My husband's surgery

Sandi1
Sandi1 Member Posts: 277
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hi everyone,

As most of you know, my husband had his colon tumor removal surgery on Monday and I just wanted to give you all an update. As of today (Wednesday) he is out of bed and walking the halls of the hospital. Still not eating or drinking as they said his stomach is not making enough noise yet. He is in pain, but he is telling me that today it's not as bad as yesterday, so that is good. He had a low grade fever last night and the doctor said to get him out of bed and walking. He had a little sponge bath this morning and said he feels so much better after that. Hopefully I will get him home this weekend.

Thanks for listening.
Sandi
«1

Comments

  • kimby
    kimby Member Posts: 797
    #2
    surgery
    I'm glad to hear surgery went well. The pain should get better each day and being out of bed was such a blessing for me. I pray that his recovery goes well and that the surgery did everything you and his docs hoped it would!

    Kimby
  • Sandi1
    Sandi1 Member Posts: 277
    #3
    kimby said:

    surgery
    I'm glad to hear surgery went well. The pain should get better each day and being out of bed was such a blessing for me. I pray that his recovery goes well and that the surgery did everything you and his docs hoped it would!

    Kimby

    Thank you
    Thank you - the surgeon said the surgery was a success - so i'm a assuming that means that he got the tumor out, and did the liver biopsy. The only problem is that my husband said he gets dizzy after they give him pain meds. Maybe it's because his stomach is empty - i'm not sure. I just wish I could be with him instead of coming to work.

    Thanks
    Sandi
  • lfondots63
    lfondots63 Member Posts: 818 Member
    #4
    My husband's surgery
    Hi Sandi,

    Did your husband tell the nurse about the dizziness? It sounds like a reaction to the pain meds. Make sure he is walking a lot to get his bowels moving. I know that I walked as much as I could and the first time I 'tooted' I almost leapt for joy. You heard my squeal all over the floor. LOL. I think the two things I couldn't wait for was being able to eat something (even the hospital jello tasted wonderful. LOL) and to get a shower (felt so yucky). For me the pain wasn't bad and I stopped the morphine after the 2 day. Also the pain meds blocked me up and still do now so another reason I stopped taking them. I just took tylenol since the pain of having the tumor was worse then the pain from the operation. HUGS and he will feel better as the days go on. A nice thing to do for him if he wants is to maybe wash his hair in the sink in the bathroom. That felt as close to heaven without taking a shower for me. My daughter would come every other day to do that for me. LOL.

    Lisa F
  • msccolon
    msccolon Member Posts: 1,917 Member
    #5
    Your husband's surgery
    Sandi, I am so glad to hear he is doing well after surgery! You guys have to be relieved to have that portion of this journey behind you! I agree, tell his nurses about the dizziness, they may need to decrease the dose or change the medication used for pain. I am sure he feels better moving around out of the bed as well! I think the cleansing was what helped me most as well, and my mother also washed my hair in the sink! Some good lotion was a blessing as well, as were those waterless toothbrushes! He will be home this weekend for sure! Keep us informed! Mary
  • Sandi1
    Sandi1 Member Posts: 277
    #6
    lfondots63 said:

    My husband's surgery
    Hi Sandi,

    Did your husband tell the nurse about the dizziness? It sounds like a reaction to the pain meds. Make sure he is walking a lot to get his bowels moving. I know that I walked as much as I could and the first time I 'tooted' I almost leapt for joy. You heard my squeal all over the floor. LOL. I think the two things I couldn't wait for was being able to eat something (even the hospital jello tasted wonderful. LOL) and to get a shower (felt so yucky). For me the pain wasn't bad and I stopped the morphine after the 2 day. Also the pain meds blocked me up and still do now so another reason I stopped taking them. I just took tylenol since the pain of having the tumor was worse then the pain from the operation. HUGS and he will feel better as the days go on. A nice thing to do for him if he wants is to maybe wash his hair in the sink in the bathroom. That felt as close to heaven without taking a shower for me. My daughter would come every other day to do that for me. LOL.

    Lisa F

    Thanks Lisa
    Thanks Lisa, he did tell the nurse about the dizziness - they just tell him that it will pass. He has already figured it out that it is from the pain meds. So he is trying not to take them as much. The first day he was asking for them every 4 hours, yesterday he was asking every 6 hours, today he said he's trying not to take them as the pain is more a discomfort than an actual pain that he had yesterday. I was going to give him a sponge bath today, but he did it this morning by himself. He is so damn independent that he won't let me help with anything. Yesterday I got mad at him and told him to shutup and just let me help him for once. He stopped and said ok, I have a booger in my nose can you get it? LOL - I said it figures I get to get the boogers...lol I love him, he's so damn funny and a fighter. through all of this he has kept his sense of humor. When the nurse came in to put a patch on him to regulate his blood pressure (he has had blood pressure for years and is on meds for it)he looked at the nurse and said why, I don't smoke. WE all kind of look at each other in shock and he said i'm joking .... we all laughed. He has been like that since he got to his room.

