Pain Control

Hello Everybody,
I am new to this site and have been reading for 2 days. I am hoping to have the DS but I will need to have the surgery open instead of lap...

How many days will I be in the hospital?..
What do they give for pain control in the hospital?.
What about pain control at home?
Will I start my liquids in the hospital?
How much protein and water will I need post-op.


Thank You for the feedback

Since every surgeon has a different protocol, there's no way of knowing what Dr H will have you do in the hospital or what he uses for pain control. 

I was given a liquid paid control medicine but it's been so long I don't remember the name.  They let me start having fluids about mid day the day after surgery. Protein rule of thumb is 120 grams or more. Fluids rule of thumb is 64 ounces a day. 

A great place to do some reading about the DS and post DS life is www.dsfacts.com.

Good luck!

--gina

 

Why does it have to be open?

I was in hospital for 4 days and had no protein during that time. I started when I got out. The rule of thumb is 30g by 30 days out, 60 by 60, 90 by 90 and 120 long term - or more if you can.

Fluids in the hospital. Liquid Oxycontin when I got sent home. I'm not sure what they thought but the dose they prescribed knocked me for a loop (2 tablespoons) I ended up with a quarter tablespoon twice a day. 

Liquids and strained soups the first week or so, then pureed meats, to soft foods, to regular foods. That was the progression my Doctor gave me. Took me about a month.

Fluids were the most important first step.

Mine was done open. I stayed in the hospital 4 nights, and I really don't remember what they gave me for pain while I was there. I do remember that the pain was far less than I'd expected. (My DS was my first-ever surgery and I really didn't know what to expect.) The only time I really felt much pain was when trying to get out of bed, and I'm sure much of that was because I was VERY large, and VERY short.

I went home with Bextra, a prescription NSAID, for pain. I didn't really have any significant surgical pain, but the Bextra just wasn't cutting it for my arthritis. My surgeon allowed me to take one Aleve a day instead, for the first month. After that I was back to taking Aleve 'as needed'.

Yes, you'll start liquids as soon as you're awake enough to swallow. At least, I did.

Protein and water. Well, immediately post-op you'll need as much liquid as you can force down, and your goal is a minimum of 64 ounces a day. Later on, even more is better.(I drink about a gallon every day, more when it's hot.)  Protein isn't really that important in the first few days post-op. Your body has some stores to tide you over until you can take in more. I was given the 30-60-90 rule---30 grams by 30 days, 60 grams by 60 days, etc. In the long term, how much protein YOU will need will depend on what you labs say your body needs.

I had my DS open 8 years ago and it's wasn't as bad as I was prepared for.

I was in the hospital 4 days

I had an IV of morphine and a "pain ball" which has tiny tubes placed around the wound that injected pain meds around the incision, too.  My discomfort was high, but level of pain was very low.

Not only did I start liquids in the hospital, but I was eating soft foods the last day before I came home

My doc was insistent that I get 64oz of fluids (anything decaf and wet) and 100g of protein as soon as I got home, and immediately start taking 12 vitamin pills too.  It took a few days to work myself to it, but I managed.  Many docs have you work up to the protein, doing 30g a day the first 30 days, 60g the next 30 days, and so on.  It was hard, but my recovery was an easy one as a trade off.

OH - I almost forgot to add more here.
I took a total of 8 weeks off of work.  I was extremely listless and tired very easily the first 5 weeks, and it turned around about week 6.  When I went back to work after week 8, I hit the ground running and never looked back.  I didn't need any reduced schedule or anything.  Everyone thought I was tough as nails.