Bowels rebooting post surgery? Never trust a fart!

Just sharing a few thoughts on my post surgery experience and the re-firing of your digestive system, which is more polite way of saying that robotic laparoscopic surgery does a full knock-out to your bowels.

Waking it back up and getting it back to normal is a slow process during recovery. First thing, I’m not sure I’m the norm because it seems like symptoms are incredibly variable for us all. Just sharing my experiences. Recovery veterans, please share advice you have for folks.

Big deal phases of surgical recovery;

• You pass gas and people cheer! Hey, your digestive system is waking up. Let everyone know – Party Time!

• You poop! An aura sweeps across the horizon as the heavens open up to the news of your little, semi-solid gift to the world. You have offered the number one of all number twos of all time. It is fully celebrated for all its glory.

Let’s face it, we’re back to being praised like newborn babies who go through similar stages of digestive awakening. But, hey. I’ll take it. Yes, let’s celebrate these victories. It's a good thing.

But, there are practical matters after that. You don’t go straight from gas to poop. And, early on in digestive rebooting, never trust the fart!

My first gas was likely 10 hours after surgery (bit of a blur). The second gas was an hour later. However, the second release also had liquid and I got soiled through my gown. The nursing staff is prepped for this and not a big deal to clean things up. I think the nurse didn't expect this quite so fast.

In the next couple of days, here are the early warning signs that things are afoot; you hear your digestive system rumbling in sections of your body never heard since perhaps your college days mixing alcohol drink types that should never have be drunk in quick succession. Or, that trip to Tijuana and you bought the street tacos. Then, it settles and goes away. Gurgle. Rumble. Quiet in the valley. This is the precursor.

The nature of its full arrival is like you are standing atop a beautiful mountain range appreciating the beauty of nature and than a distant earthquake starts rumbling off on the horizon on another range. It then reverberates closer, now moving across your belly down to your lower backside. It rests for a bit. Then it gains power again and re-energizes. You resist, not knowing whether to clamp up or let it loose. After all of that, you emit a small, slow and less-than-impressive extended toot. A sigh of relief.

Then, a second wave comes and then the next toot includes a bit of soft liquid. Not a lot, but enough to warrant a change. You then realize….”Never trust a fart.”

When I it was time to go home (just four days ago),, I decided to up my insurance policy by wearing a pull-up brief even though it sounds like most people don’t do this.

What I knew was that people recommended wearing a continence shield up front because you do get some leakage around the catheter. But, I hadn’t heard a lot about the digestive system process. The car ride home went without incident in that regard, so yea for that.

But, I think my pull-up brief was a good call for me. It’s the nights that are tricky. You wake up with the rumbling. A low thunder. Is it a fart? Do I need to get up and get to the toilet? Trick question! You eventually find out....It’s probably both!

It’s getting better. I’m passing small, super-soft stools now. I now know when to get up and go. It gets old. But, hey, this shall pass and it’s getting better every day. Also, I’m early in this process and they say it takes at least a week to get close to normal on bowel function again.

For me, I was glad to have a brief (or shield) protection up front around the penis just from a hint of blood here and there early on (which is normal-sigh), nothing dramatic. Also, since my docs have me put on Bacitracin four times a day around the tip of penis and just up the catheter tube a bit, a shield up front helps keep that from staining underwear or shorts.

So, short version:

• Don’t trust a fart. If you are up to getting to a toilet, give it a go. If you can’t, it’s nice to have a brief to catch the initial watery mix. Having a protective pad on your sleeping spot is good insurance – though we haven’t had to change it yet.

• Candidly, a brief with tabs (diaper) would have made more sense for me during this phase because getting the catheter bag through the brief leg hole to pull it up over your hips is an annoyance I could do without. Also, getting a brief off with a catheter on is tricky too. Supposedly, you just tear the sides. But, instead, I keep a pair of scissors by the toilet and that works great.

• Take your stool softener. Remember, constipation is the enemy during the post-surgery recovery process. Let those urethral stitches heal and don’t put pressure on all the work they did inside.

• Follow your doctor’s suggestions. If you haven’t pooped, do the meds they suggest to get your system rolling. (in my case, two-ish days post surgery, a capful of MiraLax mixed with water taken earlier in the day did the trick).

Finally, I am so appreciative of my amazing wife, who has been such a strong support through this process. Early on, she told me to stop saying sorry and just is just there to help me through. Incredibly grateful.

That’s all I got so far. And again, I’m likely not the norm. But, this has been my experience on this segment. I’m too early on in this process to have more advice. What say the rest of you??