A bit TMI about bathroom issues... but worth addressing.

I always think of the subject I want to write about at work, tuck it away in my tired brain, and forget it.

I think today was something about - well, bowels.

I was thinking that today I'm running fairly smoothly. It's been a roller coaster.

post surgery, the combination of surgery and Norco really stopped my digestive track. I didn't quite realize how bad it was until about two days hom, maybe 5 days after surgery.
then it felt like a large, sharp rock was sitting just at my colon. And it was bad - and got worse.

Pushing and straining isn't great with one new hip and one still-bad one - but it wasn't happening.
I was on: Prune juice(Warmed for faster action), Collase stool softeners, Seneca laxative, eating lots of fruit, and drinking tons of water.
All of those are supposed to deal with constipation. It wasn't happening.

I spoke with my home care nurse, described my pain and straining.
He said, "It sounds like you're pretty close to a dangerous blockage, and that is bad. Blockage means surgery - you don't want that. First, wean off that Norco ASAP! Second, take your suppositories. Third, if you have to get  an enema.
You may need - and I can do this or you can - to digitally extract the stool."
I really wished I'd accepted the "Sutter COcktail" in teh hospital - milk of magnesia and prune juice, I just didn't realize I needed it! I felt FINE.

He handed me a bag full of rubber gloves. This is also my first serious encounter with hemorrhoids - (I told you it was going to be nitty gritty, but I think you should know about this aspect of surgery - this is a common problem). Believe it or not, this was the VERy worst aspect of my first surgery.
I will NOT have it happen in the second one. I plan to take Metamucil 204 times a day from the moment I can have more than clear liquids in the hospital.

After the extremely painful "extraction" - it took about 4 hours for it to all finally descend and get cleared out - I felt MUCH better - the prelude was horrid. Painful,  nauseating, with sweating, gut spasms... - I was still in a lot of pain. hemorrhoids are as bad as they say.
I had hemorrhoid cream - but then I developed a kind of diaper rash - awful red, painful, horrible itchy. I had my friend pick me up some Boudreaux's Butt Paste - diaper rash medicine.

For weeks it was bad enough to keep me awake at night. It would get better and worse - sitting for long periods could get bad.It also spread to my - erm - ladybits. Really more of an irritation than anything else. but damned if I could find the right combination of creams etc. to make it go away completely.
Digestion swung from normal ( I started Metamucal) to very loose and acidic (Not good on those rashy areas), and it has just dragged on.

I am ALMOST there now... hence my thoughts today on having pretty decent, almost normal conditions in the area.
I'm trying NOT to eat much white/refined sugar. It helps! I was doing great - then Hallowe'en happened. Not out of hand, but disappointing... the less I eat, the better my bowels and skin.

The hemorrhoids are receding - but there are two places where the skin is cracked and really not making enough effort to heal. Uncomfortable, but I NEED to be as wound-free as possible for surgery.
Sutter is VERY serious about their standing as having an exremely low post-op infection rate. I'm ALL for that!

SO - back to it tomorrow. BUt I ate well tonight - chicken and lots of broccoli... but a few Gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. SO... I'm strong most of the time. Stoopit sugar.

-Martha