times already. It is draining really fast! Today when my surgeon was leaving the room he said that as soon as I have a bowel movement that I can go home! Now its just a matter of time. I still have my PCA, and I'm glad I still do at times because I get in alot of pain occasionally.

I Get Solid Food!!

June 15, 2001. This morning I watched Moral court, then Jerry Springer. My surgeon was in to see me and asked me what Pooh was still doing there. He told me that he was going to stop my PCA and put me on oral pain medications. After my mom showed up I asked my nurse if I could go downstairs to the cafeteria or lobby. My nurse said that one of my doctors was at the nurses station and she would go ask him. She came back to my room in a few minutes and said that I was allowed to, and my doctor said It was a good idea as long as I wasn't going to smoke. I told my nurse that I don't smoke, drink, or do drugs!! I went to the cafeteria with mom. She got some kind of goulosh, and I got some fries and mashed potatoes. At the check-out counter we opened every styrofoam box for the cashier to see what we had. She told us our total was $9.45, and I asked for a receipt. As soon as we got through the check-out I looked at the receipt and seen that we were charged for a philly steak roll-something we didn't even get!! My mom went back and got her money back. This was only the begining of my bad luck for today!!

After eating in the cafeteria we went back up to my room and watched TV for a while. My nurse came in and took away my PCA pump and gave me my pain pills. A little bit later I got my dinner tray-baked fish with rice YUCK! I called my nurse and asked for something different. She brought me veal with rice YUCK! My nurse asked me what I would like to eat and I told her a cheeseburger would be fine, with ketchup. She ordered my cheeseburger, and pretty soon my tray arrived. I sat up in bed and got ready to eat. Then I removed the plate lid and on the plate lay just a bun...nothing else...no burger..no cheese...no ketchup..nothing..just the bun!!

Day of Release

June 16, 2001. Today I got released from the hospital!! My doctor couldn't hardly believe that I had been to the bathroom about 5 times already!! At the hospital for breakfast I got a waffle with oatmeal. Boy I can't wait till I go home and can have some good old fashioned home meals! Hospital food sucks! The only reason why they don't get that many complaints about it is because most of the people eating it is old with no taste buds!! The eggs are like rubbery and watery. On top of that I wasn't getting any salt at all to put on my food. When I asked for ketchup to put on my eggs I was given ONE packet on my food tray. Wouldn't want to give me too much ketchup. Anyway, I was allowed to go home!!!!!As soon as I got home my cat Muffin came over to me and crawled up onto my lap. He laid on me for a long time.

For the next few days I would have a very hard time eating any type of food. Anything I ate made me sick to my stomach and caused me alot of pain. I was also sleeping like 16 hours at a time. Sometimes all through the day, then I would be up all night long. I wasn't able to hardly drink anything either. I would take my pain pills and just go back to bed. Anytime I got up I was nauseated and in pain. This went on for 3 days. My mom finally told me that if I wasn't feeling any better by the next day that she was going to call my surgeons office and tell them about it. The next morning came and I felt even worse. To top it off my feet and ankles were very swollen and painful also. They had been starting to swell a few days earlier, but now they were not any better.

June 19, 2001

Today my mom and I got up in the morning to call my surgeon and let them know that I wasn't doing that good. While we were sitting on my mom's bed figuring out what to say to them, the phone rang. It was my surgeons nurse and she was calling to see how I was. I told her how I was doing, and that I wasn't able to eat or drink. She asked me a few questions like "is your mouth dry?", and "rate your pain from 1-10." Then she told me it sounded like I was dehydrated and that the surgeon wanted to see me. She told us to go ahead and come to the office right then. When we got there the doctor ordered an IV to be started on me, and blood work. Then we found out I was being admitted to the hospital. The doctor also asked me if I was passing air, and I wasn't. She also asked the last time I went to the bathroom, which was 2 days ago. They were concerened that I had a bowel blockage or something like that so I also had 6 x-rays taken of my abdomen. My blood work came back normal, with a few low things. My x-rays were also normal. They took me to my room, which was a semi-private room, and let me have clear liquids for the first day. The next day June 20, 2001 I was allowed to have some eggs. The doctor asked me if I felt like I was good enough to go home, even though I had not went to the bathroom yet. I told him "YES". I hate being in the hospital. My ankles were also still swollen. I see my surgeon again in a week.

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