Hi D, thanks for your input also. I am so grateful for this board and it's posters and threads. So much value comes from the honesty and experience NT's share daily. I am allowed a maximum of 12 grams of fibre a day, 1 sprig of broccoli can contain up to 4 grams...

I will try the spreading out of 20mg over 3 times a day. I am well aware that my fear of taking the prescribed dosage puts me in a difficult scenario. The PM who upped the dosage when I was hospitalised in January to get the severe pain under control is unaware of my intestinal issues, I have not had opportunity to explain that I have had 2 bowel resections with 14 inches removed and had a stoma previously. My NS was horrified when he became aware of my intestinal challenges by chance. As he was discussing the scheduled surgery my husband asked how the "cage" is inserted, he explained it's done through the stomach and has a much higher success rate than the rods and screws coming from the back. My husband told him we have been told to avoid any stomach surgery at all costs. Her last general surgeon said her insides are so bad that any stomach surgery could result in fatality. Hence the reason why I have again rods and screws not dissimilar to the failed fusion I had in 1994. Only this time I have rods instead of plates so they shouldn't break.

I bled out once on the operating table in 2001 from complications and peritonitis, had 27 blood transfusions and my heart stopped 3 times. On the old fashioned but more reliable pain scale I was well above the 40's and never ever want to experience 5 months of being hospitalised again. It was beyond excruciating and I was at one stage in emergency apparently begging my husband to smother me with a pillow. Even the X-ray technicians used to come and visit me on the ward as they were so overwhelmed by what I went through. Hence the reason why I call my husband my rock, he has been on the other side of all this and suffered as much if not more being unable to do anything other than sit, wait and watch. On the up side, he is very well versed in how to deal with emergency situations, talking with doctors and knowing when to take control. Including saving my life when one nurse rocked in to inject me with an unscheduled injection. Turns out it was for a different patient in another room entirely and the substance I'm highly allergic to. Big hoo ha over that one... Sorry for the off post digression folks.