3 Days Post-Op Robotic Partial Nephrectomy Questions

I am a bit surprised.  I seem to recall that they would not discharge me from the hospital unless and until there was a bowel movement.

Regardless, all the fun (i.e. effective) pain killers cause notorious constipation. So don't skimp on addressing this. Softeners may not be aggressive enough.  Talk to your medical team and see what they recommend.

Also, I imagine you may still be feeling quite bloated and full of gas.  If so, you might want to consider discussing using activated charcoal for that. It is not usually available without prior inquiry with your local pharmacy to give them time to stock it.

ajens2528 said:

Ok I will look into that. I

Ok I will look into that. I did have a bowel movement Friday afternoon and Saturday morning before I was discharged, I just haven't had a movement since and I wasn't sure if that was OK. Yes I still have a lot of gas though. I will look into the options you gave me thank you!

arens,

Those aches and pains and delayed BM all sound normal to me and makes me remember the good old days 10 and 1/2 years ago. Make sure you are taking some sort of stool softener as the pain medication makes you constipated and you do not want to be constipated when the big day comes.

Icemantoo

My surgery was Monday noon, and I had no sort of BM until Friday night. They let me go home Wednesday without even having bowel sounds (which I was not happy about).

A stool softener alone may not be enough, especially if you are taking constipating pain meds. But be careful with harsh laxatives too, or you can slip into the other problem. I would avoid harsh laxatives.

You should be having a bland diet. Fiber, but nothing harsh. I ate low-sugar canned peaches and pears, cereal with soy milk, oatmeal, bananas, white bread and avoided fatty foods (no butter, cheese) and milk products (although I did eat low-fat cottage cheese), low fat, low sodium meat, other fruits, cooked vegetables (low sodium) like steamed broccoli, carrots. I also drank prune juice and cranberry juice, but mostly lots and lots of water.

Senna is a combination stool softener with a natural, mild laxative. It's sold over-the-counter. I used that until I started having normal BM. It worked well for me. You have to drink lots of water with those stool softeners for them to work.

Walking is very important. I walked around my room all the time while watching TV. This also helps getting your digestive track back to normal.

I wouldn't say stretching, but coughing when you need to is important. You don't want fluid settling in your lungs. Hold a pillow against your stomach when you cough.

Todd

ajens2528 said:

Incision Treatment?

Thank you all so much for your advice. It seems prune juice was the trick! A small glass a day has kept me pretty regular. I'm one week post-op today. I was able to get off the pain meds 2 days ago and just on Tylenol here and there when needed. It is still very uncomfortable to sleep. My back is in a lot of pain from being so immobile. Now I can't seem to get the marks off my stomach from the iodine... not even some rubbing alcohol does it. I guess that will just take a while. 

One more question- one of my cuts (a bigger one- about an inch) seems to have a lot of pus in it. The glue tape is still on it, but starting to come off. When it does, I’m not sure how to treat the cuts, especially the one with the pus. It does not seem infected at all, is this something I just let go or do I put anything on the incisions?

oop

ajens2528 said:

Incision Treatment?

Thank you all so much for your advice. It seems prune juice was the trick! A small glass a day has kept me pretty regular. I'm one week post-op today. I was able to get off the pain meds 2 days ago and just on Tylenol here and there when needed. It is still very uncomfortable to sleep. My back is in a lot of pain from being so immobile. Now I can't seem to get the marks off my stomach from the iodine... not even some rubbing alcohol does it. I guess that will just take a while. 

One more question- one of my cuts (a bigger one- about an inch) seems to have a lot of pus in it. The glue tape is still on it, but starting to come off. When it does, I’m not sure how to treat the cuts, especially the one with the pus. It does not seem infected at all, is this something I just let go or do I put anything on the incisions?

You will often see pus on the incision, it is part of the healing process. It would be an off white colour, obviously if it is more yellow or green and inflamed it would indicate infection. I don't know if you have sutures at the site or is it all glued. I had internal sutures, as they broke down they caused little pockets of inflammation. I just bathed them in some diluted iodine solution and they healed up very well. The hospitals here in France give you an iodine shower wash before surgery. They give you bottle to take home, I washed the incision areas with the liquid every day until they healed. They healed very quickly and surprisingly neatly.

I too stuck to prune juice when I came home, it is a good old standby that works in the literal sense, lol.... I can't stand eating prunes but the juice is easy to drink.

You will soon be feeling more mobile , I found the first three weeks frustrating, I am not a good patient. I drove my husband a little crazy. I am now just over four weeks and pretty much back to normal.

Eims said:

oh god i remember those "have

oh god i remember those "have you had a bowel movement?" questions!!!  my god there were soooooo many and the answer was always no!!!  jesus i went for over a week and i thought i would explode hahahahaha.  i kept saying to my husband that if i farted the poor woman across from me would be blown through the wall into the next ward!!!  oooops is that too much information...lol.....seriously though they gave me an anemema and then that didn't work so as the doc said instead of going from the bottom up he would go from the top down!!!!  laxatives eventually worked and i was never as happy to go to the loo!!!!  it sorted itself out eventually...lol

eims x

I couldn't stand taking senekot. The nasty feelings after major surgery is all a part of it. Made the general pain more tolerable. Recovering from surgery is no picnic. No fun feeling like crap. But, it can all be done. Time passes. Along with Eims gas.

GSRon said:

Gas - o - plenty

Oh yes... the day after surgery I thought it was time for a BM... they put a bed pan under me and waited...  I could not get the Nurse to leave the room... she just said.. ""Let it rip..!!" and I did.. then she applauded... the 2nd day I got up and sat on a commode... did the deed.. again the Nurse applauded...  God bless those Nurses..!!

Be Well all..!!

 

Ron

jesus ron fair play to ya!!!!!  wish mine was as easy at that...lol

GSRon said:

Easy Peasy

Well, I did have THAT part easy... the worst part was the pain for the first few days... like most others I guess..   That all said, I always tell people, that except for that pain, the whole experiece was not bad at all...   The hospital I was in (Stanford) is top notch... I had a phone and a menu... I could order all kinds of good food and it got delivered, 3 times a day..!

Now just hope the drugs are working... for all of us on them..!

Cheers..!!

Ron - about 130 days until I arrive on the IOM..!!

how do you get to the isle of man or should i say the rock?