Prolapse bowel surgery: What was your recovery like?

Hello @tabithatwitch, Welcome to Connect. I am so sorry you have to go through recovery from the prolapse bowel surgery all alone. I'm wondering if the diarrhea may be a good thing early in your recovery. Especially since it's only been a week. I also had surgery last week for a bi-lateral inguinal hernia and the surgeons gave me a stool softener to take twice a day along with MiraLax to prevent constipation which could undo the surgery. The also sent me home with some pain medication but I've been able to control my pain with a couple of Tylenol capsules every 6 to 8 hours.

I think I would keep calling until they called me back. Have you tried calling the surgeon's office again to see if they have some suggestions for your pain and the diarrhea?

Sorry about how you are feeling. I live alone too and just had thyroid surgery. You might reach out to the hospital who did the surgery. Sometimes they are more responsive. I will pray for you.
Mikayla

...An adult friend of my daughter had a large growing cyst or ? removed from kidney last week and spent one night in hospital; she also lives alone with a dog to take care of. She was under/given the impression the surgery was relatively straight forward etc... she is 64 and not in best of health. Gradually every day the pain got worse once home and after a few days suffering she too did not get a call back from surgeons office and although usually strong when comes to ill health, the pain was so bad she went to emerge at local hospital; after five hours she rang the buzzer as was crying in pain; the nurse or ? said to her.. what do you want to do about it, leave? so she said yes and did. At home she took stronger or more pain meds and it eased up a bit; since then went back to surgeon and had some kind of tube removed and still not feeling well.
Sorry I cannot help you, but just wanted to say that with the crisis in health care here in Canada and other countries, time no longer seems available to thoroughly explain the pros and cons of surgery and in particular what to do if in a lot of pain once home... who to call, ie. what to expect once get home ESPECIALLY if living alone.
I feel for those in medical profession lets hope though that the backlog re covid etc. will soon be caught up and as well as receiving surgery etc. that more help, even verbal, will be available for patients with post surgery issues.... and possibly a bit more compassion especially for elderly and living alone trying to cope..... J. p.s. I have fecal incontinence, ibs D, etc. and know how very painful it can be, let alone just having surgery!! Surely time can be found to return a phone call...stay after office hours if you have to - dont take your coffee break... someone is suffering waiting for your call!!! please!

Thank you so much for your reply. Yes I have another call in to the surgeon this morning. I’m afraid to restart the miralax for fear it will just add to the diarrhea.. but then I read somewhere it’s suppose to be add bulk to stools.. but the miralax package suggests the opposite. The only thing that makes since for me to do is drink lots of water and follow the BRAT diet. I’m most likely be impatient but it’s a very uncomfortable painful way to spend the day and night. Thanks again for responding!

Hi Tabithatwitch,
I'm so sorry to hear of your discomfort. Milk or plain yogurt may slow down your diarrhea. The Miralax is a laxative. It was reccommended for that for my husband with his lung cancer. The BRAT diet is OK but I would think that you also need some protein at this point such as a boiled egg or eggs fixed anyway that you can tolerate them. Water is an excellent fluid and lots of it. Also Gatorade is good in that it balances your electrolytes which is very important in helping your body to feel better. As far as your sores, Neosporin is good for that kind of thing. Every so often I get sores in my vaginal area as women do as they age. Neosporin heals them right up.

If you can't reach your surgeon, call the hospital emergency room and ask to speak with the doctor on call or the doctor who is covering for your surgeon. This works better at night since during the day, they may just suggest you call your surgeon. If you can't get a doctor to talk with, try to get a nurse. At least they will be aware of your situation and may be able to give you some good advice.

Good luck! I'll remember you in my prayers.
PML

Another idea is to ask for help from a patient liaison or ombudsperson. There are people whose job it is to help post-surgery patients recover and visiting nurse and health care aide support are available. Many insurers now cover those 'benefits' as they help prevent patient readmissions to hospitals.

There's a growing attention being paid to the fact that a growing percentage of adults live alone and are distant from the extended family unit which formerly comprised a large part of any healing team. It might be worth exploring any extra support available as that's what 'the system' is supposed to help provide.

I'm wondering if the diarrhea might be a blessing in disguise. I had to wait a month for my hernia surgery because the surgeon wanted to make sure my constipation was gone. Any straining when having a bowel movement can possibly undo the repair done by surgery which they worry about. Since you had prolapse bowel surgery it might be a similar concern?

Call your doctor. Did your doctor give you a diet to follow as you recover? Are you trying to eat smaller meals with water? Your surgery is over but recovery is just starting. Remember any lifting advice you were given. You don’t want internal leaking of your bowel. Take care of yourself.

Did they test you for c diff? I had a sigmoidectomy in June 2022. Before that time my surgeon told me that I would have diarrhea. two days after my surgery in the hospital I had diarrhea and they tested the diarrhea and I ended up having cdiff. It was from all the antibiotics that I was on to try to get rid of the problem before my surgery. It is pretty nasty so you wanna get it taken care of as much as possible. Good luck and I hope things go better for you.

Also, try your pharmacist. They are usually helpful.