Greetings Everyone,

I have scheduled my first surgery for Oct 9. I appreciate anyone advice from anyone with regard to preparation, or suggestions that may help during recovery phase.

Thanks,

Hi H,
I'm a Mom of a jpoucher and the best advice I can give is to have a good attitude and try to stay positive in spite of some of the negative things that you may read here.

I'd also recommend that if you have any questions about anything in particular is to use the keyword search option and read some of the previous posts.

One person recently recommended taking chewing gum because that seems to wake up the intestines sooner after surgery...and walk, walk, walk as much as you can!

I stayed with my daughter in the hospital and our lifeline was a laptop...it so helped to pass the time there.

I hope others will be along to offer some advice from their own experiences...all the best to you!
Elise

See this recent thread on preparing for surgery, everything I have to offer on advice is in here:

http://j-pouch.org/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9151071921/m/7221069592

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DJBHusky,

These were taken from a narrative I wrote:Miscellaneous thoughts on my hospital stay:

1. I had to curtail my watching of South Park due to my abdomen hurting while laughing. I had to stop watching the movie Airplane during the cockpit scene when they started their routine of, “What’s the vector, Victor”…Laughing too hard again. I rented this movie from Blockbuster a month later.
2. Take as many naps as possible during the day. I was not able to sleep very well at night due to the frequent blood pressure, temp and pulse readings taken.
3. Go for 4-5 walks a day, but do not overdo it.
4. Learn to like sponge baths.
5. Being positive and thinking long term will get you through the day.
6. Visitors are great to have, but if you need to sleep, sleep. Try to go for a walk with them. Mom and Dad visited every day-that was wonderful.
Lessons
1. Drain the bag right before you go to bed.
2. Walk as much as you can stand, without wearing yourself out. Getting your strength back will be a major goal.
3. Listen to your body, and act accordingly. Sleep when your body says sleep- you will need it.
4. After your colectomy, have someone stay with you for at least two weeks after you get home from the hospital. Connie stayed three weeks, and was an incredible godsend.
5. Byram and their employees are great. Go through their catalog and highlight the supplies you usually get so you do not have to remember what you got last time. You will need to experiment to see which product/bags you like. I ended up liking a convex wafer. I was fine with either a one or two piece bag. I tried to get my account set up so that they would bill my Visa automatically for my part, but never could. When I received a bill, I called them to have them put the balance on my Visa.
6. If you end up using a two piece, make very sure it is fully snapped together. Do not assume it is. And be sure to do so before you put it on. It may be painful to put the bag on the wafer separately if you have to press too hard.
7. Have a bag ready for an emergency trip to the hospital with a toiletry kit, waterless shampoo, pencil for the crossword, pen and notepad to write letters, spare glasses, a book or two (light reading), extra underwear, robe-makes walks less air conditioned, and bring your cell phone and charger.
8. Think long-term. Staying stuck on the present will drive you crazy. Your goal is to drain the swamp, and get your health back. Remember, the alligators are temporary but are a real bitch at the time.
9. Having the travel bag (comes with your Holister stuff) to keep your ostomy supplies is a great thing to have. Keep it in your car so you do not have to remember to take it with you when you leave the house. Buy a small bag of Kleenex to keep with it. Keep it stocked with 4 or 5 bags, small scissors, a pen and a full tube of paste, not the tiny one that comes with it. Add to it a small washcloth. I never used the mirror that came with the kit. Don’t be bashful about taking the travel kit with you. I was lucky in that it was winter and early spring when I had my ostomy, so I was able to keep mine in a coat pocket when I went out. There were several times I had to change it while being away from home. It was nerve-racking to do so, but you get over it.
10. Buy a bag of 10 or so hand towels to help with changing your bag, and keep one or two next to your bed for problems at night.
11. Go to www.jpouch.org. A lot. You are not alone.
12. Buy lots of the softest toilet paper you can find. Buy stock in the manufacturer to get some of your money back. You will use a lot.
13. Before you put on a new bag, make damn sure the new bag is already clamped. If you don’t, you will only make this mistake once.
14. Inventory your supplies about once a week. Do not run low.
15. Get out of the house at least once a day. It will help your mood, decrease the feeling of isolation and help with feeling depressed. Even going to Kroger with Connie helped brighten my mood.
16. When you are about to change your bag, have several folded sections of toilet paper already pulled and laid out conveniently for when your stoma gets busy in the middle of changing the bag. This helps save time and helps keep the area cleaner. Keep several pieces ready at all times during this process. Lay some toilet paper in the bowl so splashes can be reduced.
17. In your bathroom, keep your supplies in a shoebox so that you will have everything together. I kept the supply of bags in our dining room on a counter, but in a shoebox in the bathroom I had a supply of 5-6 bags plus everything else needed to change the bag.
18. Butt burn is nasty. Calmoseptine helps when it kicks in a few minutes later, but can add to the fire until it kicks in. When it happens at night, instead of trying to get through it in bed, get up and do something to try and take your mind off it. I found that if I sit down, it helps minimize the burn. I can be sitting down and not have butt burn, but when I lie back down in bed, it starts again. This pisses me off.
19. Change your bag before you eat. Changing it when your stoma is active after you eat is futile. Be patient.
20. Balneol is wonderful in conjunction with the Calmoseptine.