Hello All,
I'm expecting to do my takedown sometime in May. Could anyone advise me on what to expect as well as things I can do to assist in the process? I would like to avoid as many drugs/ pitfalls as I can. In the past I've had problems with absorption of drugs(unpredictable results) so it makes sense to limit as much as I can. Any advise would be very appreciated.

Takedown for most is much easier than having your colon removed. My surgeon told my husband (who was starving and planned to grab something to eat while I was under the knife... surgery was at 1:30 and he hadn't eaten yet) not to leave the waiting room. It took all of 45 minutes to reconnect and clean me up. She didn't want to miss him when she was done.

I had the morphine pump, used little, at the hospital and since the percoset or vicodin make me vomit I only had tylenol at home for pain. This made recovery easier for me since I was able to get around to get my kids from school, etc, right away. In fact the day after getting home from the hospital I spent three hours in urgent care with my daughter and no one would have guessed I was freshly discharged. That certainly was not ideal, though, since I could have been exposed to any type of illness there, especially since I had my daughter there with MRSA! (my husband was handling a plumbing priority - that needed to be fixed before I got home!) But all turned out well for me. I'm just telling you this so you know you may be feeling pretty well, surprisingly.

I did a too long and detailed description of my hospital stay back in early September 2007 if you want to look at that post to get an idea of what at least one person went through. There are others you can search for.

I would advise bring diaper rash cream and your own soft toilet paper to the hospital. The sandpaper tp they provide will burn your bum in a minute! The blue package of charmin extra soft megaroll with desitin baby cream did the trick for me! Best of luck to you!

I just posted a thing on the general discussion portion of this site but since I can't seem to be able to give you the location I have instead PM'ed you.
If you have any questions don't be afraid to contact me!!
Julie