Praying for a sucessful surgery for Charlie today. Let us know how things went and how he is doing. Take care of yourself too!

absolutely, without a doubt sending prayers for both of them.

Me too!

I hope everything went well, Doydie. Please update us when you can.

Thank you so much ladies. Yes, his surgery was last Friday and this is Sunday. i carry my iPad in my bag and I have never tried to log on with my iPad anywhere and when we have been getting home it's straight to bed. Everything is progressing well and I got a good night's sleep last night. My daughter went straight to bed tonight since she has a 3 hour drive after spending tomorrow morning so here I am trying to catch up with life; I had dozens of new emails. I think it was some one here that gave me the link to Spirit which has many medical forums. I have posted there and haven't really had time to look to see if there are any answers. I have just had the iPad and today the free wi-fi was shot.

So, here i am. Surgery went well. The only thing that caused any problems was the amount of fat he had to cut to get to the colon. I guess this is old fat since with the ulcerative colitis he has trimmed down a lot. Now that is something he needed to do anyway but not the way he did. It is the tiniest incision. ONe of the nurses asked if it was done laporascopically. I have no idea how in the world the could pull out all of those feet of the large intestine through a scope but it is tiny. His but incision is giving his the most grief. He really started to produce stuff through the stoma and the nurse and I were emptying it this afternoon and I got a good look at his face as he could smell it. This nurse has never put a bag on and I was giving her some tips. It is the most awkward way to empty it also.

Yesterday his urine output was real low but they got that taken care of. Tomorrow the pain pump will go. The on call surgeon said discharge on Tuesday but the nurse reminded him that the ostomy nurse has also ahd a 3 day weekend so we have not been taught anything at all. So it more than likely will be wednesday. I have the first appointment with my dentist on Thursday to make impressions for a partial so if needed my youngest daughter would stay with him until I got home.

I am tired but it is nothing like last year when he had meningitis. This time I am in my nursing mode. Last year everyday was panic mode. Daughter going home tomorrow. When my 2 girls get together you never know what antics will happen so I gave them money and told them to get out and come back in an hour. DH and I had a very restful hour and it helped my sanity.

doydie,

I am glad all went well. It's unfortunate the ostomy nurse is off for the weekend. It would appear she will be most helpful for all concerned. I can just imagine the look on his face when you were helping the nurse who had never put a bag on before.

It was good to learn your daughters were there for support. They seem to get along very well together.

Both of you and your husband continue in my prayers.


Gerry

Thanks for letting us know...take care of yourself too!

I'm glad things went well with the surgery. I hope Charlie heals quickly and adjusts well to having an ostomy. I'm glad you made your way to the ostomy forum. I think you will receive lots of help, ideas, suggestions, support, etc. over there.

Keep us posted on how Charlie is doing!

It wasn't officially said but it sounds like tomorrow is discharge day. My husband is very stubbornly independent that he will do well. We met the ostomy nurse today, full of ideas, and she will return tomorrow to change his bag and instruct us along the way. She has already signed us up with all the companies to receive all sorts of samples in the mail to help us choose what works best for us. Physical therapy will work with him on stairs. Main problem is bloating after eating so he isn't eating much.

It may take a bit for his appetite to come back. The surgery and anesthesia alone will do that. Bowel surgery doesn't help either. It was months before I got my appetite back. Maybe some soft foods will help as well as protein drinks. Lots of protein will help him heal quicker as well. They had me on 120 g of protein a day based on my height and weight. I got some whey protein powder from Walmart and made protein smoothies 2-3 times a day.

I'm glad the ostomy nurse ordered the welcome kits for you. It's nice to have options to try and, like I mentioned, you can call the companies if you want to try other things.