Blow by blow here, while it's still fresh in my mind-one thing that causes some congestion is not being able to have a bowel movement. The dr. said that the lower loop of the bowel is in some shock, so it takes a few days to wake up and work. So, here at day 3, I was glad that it occurred. The dr. said to use chewing gum, since it causes some reflex to occur that stimulates digestion-it worked, along with a very soft diet of apple sauce, apple juice, jello, yogurt, and honey. Also, the traditional organic smooth move tea really helps the day before and again afterwards. I used miralax each time that I took the narcotic medicine-since the medicine causes constipation. The big thing is not to force the bowel movement, as that causes strain on the area.