How much pain are you in after surgery

I’ve just downloaded the ‘Can’t wait card’ thanks!

And sorry to hijack your post Clckoff! But it might be useful for you too!

I always use the disabled loo and have never been challenged.most have a notice on the door saying"please be aware that not every disability is obvious"

As for pain after the op.everyone is different and it also depends on whether you have open surgery.I had single port laparoscopy for my complete panproctocolectomy.so very few stitches.(except in my barbie bum")this certainly cut down on any pain.so paracetamol for a couple of days was all that was needed.

The staff are always great and tailor pain management to the individual

Kath

It’s an antacid but also protects the stomach lining when taking anti-inflammatory such as Ibuprofen or Diclofenac

No worries  

The painkillers should be strong and effective, having pain worsens outcomes so people are normally really on it. You might have some, particularly if doses are delayed but it should be appalling at all.

Hi P00hsticks  can you tell me more about the nasogastric tube? My mum had her surgery on Friday, so this is 4 days after, and she was doing well for the first couple of days but is very unwell yesterday and today. They’re discussing putting that tube in, and doing a CT scan and maybe going back to surgery for a stoma (which hadn’t been necessary originally) because they think the join might be leaking. Does that tube help? Is it horrible? 

thank you x

Hi HopeSoul I’ve not had an ng tube so I’ll let poohsticks cover that but I did have a leak at the join despite having a stoma which apparently can be quite common.

I had a CT scan which showed an infected build up of fluid so I had a tube inserted in my right buttock to drain it into a bag at the side of the bed. Although they said they’d drained most of it out while inserting the tube, I was still walking round with the bag 6 weeks later. It was incredibly uncomfortable to sit or sleep on and it was such a relief to get it removed. The body can apparently disperse some of the fluid naturally but not the amount I had built up. My bloods showed my CRP (infection marker) to be over 100 when it should be under 10 and this was monitored after the drain had been removed and I started chemo.

Ive heard the ng tube is pretty unpleasant so hope your mum can avoid it but if needs must then I hope it does the trick quickly 

Take care

Karen x

They aren't awful, inserted them and had them as well, you gag a bit when it touches the back of your throat but otherwise ok.

The point of them is to drain the stomach, if the stomach is full and not moving, the risk is sudden vomiting and either rit entering the lungs or putting pressure on leaky point. If she has an an OGD, it is way better.

If it's needed, it's a good idea to do it

Hi HopeSoul  Sorry to hear about your mum.

The nasogastric tube is a bit uncomfortable at times but not painful. Its a soft plastic tube that they feed through your nostril down into your stomach.

In my case it was used to drain my stomach - they attach to a syringe to the end of the tube and can then extract the stomach fluids as needed. It stopped me retching so much as at one point just over a day after I had the surgery I was being so violently sick I was worried I would rupture something - a nurse used the syringe to get the fluids out as soon as I started to retch.

They kept it in for a few days, although it wasn't really needed after the first 24 hours as my sickness abated. It's more of an annoyance than anything as you can't blow your nose properly etc with it in.

I believe they can also use it to deliver liquid food directly to the stomach. although in my case this wasn't done as I was kept to nil by mouth with fluids on a drip until the ilieus passed as few days later and my bowel started working again, much to my relief (I've never been so happy to fart!). 

Wishing yo uand your mum all the best 

Hiya,

I had the NG tube because my bowel froze and I kept throwing up. The main issue it gave me was a really sore throat, but they had strepsils which helped. It was more of a relief when they sucked all the liquid out, as I kept throwing up gallons of watery bile all over myself. It’s not lovely, but as said above, if it’s needed then it’s better than throwing up with a risk of inhaling the liquids and that damaging your mum’s lungs.