Background: Emergency surgery in January, perforated bowel, peritonitis, 1 week in ICU, 1 week in hospital.
Reversal 3/8/23. Open procedure went well, but after 48 hours developed ileus and had the lovely NG tube for the next 4 days.
Total 8 nights hospital stay.
Back home, couldn't lay flat in bed so spent the first 10 nights sleeping in a recliner chair, happy to be home.
BMs, what can I say? In hospital and for the first 2 weeks at home, it was like shitting out small amounts of acid up to 12 times a day. Baby wipes, barrier cream, and nappies or diapers are a must-have.
Then my bowels seemed to settle quite quickly, and now it's all good: 2 or 3 BMs a day, little or no urgency.
Pain: Since day one, the most pain is at the old stoma site. It gets worse at night after I sleep, wakes me up at 2 a.m., and once I get up around 5:50, 6:00 a.m. and get moving, it fades a lot but is still there. I see the surgeon next week, so I hope he can tell me if it's normal. I wouldn't call it severe pain but moderate and really uncomfortable.
This site and the people here have been so helpful to me. If by writing this I can help someone else, that's good.
I will check back in another month. Thank you all.