    Sandi
  • Sandi1
    Sandi1 Member Posts: 277
    #7
    msccolon said:

    Your husband's surgery
    Sandi, I am so glad to hear he is doing well after surgery! You guys have to be relieved to have that portion of this journey behind you! I agree, tell his nurses about the dizziness, they may need to decrease the dose or change the medication used for pain. I am sure he feels better moving around out of the bed as well! I think the cleansing was what helped me most as well, and my mother also washed my hair in the sink! Some good lotion was a blessing as well, as were those waterless toothbrushes! He will be home this weekend for sure! Keep us informed! Mary

    thanks Mary
    I don't know if he will be home this weekend. The surgeon said this morning that his stomach isn't making enough noise so he will be on ice chips again today. After complaining to me yesterday that all he wanted was a glass of ice tea or a really nice cold bottle of Poland Springs water, or he said maybe some flavored ice chips. We can just hope that he can come home soon.

    Thanks
    Sandi
  • msccolon
    msccolon Member Posts: 1,917 Member
    #8
    Sandi1 said:

    Thanks Lisa
    Thanks Lisa, he did tell the nurse about the dizziness - they just tell him that it will pass. He has already figured it out that it is from the pain meds. So he is trying not to take them as much. The first day he was asking for them every 4 hours, yesterday he was asking every 6 hours, today he said he's trying not to take them as the pain is more a discomfort than an actual pain that he had yesterday. I was going to give him a sponge bath today, but he did it this morning by himself. He is so damn independent that he won't let me help with anything. Yesterday I got mad at him and told him to shutup and just let me help him for once. He stopped and said ok, I have a booger in my nose can you get it? LOL - I said it figures I get to get the boogers...lol I love him, he's so damn funny and a fighter. through all of this he has kept his sense of humor. When the nurse came in to put a patch on him to regulate his blood pressure (he has had blood pressure for years and is on meds for it)he looked at the nurse and said why, I don't smoke. WE all kind of look at each other in shock and he said i'm joking .... we all laughed. He has been like that since he got to his room.

    Sandi

    LOL!
    your husband's booger comment had me rolling, thanks for the laugh! He definitely will get through this just fine as long as he can keep his humor! Mary
  • krystiesq
    krystiesq Member Posts: 240 Member
    #9
    Sandi1 said:

    Thank you
    Thank you - the surgeon said the surgery was a success - so i'm a assuming that means that he got the tumor out, and did the liver biopsy. The only problem is that my husband said he gets dizzy after they give him pain meds. Maybe it's because his stomach is empty - i'm not sure. I just wish I could be with him instead of coming to work.

    Thanks
    Sandi

    Awesome!!
    You have to be soooooo relieved. Make sure you get rest so that you can take care of him. I hope that your employer will allow you to be with him when he comes home.

    When my mom got sick (I say got sick like it happened just some random day when in actuality she was sick for a year), I was able to take plenty of days off to be with her. Amazingly, I had not taken as much as a day off work in three years--except those wonderful federal holidays-- prior to my mom getting sick. It enabled me to be with her. Just goes to show that the big guy upstairs knows our future before we do. It wasn't as if I couldn't take time off, I just didn't. Now I know why.

    Continued prayers coming your way for your journey to health. Stay strong!!!

    peace.
  • lfondots63
    lfondots63 Member Posts: 818 Member
    #10
    Sandi1 said:

    thanks Mary
    I don't know if he will be home this weekend. The surgeon said this morning that his stomach isn't making enough noise so he will be on ice chips again today. After complaining to me yesterday that all he wanted was a glass of ice tea or a really nice cold bottle of Poland Springs water, or he said maybe some flavored ice chips. We can just hope that he can come home soon.

    Thanks
    Sandi

    shh don't tell anyone
    Hi Sandi,

    I understand about wanting something to drink. I was bad and sipped the water from those sponges you get because I was sooooo thirsty. LOL. Not taking the pain meds should help some too in the bowel department. Once they hear bowel sounds, I think that is when you can eat again starting with clear fluids. Good luck and tell him to keep walking. Keeping his sense of humor will help him in the long run also.

    Lisa F.
  • kmygil
    kmygil Member Posts: 876 Member
    #11
    Sandi1 said:

    thanks Mary
    I don't know if he will be home this weekend. The surgeon said this morning that his stomach isn't making enough noise so he will be on ice chips again today. After complaining to me yesterday that all he wanted was a glass of ice tea or a really nice cold bottle of Poland Springs water, or he said maybe some flavored ice chips. We can just hope that he can come home soon.

