1 day post op

Think you should phone the hospital about this. Where did you have your operation?

Have you contacted the hospital?

The padding will come out with a bm. Don't force it. Take some fiber so it will pass easy, the first bm will give you pain be eventually it will also pass, be careful with the pain meds, they can lead to constipation.

Eat high fibre diet and drink plenty of water. For BM I was given lactulose and fybogel. The first BM is sore but you just have to take it slow then I went in a bath after it which helped. For the pain I was given paracetamol and dihydrocodeine. I went on short walk every day and built that up.

First off, way to go! You're a boss! Getting all those done is a gargantuan feat! Makes my surgery look like wussville. Seriously. You've done an amazing thing for yourself so treat yourself very gently and kindly over the next days and weeks. You've had a big surgery. 

The packing will come out with the first BM. Surprisingly, I had one hours after surgery. Hurts but then is done. I believe the packing should come out in 24 hrs so if your's doesn't, just phone the surgeon's office and ask what would be best to do to have it come out. My surgeon said if I didn't have a bowel movement within 24 hrs I could sit in a warm sitz bath and GENTLY ease it out. But like I said, it came out easily and quickly with a small bowel movement. 

I am nearly at 6 weeks post op and things are steadily improving. Make sure you keep your bms soft. I have been on metamucil 3-5 tsp a day plus I use two heaping tsps of ground flax seed with cornflakes (or whatever you want to put it on) and add warm water - it makes a kind of porridge and the flax seeds become like a mucilage and coats everything so the bm will slip out easily. Drink lots of water, 8-12 glasses a day. Do not become constipated.

Take it easy, park your dancing shoes for awhile and rest. I'd say now I could probably go back to work as I could not sit really for the last 5-6 weeks but I still can't sit for long. 

I was on antibiotics post op. I took a probiotic inbetween every antibiotic pill to help my digestive system. And since I had a history of vaginal yeast infections I also placed a probiotic in there too! Lol! That really did help prevent the vaginal yeast infection but I DID end up getting thrush (oral) but fixed that with some alternative remedies. My digestive system wasn't happy for quite some time afterwards and is still coming back from the heavy antibiotic. But I guess it beats getting sepsis :D

Sounds like you have a good surgeon. Rest now and do your sitz bath religiously. I did 4 baths for 20 mins each day and used about 1/4 espom salts in the tub filled with 4-6 inches of water, sometimes more. That along with soft bms helped the most. 

 

Hi, I took a nice warm/hotties here bath when back from hospital after one day and after soaking for 20 mins or so, gently and slowly pulled packaging out myself. If it’s still in there and you’ve passed some loose movements I would think there would be a risk of infection. I’d try as above to get it out or I think you should contact your doc. Wishing you the best of luck, it’s a pretty brutal recovery, but it will get better, promise! There is light at the end of the tunnel! X

Hi I had stickes when I had four internal and two external removed. I took the first few weeks slowly and also had to walk slowly. Took short walks every day and was tired . It does get better. I was lucky I was not in a lot of pain. Eight weeks after the operation I got an appointment with my surgeon for him to check that everything was okay. I am now 100% okay and I would advise anyone who has this to have the operation as everyone's recovery is different.