Time for Photos

This photo was taken about 5 days post op...just after we got home from the hospital. This shows the wound with the gauze strip still in.


This is what it looks like when we take the gauze out...his skin looks pretty yucky here too.


This photo was taken today...about 12 days post-op. The hole is definitely smaller and I use less gauze than a week ago.

Adam's strength and energy continue to improve. He is taking 2 immodium a day now, and that seems to be working well. He also tries to eat rice, apples, bananas, and oatmeal to help "plug" things up a bit. Yesterday he had some raw veggies before bed...didn't do so well in the night. Cooked veggies are supposed to be easier to digest. He's hoping to go back to work next week. The opening is still sore when I pack it.

Home

We brought Adam home from the hospital yesterday...day 5. He is doing pretty well. I can see a huge difference from the first surgery. He has quite a bit of discomfort when his bowels are moving, and also when we change his dressing and at the stoma site. His energy level seems better and he is eating pretty good. He thinks he might have had too much immodium in the hospital...seemed like he was almost "plugged" up. I heard him get up a few times during the night. I am going to try and take pictures next time we change his dressing so you can get an idea of what that is like. The Dr. told us that another patient of his was feeling great by week 3!

This is Adam just minutes before surgery! His surgery lasted just under 2 hours!


This is the wound dressing. It bled a lot the first day or two but has slowed down considerably now. We still pack the hole 2 times a day...it's painful for him when I push the gauze into it.


This is Adam the day before he left the hospital...with the special "ointment" they gave him for butt burn!

The Stoma

We took these last pictures of Adam's stoma a few days before take-down surgery.

This is the stoma...Adam put his thumb next to it so you can get an idea of how big it is. This also shows the small opening really well. There is some skin irritation around the stoma where the wafer goes.


This is what it looks like with the wafer attached.


This is the bag...he used the opaque one's so he couldn't see his poop through the bag...but we ran out a couple weeks before take-down and didn't want to buy more....this one is clear!


This is what it looks like with bag attached.

April Fool = Surgery #2

We are day 4 post-op. Adam's take down surgery went great...just shy of 2 hours. It has been a completely different experience from the first surgery. He was feeling pretty crapy on the clear liquid diet the day before. He started vomiting the night before and morning of. They were able to give him naussea stuff before they took him back. We also talked to them about his experience of waking up last time without any pain killers. They kept him in recovery longer so they could hook his pain iv up before he got to his room. He was pretty drowsy for a few hours. They also put some kind of a patch behind his ear for naussea.
The first day he only got to swab his mouth with water. Day 2 they let him have ice chips and sips of water. That night he started having bowel movements. Day 3 he got to move to a post-op diet..mostly liquids. Continued to have bowel movements and started on immodium to try to slow things down. Last night he was up a lot going to the bathroom and even had some seepage. It might take a while to get the right ammount of immodium regulated. He started on real food today. He's eaten some oatmeal, a banana, potatoes, and rice. Hopefully they will help thicken things up a bit. He has quite a bit of pain when stuff is moving through, but that is normal. He is in his on pj's now, and is ready to go home. Hopefully soon. We've had exceptional nurses this time around, and are grateful for their expertise and willingness to answer questions and help. We also brought our own toilet paper from home and some ointment.