6 Weeks Post-Op

Well today is 6 weeks since my first surgery.  I am officially halfway to my second and final surgery.  Recovery has been great so far.  There's only been a few changes in the past few weeks.  The one I am most excited about was taking my last pill of Prednisone.  It is a nasty drug that I have been on for over a year.  So, I am officially not taking any medications for ulcerative colitis! This is the first time since I was diagnosed at 17!  I have also changed the appliance that I wear.  At first I was using a one piece, transparent bag which is what I was given in the hospital.  I wasn't a huge fan of being able to see all the "output" so I changed to a two piece, beige appliance.  I can tolerate the bag a little better now since I don't have to see the contents every time I look at it.  The new bag also has a smaller adhesive area that attaches to my skin, thus a smaller area that can become irritated.  I have slowly become more active over the weeks.  I was able to make a trip out to Dallas for the Mardi Gras parades with my family.  We had a great time and it was really nice to finally get out of the house for awhile.  I have also been able to get back into my parents' hot tub.  I missed it after a month of not being able to get in.  I am meeting with my surgeon on Monday and will hopefully be able to schedule a date for my second surgery.

3 weeks after surgery!

Today it has been three weeks since my first surgery and things are going well.  If you had asked how I was doing last week you would have heard a much different answer.  I picked up some sort of flu like virus and had a fever and congestion all of last week.  That made for some pretty miserable times.  I felt okay over the weekend and took a trip to our lakehouse for a little change of scenery.  I attempted to fly fish on Saturday.  That proved to be a bad decision. I had no luck actually catching a fish and found out that my body was not ready for something that active.  My fever picked back up after the fishing attempt and stuck around all that night.

I  have finally gotten comfortable with looking at my stoma.  I use to get light headed and almost pass out every time I had to change my bag and clean around the stoma.  I no longer need a nurse to come twice a week to change my bag out.  I can do it with a some assistance from my mom.  Overall, things are going well now.  I can walk a little better everyday and it feels great to eat anything I want now.  I ate a huge frito-pie during the Superbowl.  It was awesome.  I still have to get up a few times a night to empty the bag, but that is completely normal and expected. I have one little spot beside my stoma that has been getting irritated.  This is probably from stool leaking at the seal around the stoma. The stool that comes out of the stoma has digestive enzymes in it that will even digest skin that it comes in contact with.  There is a powder that heals the sore that I put on every time I change the bag. Hopefully, this will be healed up quickly and won't become a continuous issue.  I am meeting with my surgeon's e.t. nurse on Monday to check the stoma and make sure I know how to heal the sore and prevent one from coming back.

I received a call from the hospital this week to ask me about my care there.  I told them that overall I thought my care was good, except for that first visit from the e. t. nurse.  I received a second call a little later from a manager.  He told me to send him an e-mail with all the details. Shortly after I sent it, I got an e-mail from another manager that said he is following up and would be getting back to me.  In the e-mail I recommended additional technical training, as well as additional sensitivity training for this woman.  My surgeon told me at my visit today that there was another complaint about her after mine.