Hi all!
Well surgery is over and I finally made it home late Friday night. They were able to do the surgery via laproscope, but not so sure what difference it made as I am still in extreme pain. I cannot walk upright yet, kinda walk around hunched over all the time. I move really really slowly. I am still on Dilaudid 2 mg every 3 hours in order to keep me reasonably comfortable. I have had 3 prior laproscopic surgeries before, and NEVER have I been in this much pain. My side and back are black and blue from where they inserted their tools. Its still very hard to get up and down from either a sitting or lying position. I think the bad pain is because they did it from a retroperitoneal approach (side and back) instead of the traditional abdominal approach. They couldn't do the abdominal approach because of the multiple open abdominal surgeries I have had. My side and back are black and blue and very swollen.
The good news though is that the type of cancer I had removed, will not reappear again, so I don't have to ever worry about having a repeat of this surgery.
When my bowels woke up it was much like when you have a resection then have the explosive diarrhea afterwards. I still have to be VERY close to the bathroom at all times. Why do these doctors never believe you when you say you have a very delicate system and that the meds ALWAYS mess you up? I am currently re thinking on whether or not to go forward with my knee replacement. I can't imagine having that explosive diarrhea and nausea/vomiting with a bum leg. I am going to make an appt with the ortho doc to discuss these fears before I agree to going forward.
I will only be around hit and miss for awhile. I am still very weak, in alot of pain, and still need to sleep alot. My wonderful husband is taking good care of me. But I still have a lot of recuperating to do. I will talk to all of you again soon.
Hugs
Gail*Nanners*