My husbad loves this site! I am writing for him. Jamie is in the hospital post op 4 days step 1 of 2. He was fine day 1 and 2, but now he is either completely knocked out from Finagrin(sorry about the spelling) or vomiting brown stuff(day 2 of nausea and now vomiting). His urine looks like cranberry juice. The nursing staff is worse than horrible. Between his parents and myself, we have been up there nonstop. We also have 3 kids and are expecting number 4 in less then 2 mos. I am lossing my mind!! They just switched his pain medicine from Duloton(sorry spelling) to morphin and something with a T....after his mom, me, and Jamie demanded it!! He had jello on his 2nd day so they tried to blame that at first but they can't now. Please any ideas?

It sounds like his bowels aren't awake yet. It's called an ileus. Sometimes the best thing for it is an NG tube. You may ask to have his nausea meds switched to Zofran. I think this is an 8 hour med, and doesn't cause the drowsiness that Phenergan does. I'd ask to keep both on the order though in case he needs the Phenergan to calm things down.

Sounds like he's on Morphine and maybe Toradol? If it's Toradol, he can only be on that for 3-5 days. While it helps his pain, have him get up and walk as much and as often as possible. You might also try sugar free chewing gum. Some studies have shown this to help with post operative ileus. Hang in there. I usually have a five to ten day stay after abdominal surgeries because I ALWAYS have trouble with my bowels waking up. Some people are in and out in three or four days. We are all different.

He is very blessed to have advocates there to watch out for him. You have no idea how important it is as many hospital staffs are stretched to their limits. It always helps to have extra eyes and ears and voices!

Keep us updated and give him our best wishes!
Lori

If he has continual nausea and vomiting to the point of having to be over sedated, he really should have an NG tube to keep his stomach empty until his bowels begin to function again. The dark urine is not good (unless it is from one of the drugs he is on)- otherwise it means he is having kidney or liver issues. Make sure that you get updates from the surgeon a couple of times a day. Find out what labs are being done to monitor his fluid/electrolyte balance and kidney/liver function.

Jan

I too had awful pain and nausea after my step one surgery. I was on a morphine pump for several days after my surgery----this was a godsend! It made me a little groggy and loopy but I felt great so it was all good The 8 hour nauseau med should help better. I agree with the bowels not being quite awake yet---I had the same thing. The urine thing is more worrisome---make sure the nursing staff is communicating this to the surgeon!! Also make sure that dietary is sending absolutely correct food--review this with his dietician. I know that my dietician had to practically yell at the kitchen staff to get them to send me the correct type of bland diet. The dietician can advocate for him on a different level than the nurses can. Also talk to the social worker---I hope he has one?? They have good skills in communicating your family's concerns with all members of your husband's treatment team! Good luck and hang in there!

Thanks for the responses....update. He is doing slightly better but still vomiting. They said 2 days ago that they were trying to take him off his steroid to fast. So they bumped that back up. Then yesterday they did a CT Scan and an x-ray and said his stomach was pretty dialated. So he needs to walk more. With all the changes made he still vomited a few times this morning. I am so discouraged and so is he.......it is getting harder and harder to keep a smile going. His output in his bag is really good. And he got his cathator and rectal tubes out. He is suppose to come home tomorrow but there is no way. He isn't even close to keeping even ice chips down. I will defiantly suggest the NG tube. Any other thoughts?

I don't think he should be going home until he can keep food down, I'm not sure what they are thinking. I don't know what causes a dilated stomach. I wonder if it just has gas built up that's not going through. Has he passed gas into his ostomy yet? Definitely get him walking a lot. Have him try to stand as straight as possible too to give everything room to work inside. That's a hard one with the midline incision. He'll feel more like walking without the catheter and rectal tube I bet! What are they feeding him now?

Keep us posted ....Lori

I am sorry I was not to clear....he had 2 things of jello on Saturday but nothing since except a few ice chips. Tomorrow was his original day to leave but he has to be able to keep real food down first. Yes he is passing gas. He is on track except the vomiting. I will make the suggestion too about sitting up more because he lays almost flat most of the time. Thanks!

I recall that there have been several people here who've really had a big problem with nausea. For some, it lasted quite a while. But it did finally go away. It does get better, really.

kathy

Hi,
Zofran really helped me, and I had dreadful nausea. I puked every day for about 3 months. A friend who´s recovering from cancer gave me 2 packets of Zofran and said it was a godsend - and yes, it was. I also ate bananas (not unpleasant to throw up, at a time when you throw up everything!). Keeping food down, even if it felt like I was throwing up everything, really helped to combat the nausea. It´s important to eat a little even though you know you´ll throw it up again. And drink mild juice, tea, salty drinks - whatever helps, just not plain water, which can wash you out. That´s my experience. GOOD LUCK! Get well soon :0)