    Thanks
    Sandi

    Your Husband's Surgery
    Hi Sandi,

    I'm so glad to hear that the surgery went well. Yes, the pain meds will make you dizzy, especially on an empty stomach AND they will block you up by slowing everything down to a crawl. If he can do with Tylenol or something rather than the morphine, go for it!

    YOU get some rest. There will be PLENTY to do when he gets home, and he's in good hands at the hospital. Just monitor them from time to time. Also, tell him to tell the nurses etc not to hit the morphine pump every time they walk in. They did that with me, and it was irritating, because I was taking myself off of it. I finally insisted that they remove it, since they couldn't control themselves:)

    So glad things are going well. So his noises are not up to par yet; they will be. Suddenly someone will say, "Oh that's nice & loud. You can go home now." Time to celebrate!
  • Sandi1
    Sandi1 Member Posts: 277
    #12
    kmygil said:

    Your Husband's Surgery
    Hi Sandi,

    I'm so glad to hear that the surgery went well. Yes, the pain meds will make you dizzy, especially on an empty stomach AND they will block you up by slowing everything down to a crawl. If he can do with Tylenol or something rather than the morphine, go for it!

    YOU get some rest. There will be PLENTY to do when he gets home, and he's in good hands at the hospital. Just monitor them from time to time. Also, tell him to tell the nurses etc not to hit the morphine pump every time they walk in. They did that with me, and it was irritating, because I was taking myself off of it. I finally insisted that they remove it, since they couldn't control themselves:)

    So glad things are going well. So his noises are not up to par yet; they will be. Suddenly someone will say, "Oh that's nice & loud. You can go home now." Time to celebrate!

    Thanks
    Thank you, I don't think he is on Morphine - she gave him something that started with a "D" Dilotin i think - but i'm not sure. But he has to ask for the pain meds they don't have him hooked up to a pump, which i guess is good because my husband is not one for whining and doesn't want to bother the nurses asking for pain meds all the time. I just talked to him and he said he's been out of bed all morning and walked some more, but now he is back in bed and in some pain, he is waiting for them to bring him some pain meds. He sounds so much better today, I can't wait to get up to the hospital this afternoon to see him, his mother is with him right now. But you know when my husband isn't home something breaks at home. This morning I got up to the ceiling in my downstairs family room being all wet and my son saying, Mom something is leaking. Of course it is, dad's not home why wouldn't it. Thank god I work for a construction company and I am friends with most of the subcontractors, so I won't get ripped off, if I do, the plumber won't be getting paid from my company and I won't be taking any of his calls...LOL

    Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #13
    This comment has been removed by the Moderator
  • usakat
    usakat Member Posts: 610 Member
    #14
    Good News!
    Hello Sandi,

    I'm so glad to read your good news, and happy to hear your husband's surgery went well and he is in good spirits. He is lucky to have you :)

    You two are doing great! And it sounds like you figured out that laughter can be a good medicine. Good stuff.

    Many blessings for healing and promises of good health...
    Katie
  • Sandi1
    Sandi1 Member Posts: 277
    #15
    Just got home
    Well, I just got home from the hospital. My husband now has a fever and his BP is high. Still no bowel sounds and he doesn't have a gastric tube in. I feel very uneasy about this whole situation. He doesn't seem to be progressing like he should be - I fear i'm never going to get him out of there.

    Sandi
  • msccolon
    msccolon Member Posts: 1,917 Member
    #16
    Sandi1 said:

    Just got home
    Well, I just got home from the hospital. My husband now has a fever and his BP is high. Still no bowel sounds and he doesn't have a gastric tube in. I feel very uneasy about this whole situation. He doesn't seem to be progressing like he should be - I fear i'm never going to get him out of there.

    Sandi

    your husband
    Sandi, take a deep breath and know that he's in good hands. Say a prayer and call a friend. It's only been a few days. They'll get some antibiotics into him and he'll do better. This just sucks sometimes. God be with you. Mary
  • pamness
    pamness Member Posts: 524 Member
    #17
    Sandi1 said:

    Thanks
    Thank you, I don't think he is on Morphine - she gave him something that started with a "D" Dilotin i think - but i'm not sure. But he has to ask for the pain meds they don't have him hooked up to a pump, which i guess is good because my husband is not one for whining and doesn't want to bother the nurses asking for pain meds all the time. I just talked to him and he said he's been out of bed all morning and walked some more, but now he is back in bed and in some pain, he is waiting for them to bring him some pain meds. He sounds so much better today, I can't wait to get up to the hospital this afternoon to see him, his mother is with him right now. But you know when my husband isn't home something breaks at home. This morning I got up to the ceiling in my downstairs family room being all wet and my son saying, Mom something is leaking. Of course it is, dad's not home why wouldn't it. Thank god I work for a construction company and I am friends with most of the subcontractors, so I won't get ripped off, if I do, the plumber won't be getting paid from my company and I won't be taking any of his calls...LOL

    Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers

    Pain Meds
    He is probably on Dalaudid (sp?) very strong - perhaps even stronger than morphine. When I had my colon resection, they had to take me off of morphine because my blood pressure went too low. Dalaudid does cause constipation - more than morphine - so the less he take the more the bowel will respond. It is a catch 22 pain vs. bowel function - they put me on large doses of tylenol and advil (basically) - it didn't work that well. What I found was when the air that they pumped in for the surgery went I felt much less discomfort and pain. Moving as much as possible helps. Good news is once the gas moves away and the pain resolves - really only soreness (on about a scale of 7) remains - it fades quickly, within 12 days I had my stitches removed (staples actually) and I went on to the next step.

    All the best,

    Pam
  • Faith88
    Faith88 Member Posts: 55
    #18
    Sandi1 said:

    Thanks
    Thank you, I don't think he is on Morphine - she gave him something that started with a "D" Dilotin i think - but i'm not sure. But he has to ask for the pain meds they don't have him hooked up to a pump, which i guess is good because my husband is not one for whining and doesn't want to bother the nurses asking for pain meds all the time. I just talked to him and he said he's been out of bed all morning and walked some more, but now he is back in bed and in some pain, he is waiting for them to bring him some pain meds. He sounds so much better today, I can't wait to get up to the hospital this afternoon to see him, his mother is with him right now. But you know when my husband isn't home something breaks at home. This morning I got up to the ceiling in my downstairs family room being all wet and my son saying, Mom something is leaking. Of course it is, dad's not home why wouldn't it. Thank god I work for a construction company and I am friends with most of the subcontractors, so I won't get ripped off, if I do, the plumber won't be getting paid from my company and I won't be taking any of his calls...LOL

    Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers

    Hi Sandy
    I've been reading your posts and you might remember that my husband went through much the same just over a year ago. He was in the hospital for 5 or 6 days I remember, and on Dilaudid which is what I think you are thinking of. it's a synthetic of morphine and pretty potent. I think it took 4 days before he started getting anything other than ice chips, but was up walking from day 1. That's so important to do, I don't want to make you worry, but it's not uncommon to get blood clots from surgery and or chemo as well. My DH got them and like your hubby is not a complainer, and when he was finally diagnosed they had moved to his lung, so back in the hospital he was for another week. Just make sure that you are aware of any of those symptoms, sometimes you aren't thinking about that with all else going on.
    Not to cause any more worry or stress, but just wanted to add that since I wish we had known to be more vigilent and pay attention to swelling or pain in legs.

    It's good you both have a sense of humour, that is what keeps us going through all of life's trials and challenges!
  • Faith88
    Faith88 Member Posts: 55
    #19
    Sandi1 said:

    Just got home
    Well, I just got home from the hospital. My husband now has a fever and his BP is high. Still no bowel sounds and he doesn't have a gastric tube in. I feel very uneasy about this whole situation. He doesn't seem to be progressing like he should be - I fear i'm never going to get him out of there.

    Sandi

    hi again
    I just replied to a previous post but wanted to say, i am praying things turn around for him soon, it is only 3 days and that isn't very long. like I said, it was 4 or 5 days before my HB had any bowel sounds and regular food. BP can be controlled, and I don't think it's that uncommon to have a fever after surgery. But I know how worried you are and I pray tomorrow brings a better day. Hang in there.
    Faith88
  • tootsie1
    tootsie1 Member Posts: 5,044 Member
    #20
    Sandi1 said:

    Just got home
    Well, I just got home from the hospital. My husband now has a fever and his BP is high. Still no bowel sounds and he doesn't have a gastric tube in. I feel very uneasy about this whole situation. He doesn't seem to be progressing like he should be - I fear i'm never going to get him out of there.

    Sandi

    Good thoughts
    I'm sorry. I know it worries you. Hopefully he'll improve lots during the night and make great progress tomorrow.

    *hugs*
    Gail
  • Madre
    Madre Member Posts: 123
    #21
    Hang in there
    Sandi,
    When I had my surgery I was in the hospital for 10 days. I too ran a fever, I got a UTI from the cathiter and it caused me to get a blood infection. Antibiotics and I was fine. I had surgery on Thursday, walking on Friday, Jello on Sunday. They actually gave me food too soon and my intenstines hadn't woken up yet so my body didn't process well, so as much as you would love to see your husband get out of there and eat food, don't rush it. They told me that intestines go into a "paralized" state when you mess with them, such as surgery, and they have to wake up before they can process as before. At least in the hospital they can monitor him. Being home would be scary not knowing what is normal. I think my first bathroom trip was Tuesday after surgery. Just remember, nothing in, nothing out. I will continue to pray.
    Madre

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