First off I'm very happy to be home from the hospital and I have great news. Neither my gall bladder nor my inflammed lymph node showed anything cancerous when biopsied. Also, my surgeon took a look at my bile ducts and while they are a bit firmer than normal his assessment and that of the ERCP when I was hospitalized about a month ago with that gall bladder attack both seem to reflect that my PSC is in a holding pattern and my liver looks fantastic! So yay! Some good news.

Now, on to what's going on. I had my gall bladder and lymph node taken out Monday morning and the surgery seemed to be a great success. I was in some pretty sever pain in surgical recovery, so after they doped me up and got my vitals back to normal they sent me back up to my room. I felt pretty good and did okay that night. Once the surgical recovery meds wore off I found that for the second time my epidural did not seem to do much good for me...so they kept my pain under control with around 10 to 15mg of Oxycodone as well as Delauded whenever I got pain spikes.

Tuesday I felt pretty good. I walked around the hospital about 5 times and really felt I was getting things moving in my bowels and all over my body. I ate a decent dinner Tuesday night. Pork chops, mashed potatoes and broccoli. That night I noticed some broccoli in my stools about 4 or 5 hours after eating. Yup, that's normal for me so I figured my bowels must be waking up.

Now into Wednesday and that was a different beast entirely. My stomach felt tight and full of pain all day Wednesday. Gas pain is driving me up the walls. Nothing is going out down south it's all working its way back up, past my incision to my throat where I have to burp it out and it hurts like heck. I went 6+ hours in between bowel movemnts and what did come out was water. Broccoli flourets and water with a smell of pork. Finally Wednesday night I think to myself that I might have a partial blockage (and intestines slowed down by anesthesia and narcotics) so I go back to a liquid diet and by using my bed pan I am finally able to pass most of the gas and about 5 separate bowel movements. I am still in some pain but feeling infinitely better than I was during the rest of the day.

Also, I had no appetite Wednesday. Not sure how much that mattered, but after being ravenous Tuesday night I figured I would mention the change. People who visited me both days also thought I was in worse shape Wednesday than at any other point during my hospital stay. I also noticed that my stools all the way through Wednesday night and part of Thursday had broccoli in them and smelled of pork.

So we come to today. I wake up this morning feeling a ton better. Not great, mind you, but good enough to face the day. I am still short of breath, walking slowly and hunched over like an old man, but I'm good enough to get out of bed.

So now I am home and I still have pain both near my surgical site and throughout the rest of my stomach...mostly where my pouch seems to be based on other pains I have had since my total collectomy. My stomach is still tender to the touch near where I think I had a blockage but it's much less painful and doesn't feel as full of gas.

So I am now cutting down to 10mg of Oxycodone every 4 to 5 hours and hoping that between that and keeping up walking it will get my bowels moving more and more quickly. Any thoughts if that's what I am looking at? Just sleepy bowls or a partial blockage? I am currently on a liquid diet just to be on the safe side but that's also making me quite tired because I just never feel I have any food in my system.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts and insights you folks might have.

It sounds to me like you are looking at a combination of things. If you have the pain that you did before, along with the symptoms you described, I would concur you probably have a partial blockage. But, with the level of pain meds you are on, your bowels are functioning slower than normal. And they may be sleepy to boot.

So... it sounds like you are just going to have to grit your teeth and get through this period of adjustment. Change your diet and pain meds as you are able - but yes, there is a trade-off with both. There is no right or wrong with that, just what you want to deal with at the time.

I was so distressed by the sleepiness and tiredness of the pain meds last surgery that I wanted off of them badly to get back to normal. So, I suffered through with more pain and a bit more bloating/constipation than I would have otherwise.

I think you are totally correct Elmer. I recently went down to 10mg every 5 hours or so and I feel a lot better.

Sure, I have a bit more pain at times...and if I'm sleeping and get to about 6 hours without pain meds I really pay for it until they kick in...but I also feel that my bowels are finally waking up. I ate my first full meal last night and even with my overdoing it a bit it was wonderful to eat again.

I've also gotten to the point where I can walk around the neighborhood for 20 to 30 minutes and while I am winded and sweaty when I get back, it feels as though I am slowly building my strength back up.

Thanks very much,

-leo

Leo,

That is fantastic news about your liver and the results of the pathology!!!! I was thinking about you and wondering how things went. That's just A+++ news!!!!!!

I hope that you start feeling a bit better from the surgery recovery and things get back to normal for you!

Rick

Thanks Rick. I'm pretty much flying high from that news too! Well, that and the Oxycodone.

Just in from a long 30 minute walk and I really think that's a big key towards getting my bowels going and helping me feel better.

Take care,

-leo