Postop Ileus= no joke...

Mine lasted a very long ten days. It’s very uncomfortable, and it seems like it will go on forever, but then it resolves.

That first blast of gas i may actually dance down the halls. I really sort of wish they would have kept in the ng tube until just in case. They just sort of up and decided to remove it after they pulled 2 immediate liters off and then only had 400 overnight with a tiny bit of stool. Oh well. Mybe it will resolve and avoid a SECOND dance with the ng. Thanks for the reply!

- Native

I had one post op (too much narcotics), NG tube was forcibly inserted by doctor who manhandled me (I resisted), but he did an amazingly skillful job of getting it down.  It was in for around 24 hours and I pulled it out, earning me a stern rebuke from the hospital nurse, but I knew the Ileus had passed because Ileo bag started filling fast and furious.

This was back in 1992 when they used “one size fits all” NG tubes. Pediatric tubes, much like cellphones, simply didn’t exist in 1992. Making it all the more remarkable that a former USSR physician, whose medical license in the Soviet Union was not recognized in New York thus relegating him to mere intern tasked with inserting NG tubes in non compliant patients, was able to smoothly force it down on an actively physically resisting patient with tiny nostrils that actually required surgical widening 8 years later in 2000 (insufficient width of sinus canal drainage,  leading to repeated sinus infections, leading to surgery to widen sinus passages).

To this day I think the chip on his shoulder was my greatest asset that day. 

The NG tube and what preceded it- the massive nausea and virulent and copious vomiting - was my toughest experience during the initial surgery hospitalization. Although I also survived an infection that spiked my WBC count and several blockages.

Yup, 10 day ileus after my j-pouch creation.  My bowels do not like to be manipulated at all.  That dreaded nose hose was the absolute worst part but the relief I got from the nausea, pain and vomiting was good.  I still remember the joyous feeling of that first “fart”.  Even the accompanying “code brown” was a sight for sore eyes.